Hinant travels to Louisiana during Thanksgiving
Rachel Hinant (11) screws a nail into a door frame. During Thanksgiving break, Hinant helped rebuild a family’s home in Louisiana.
Tucked in the middle seat, Rachel Hinant (11) sat with other volunteers as their rental van crossed Lake Ponchatrain toward Slidell, La. She peered out across the expansive body of water, which surged nearly 30 feet during Katrina in 2005, demolishing the surrounding homes.
Hinant helped rebuild destroyed homes in hurricane-devastated Louisiana during the Thanksgiving Break.
Instead of savoring a home-cooked meal at home, Hinant chose to spend her week out of state because of the rewarding experience she had the first time she went.
Going on the trip during breakwas just a coincidence.
More than three years after Katrina ravaged the area, Hinant’s van approached Slidell, where she saw abandoned homes and yards littered with debris.
She anticipated the extent of her work that lay ahead.
“I was excited to see what we were going to work on,” she said. “But it was really upsetting to see a lower income neighborhood hit so hard by disaster and how hard it seemed for them to recover.”
The van pulled up to its final destination, a small plot of land owned by a woman named Brenda.
Other volunteers were already working together, setting up window frames for the new house and laying down base boards.
This was not the first time that Hinant helped with hurricane relief. Two years earlier, she came to the region to help rebuild other family’s flattened homes.
Her experience convinced a group of her church members to join her in the hurricane relief effort this year.
Almost immediately, Hinant set to work, grouting tile and installing window frames and base boards.
Hinant said that despite the fact that she considered her work in helping rebuild one home over a six-day period was minor, it was nevertheless a gratifying experience.
“[The houses] are totally gutted and rebuilt: walls, roof and everything,” she said. “We get to meet the people whose houses we are working on, and they get really excited when they see people coming to work on their homes.”
Hinant and the volunteers didn’t completely forget the holiday.
On Thanksgiving Day, Hinant and parts of her family spent the time with citizens of the area.They spent the day at a community Thanksgiving meal where volunteers served dinner for those who couldn’t affordto make their own meals.
“They had to go eat a really [simple] meal for a special holiday and they have such small families,” Hinant said. “It made me feel a lot more fortunate for the life I have [in California].”
Hinant ended her trip in Slidell without finishing the house she was assigned to work on.
It was at this point that the hard work began to pay off.
“It was sad to leave an unfinished project, but [the owner] was really happy and excited [about the house],” she said.
Based on the work the volunteers completed, officials told the owner that she’ll probably be able to move back in by Christmas.
The woman told Hinant something that helped make Hinant’s experience unforgettable.
“She was talking about all the different places people came from [to build the house],” Hinant said. “She mentioned New York and California along with a bunch of different states and then said that her new house would be made of love.”
Overall, the experience of helping those less fortunate than her has changed Hinant and her world view.
“I’ve learned not to get upset over all of the small problems that I have,” she said. “I saw the problems [in Louisiana] and now know that there are bigger problems in the world to worry about than those I have to deal with here.”
Leaving an unfinished house was difficult for Hinant, but nevertheless she said it was a humbling experience.
“I got such a warm feeling from helping these other people. The people seem so grateful when you leave. It’s like saying goodbye to a new friend.