NEW LONDON, Conn. -- When Hurricane Katrina struck land nearly a year and a half ago, Connecticut College's director of student activities felt the ripple of the flood waters from Connecticut.

Scott McEver, the director of student activities at the New London college, told Eyewitness News that he watched the devastation of Hurricane Katrina unfold on his television.

"The sheer breadth of it is what caught my attention," McEver said. "I grew up in Houston, and certainly that area of the country is home to me."

McEver said that the president of Connecticut College then made an offer that he couldn't refuse.

"Any employee who wanted to go could have one week's worth of time away at no detriment to themselves," he said. "I had the opportunity through a student organization on campus called New London Collegiate Ministries, the fall immediately after the storm itself, to head down with students kind of like an advisor or a chaperone."

McEver said that since the hurricane, he's been to New Orleans five times to help reconstruct and rebuild.

"Our main project has been gutting," McEver said. "The houses we work in have taken on water during the storm, up to 10 feet, 12 feet in some cases. It's either going to sit there untouched or someone is going to make it better, and do what they can."

McEver said the houses are stripped down to the frames and foundation.

"You have a block of 20 houses, maybe a third of them I would say have a trailer or someone living on site, none of them are actually being able to be lived in as actual homes, but trailers are a bit more prevalent," he said.

McEver said his fifth trip was this past New Year's, and that he's looking to return in the summer.

McEver recommended anyone with the means and desire to lend a hand to the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans to take a trip south.

"If you have the means to go down, you should go down," he said. "They'll accept you, they're ready to have you help. They will put you to work."

Anyone looking for more information on volunteering time or money to the cause should call Scott McEver at Connecticut College by dialing 860-439-2842.

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