Hoping to pitch in anything they have to offer, two ISU students and high school friends are traveling to Thailand to contribute to tsunami relief efforts.

Nicholas Jensen, junior in construction engineering, and Colin Madden, junior in horticulture, are traveling to Phuket next week for three months to help rebuild homes and shelters, both permanent and temporary, in conjunction with churches in Thailand.

“We have a family friend that lives in Thailand who was affected and talked about a big need for relief efforts,” Jensen said. “We just started thinking about what was going on and how much help they need, and decided to go.”

Both Jensen and Madden have construction knowledge gained through summer jobs, but Jensen said he would get more experience out of helping in Thailand than any job, study abroad or internship program.

“I have tried not to speculate about how much damage there will be, because it will be greater than anything I will expect,” Madden said. “And I know that I won’t be able to rebuild a whole city, but at least I can help some individuals.”

Two local churches, Cornerstone Church, 616 Billy Sunday Road, and Harvest-Free Church in Story City have agreed to sponsor some of the travel costs for the volunteers.

Jensen and Madden are planning to stay in tents while they work. The building supplies will be provided by the churches.

“If something like this happened to me, I would hope to see some college kids show up to work for free,” Jensen said.

Jensen’s cousin, a junior at the University of Northern Iowa, will go to Thailand as well.