“In spite of the fact that gutting is part of the solution, it feels destructive and invasive,” he says of the backbreaking work with the nation’s largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families. “I get some satisfaction tearing a house down to its studs – but not a lot. It’s dirty, smelly, hot, humid, and ultimately depressing, but this is what I’m here for.”

Reiff leads McDaniel students in a mentoring program with the Boys and Girls Club. You can read his personal reflections of his trip here.

Reiff is the latest in a long line of students and faculty to lend a hand. Last year, students, faculty and staff raised $15,000 for the American Red Cross and Dillard University, which sustained nearly $400 million in damage. Nine students along with English Lecturer Jennie Walker spent two weeks cleaning up during Jan Term 2006, and during spring break, eight McDaniel students joined an effort called “Katrina on the Ground,” where they worked with thousands of other college students in New Orleans and Mississippi. The College itself welcomed two displaced students last fall with an offer of free tuition.