Students to rebuild churches

IU students from a local church will take volunteering to the next level this holiday season, sacrificing their last week of winter break to work in the New Orleans area aiding the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort.\nStudent members of University Lutheran Church will kick off the new year by helping rebuild four damaged churches in the New Orleans area, as well as assisting in other ways as needed. \nWhen University Lutheran Rev. Richard Woelmer heard Indiana Lutheran churches had been assigned by the denomination's leadership to adopt three Louisiana churches, he jumped at the chance to organize a group from his student congregation to head to New Orleans and help. \nWoelmer, who will also be going on the trip, said he is looking forward to the opportunity to lend a helping hand.\n"It's a chance to show some compassion and concern," he said. "You can't really get more hands-on than this."\nWoelmer said he expects people in New Orleans won't be the only ones impacted by the volunteer group's decision to help. \n"I think that everyone will come away with the sense of receiving more than they've given," he said.\nThe group of six Bloomington volunteers, which is sponsored by Faith Lutheran Church, will leave Jan. 1 and return Jan. 7. During the trip, they will stay in tents in a soccer field next to one of the churches in Metairie, La, which is just west of New Orleans-- their "home base," Woelmer said. From there, they will travel to the sites of the churches the group is assigned to help -- one of which had 400 members before the hurricane hit the city.\nThe trip's funding is completely covered by money raised working the concessions stand at IU's Memorial Stadium. \nMichael Amlung, a junior at IU, signed up for the trip after wanting to take part in a service event for a long time, he said. He said he hopes to offer support and a listening ear to those in New Orleans and also wants to build relationships with others from University Lutheran who go on the trip.\n"It seems like a great opportunity to go down and help people that desperately need the help," Amlung said. \nHe said he also expects it will be a difficult time for people recovering from the hurricane damage because many will face the typically happy season after losing possessions and loved ones.\n"I think it'll probably be like no other Christmas they've ever had," Amlung said. "It won't be much of a holiday season for them."\nWoelmer said he hopes the efforts of the Bloomington group will brighten the season for the people they have the chance to impact, though.\n"When they're in a time of trial and great need, we can, as a body of believers, help a part of the body that is hurting," he said.