Driving down Route 90 through the area of Mississippi hit hardest last fall by Hurricane Katrina, nine Brandeis students looked to their right and saw an expansive vista of ocean and sand. To their left was a very different landscape, one filled with miles of brick rubble and dotted with huge ships thrown across the road by the storm.It was a jarring sight for the students, who traveled to the region during winter vacation as part of a coalition of student volunteers from around the country organized by the Weinberg Tzedek Hillel Program, the United Jewish Communities and Nechama: Jewish Response to Disaster. Volunteers from over 15 universities participated in the programs, which are running over winter and spring vacations.

The Brandeis group arrived in Mississippi on Jan. 8, and after some initial training in conjunction with the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Gulfport, immediately began repairing the roofs of houses destroyed by the storm.

"There was utter destruction," Sara Kranzler '07 said. "There were communities that were completely wiped out. Businesses there [were] destroyed, utterly destroyed."

Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana and areas of Mississippi and Texas in late August, causing damage that some have estimated could total $75 billion.

Kranzler said she had known little about the destruction in Mississippi but signed up for the trip because she knew she wanted to help.

"I felt at once both the tragedy of the moment but also this far disconnect because I wasn't able to do anything about the situation," she said. "I thought I would just be able to get more involved and be helpful."

Other students echoed this sentiment, saying they were unprepared for the devastation they witnessed. Alison Schwartzbaum '08 said her feelings were mixed about the group's efforts.

"On the one hand, what we're doing is so amazing and it's so much fun for us to do," she said. "But at the same time, we drove down the coast . and [there was an area] 40 miles wide and several miles deep of just total destruction. You have to come down here and see it for yourself to understand what is really going on."

Schwartzbaum said her initial response to the disaster was to help raise money for relief efforts in her capacity as Senator at Large and Executive Senator. She helped organize campus events such as the Night of Music for the City of Music dance last semester. But despite her awareness of the disaster, she said she was shocked by her experiences in Mississippi. She was jolted by the story of one man in particular, who said he had watched with fear as floodwater slowly climbed the steps to the second floor of the house he was inhabiting before stopping at the top of the stairway.

"You walk by and you see peoples' closets with peoples' clothes, or you see a calendar up on a wall and it's so real," Schwartzbaum said.

Students said returning homeowners were friendly to the volunteers, offering them food and drinks during their hours of work. A number of retired construction workers, many of whom were members of a local Presbyterian congregation, trained the group and worked with them on the rebuilding project.

"It's pretty cool being on a slanty roof in Mississippi talking about religion while rebuilding after a storm that definitely makes people question God," Kranzler said.

Students also learned of some of the problems that have hindered reconstruction efforts. Kranzler said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was largely ineffective in the region and much of the work was being done by non-governmental organizations such as the Interfaith Disaster Relief Task Force, one of the groups that had planned the students' trip.

"One of the things I've learned is that things are really complicated down here," Kranzler said. "When it comes to FEMA, there are just all these policies that keep getting in the way."

Brandeis Jewish Chaplain and Hillel Rabbinic Director Rabbi Allan Lehmann, the trip's leader and a New Orleans native who has spent much time in the Gulf Coast region, said students had gained valuable leadership skills through their eye-opening experiences.

"I could imagine some people wondering if this could be the most efficient way to get more roofs on people's houses, but frankly that's not the ultimate question," he said. "I think people had a sense of actual, real-life pulling together with their hands. Our heads and our hearts are often in right kinds of places, but sometimes we also need to get our hands involved."

Lehmann said students would take their experiences with them and continue to aid hurricane victims after returning home.

The students were "able to recognize both how significant it is to put a roof over someone and. how much is left to be done," he said. "There's an old Jewish teaching that says you're not obligated to finish the task, but neither are you free to desist from it. This really brought that home in powerful terms.