Fifteen months after Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana Tech University students shared their experiences and discussed the lasting effects of the disaster with the Madison community Monday night at the Pres House.
LTU freshman Ryan Foster told of coping with the aftermath of the hurricane. He returned to find his house destroyed and lived out of his garage while he, along with his father and brother, repaired it. A few months after the hurricane his friend Luke committed suicide. ""All the guilt, all the grief from thatâ_I carried that with me,"" Foster said.
Foster moved to northern Louisiana to attend LTU.
""I pretty much started life all over again,"" he said.
Another student, Joel Byrum was living near the affected area and said, ""I thought it was going to be like any other hurricane.""
He packed three days worth of clothes and evacuated, but said of the days afterwards, ""I got tired of sitting around in the house not doing anything.""
Byrum returned to his church and assisted a group of elderly aid workers from Oklahoma who served thousands of meals each day to displaced persons, many of whom were rendered homeless.
LTU senior Catie Blunt also joined an aid team. She went to work gutting houses and assisted in removing all the furniture and items, tearing down water-damaged walls and stripping homes to bare wood and bricks. She said the experience taught her a lesson that influences her lifestyle today.
""It taught us to be thankful for all the stuff that we had, and that our stuff isn't eternal,"" said Blunt, recalling the experience of gutting one home for an elderly lady who had evacuated. ""Hard material had been lost but she was still alive.""
More than 60 students arrived at UW-Madison last Thursday to meet with religious groups and perform services for the community. Participants served jambalaya to fans before Saturday's football game as well as hot chocolate to students in Library Mall Monday. Last year, the group traveled to New Orleans to do aid work. They will return home today.
