Rather than head to Cancun or Daytona Beach, a group of students is spending its Spring Break helping those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Nathan Stein, senior in civil engineering, is one of 12 students going to New Orleans as part of Operation Helping Hands, a program of Catholic Charities of New Orleans.

“A couple people have family down there,” he said. “Personally, I’m going just to help people.”

The students are part of Catholic Student Community, an ISU student group affiliated with St. Thomas Aquinas Church and Catholic Student Center, 2210 Lincoln Way. The group has been planning the trip almost since Hurricane Katrina happened.

“I wanted to go down during Christmas break, but couldn’t,” Stein said. “I think we knew in January we were going to do this, and we signed up right away.”

The group’s determination to go didn’t leave it much time to think about what other Spring Break festivities it might be missing, but Stein said he doesn’t mind.

“Last year I went to Kentucky and did work in Appalachia,” he said. “I do a lot of service activities.”

The students will be focusing on making homes in the New Orleans area livable again.

“We’ll be cleaning out houses, getting rid of dirty furniture and spraying for mold and stuff,” Stein said.

Catholic Student Community isn’t the only student group traveling to the Katrina impact area.

Campus Crusade for Christ is also sending a group to New Orleans and Pass Christian, Miss. Group members from Campus Crusade for Christ were unavailable for comment.

Stein said there are so many students headed to the area, there may not be room for all of them.

“We were supposed to be staying in dorms at first, but there are more people than they expected,” Stein said. “So we’ll be staying in [National Guard] tents. But we’ll have a recreation tent and 24-hour security.”

The need for help in the Hurricane Katrina impact area is still strong months after the disaster, said John Donaghy, campus minister for St. Thomas Aquinas and lecturer of philosophy and religious studies.

“Some of the people I’ve talked to in Biloxi, [Miss.], are saying it could be as much as two to three years before it’s all cleaned up,” he said.

To that end, the group is hoping to meet with a parish in Biloxi to establish a sort of “sister parish” partnership.

“We’re hoping to start a long-term relationship,” Donaghy said. “We’re hoping we can continue doing this as long as they need us.”

Part of the reward has been the feeling of support extended by the community.

“The generosity of people coming out to support us has been amazing. We held a bake sale at the church, and the students have been fundraising privately.”

According to the Catholic Charities Web site at www.catholiccharitiesusa.org, “The 3,000 volunteers that have been recruited for Operation Helping Hands come from across the nation and Canada.”