First day, first experience

Today was our first day of work, we split into 5 groups and headed our separate ways. I went to a house with Sara and Clint that was in the 9th ward. This area was hit the hardest by the storm and is still in great damage. Some of the houses have not even been cleaned out since the storm, some were in progress, and some were in the end stages of repair. We worked in a house that was gutted from the ceiling to the floor, except the kitchen floor. This was a floor with four layers of deteriorated wood and tile. We spent our day with crow bars, hammers, and saws.
As I was taking some of the floor boards out to the dumpster two men stopped and asked where we were from. When I told him that we were from South Dakota he replied, "I knew that." Confused I asked, "How could you have possibly known that?" He told me that he knew we weren't from around here because no one from this state (Louisiana) would ever be in that area cleaning up someone else's house. He said that it was a poor part of town that no one really cared about. As he drove away I was saddened and a little confused by this. At the same time I realized that was the reason that we are here. We are the hands and feet of Jesus when everyone else has walked away. Jenna Remillard