Westfield Youth to Help New Orleans Rebuilding

Almost four years after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans and created images seered into the national psyche, a group of Westfield youths will be traveling to the Big Easy on Saturday to continue the rebuilding of the city.

This year's mission trip of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church will be to New Orleans, a change from the church's previous trips to Mexico. The rise in drug related violence in Mexico has been cited as the decision to move the trip to a domestic locale. The dozen students will be working to rebuild a house in the city's Lower Ninth Ward during the week long trip.

"Because of the news reports of the violence in the border towns," Fr. Peter Delvizis the church's presiding priest, said. "It's a large number of murders and they are quite violent."

Delvizis said this year's trip will differ in several ways from the traditional trip to Mexico. During the trip to Mexico students would complete one home during the entire week, working on various components each day. With the building codes different in the United States and the size of the homes different, the group will likely only complete a portion of the house during their time in Lousiana.

While in Mexico the students would sleep outside in tents and shower by using buckets dipped in a large well, sometimes enduring freezing showers, Louisiana's humid summer climate dictates another change. The students will sleep in an air conditioned dormitory and use modern showers.

"It's like a jamboree or Orthodox basic training," Delvizis said of the Mexican trip, noting that other churches from around the country send students to the site just south of Tiajuana.

Delvizis said that while the living conditions will be different in Louisiana the trip will retain many similarities to what students have seen in Mexico. A dozen students from Westfield, along with three parents will be making the trip to New Orleans.

"It is a similar type of mission," he said. "It is building a home but bigger."

During the mission trips to Mexico the students would work with a local orphanage to support the children. With the trip moving to the United States this year, Delvizis said the students want to continue to support the group in Mexico. While the trip is being financed by parents, the students have been raising money for the International Orthodox Christian Charity, which supports the group.

The Holy Trinity trip is one of four mission trips planned by local churches this month. The Presbyterian Church is wrapping up a trip to Illinois, while the First Congregational Church is in Wyoming working on a Native American Reservation. St. Paul's Episcopal Church is planning a trip to Vermont for later this month.