MARQUETTE — Anthony Gazzo is not from the Upper Peninsula. He doesn’t have family here. He has most likely never been here.

But he knows first-hand the generosity and compassion of the people of the U.P. Gazzo, a Marine who is a Vietnam War veteran, was one of the many people who met a group of Northern Michigan University students and local community members when they recently spent a week in east Biloxi, Miss., helping rebuild homes. Biloxi was one of the worst-hit areas in the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

Group members gave a presentation of their trip Tuesday night at NMU. They are planning several other trips to the area this summer and will be asking local vendors for their help to fund the trips.

“If you can picture the image of Ishpeming and Negaunee being wiped out, that would be close to the destruction,” said Deb Heino, with the on-campus ministry at NMU. She helped organize the trip and is in charge of any future trips.

Around 5,500 homes in East Biloxi were either damaged or destroyed. More than 350 people died, and there are still over 300 people unaccounted for.

“It was extremely hard to grasp,” said Chris Storves, an NMU junior majoring in marketing. “One of the people in our group was in the Persian Gulf War. She said that Katrina was worse than any war zone she’d ever seen. It was total destruction. It looked like Hell.”

A total of 14 people from the U.P. spent about a week in the East Biloxi area, fixing homes and meeting people like Gazzo, who hasn’t left the area and is determined to rebuild his house. The trip was sponsored by Chi Alpha, a religious fraternity and partially funded by Northern.

A major problem in reconstruction is the presence of black mold in many of the houses. When the hurricane hit, there was over 12 feet of water flooding the streets of Biloxi, saturating the woodwork of homes. Houses that have the mold are a major respiratory hazard. When working in those houses, the U.P. volunteers were required to wear masks and protective clothing.

A major problem is manpower.

“It’s so critical ... the need for volunteers and volunteer donations,” Heino said, adding that volunteers have already donated $154,822. “There’s so much work to do and not enough volunteers.”

When asked what the mind-set of the survivors was, Storves paused.

“Hope. Faith. Trust in fellow man. They believed in everything. It was extremely moving,” he said. “They had spray-painted on their houses ‘still alive and kicking, still here, home sweet home’ ... these people are not giving up. They’re prepared to stick it out.”

The group is planning three more trips to the area. The next trip will be from May 8 to 19. Another trip is scheduled for June and another in August.

“You don’t have to be a student to go,” Storves said, “Out of the 14 people in our group, only seven were students.”
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Jimmy McDonald
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