Hundreds of volunteers swarmed over a wrecked church deep in New Orleans’ flood zone Dec. 3, hoping to start its healing and that of the desolate neighborhood beyond with a furious outpouring of free labor.
By some counts, nearly 1,000 volunteers from Louisiana to Los Angeles laid gloved, healing hands on Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, which drowned under nine feet of water from Hurricane Katrina. They went after the church’s ruined sanctuary and first floor with crowbars and power tools.