What is now the boys' sleeping quarters has been stripped to the studs. Those who want privacy hang sheets or plastic bags. Air mattresses and sleeping bags cover the floor.

Emily Kenney, 18, of Arlington Heights gets one of several hugs from homeowner Etta Williams on the last day of work at Williams' home in Bay St. Louis, Miss. "If you work hard, trust in the Lord, you will live a long time," said the 76-year-old, who amazed the teens with her energy and spirtuality.

For the girls, life is a bit more luxurious on the second floor, where most of the damage from the winds of Hurricane Katrina have been repaired - except for the roof, still sheathed in a blue tarp.

Showering, of course, is done in trailers.

Each week, the scene repeats itself in dozens of churches, community centers and even people's yards as volunteers descend upon the hurricane ravaged region.

It's largely places of worship that double as boarding houses for volunteers.

The 60 or so Campus Life volunteers were among about 100 volunteers who stayed at the First Baptist Church during the last week in March.

The church also serves as a place for helpers to reflect on the work they do.

And, at times, question whether it matters.

"We did as much as we could, but I still don't feel like we did enough," says Andrew Crum, 15, a South Elgin High School sophomore as he sits at a dinner table with his work crew.

"Painting is not a lot," answers Kevin Sherman, 19, of Elgin. "But it's one less thing they have to do to get their lives back together."

Sara Cross, a ministry assistant at the First Baptist Church, says she hears other volunteers struggle with the same feelings of insignificance. And it's hard for her to ease their angst when things still look so bad, she said.

"I cry when they leave and cry when they arrive, too," says Cross, adding that the week before the teens arrived more than 200 volunteers tested the church's capacity.

"Words cannot express what they've done for us," she said. "I don't think we would be as far as we are without our volunteers."

Volunteer life

Life for those who help out with post-Katrina rebuilding wasn't always as nice as the suburban teens had it, Cross says.

"We had baby wipes and bottled water," she says. "And (volunteers) were pitching their clothes and getting clean ones from the donation trucks at first."

Now, each group designates volunteers to stay behind to cook, clean and serve food to the masses when they return from a hard day's work. For the 60 suburban volunteers, it's up early, breakfast at 7 and to work by 8 every day.

Those who prefer not to get their hands dirty also help out with administrative tasks.

There is something for everyone to do in a place where civilization basically is starting over.

Karen Kraemer, 18, of Downers Grove South High School and Lindsey Minnich, 20, of Judson College in Elgin, help serve a chicken and dumplings dinner at First Baptist Church. Two volunteers stayed behind each day to prepare meals while the rest of the group worked on homes.

Along with having a place to stay, volunteers need someone to tell them what to do, too.

That's where David Fox comes into the picture for the group of suburban Chicago teens traveling with Christian-based Campus Life.

Fox's company, Serve Management, partners with the Southern Baptist Convention of Georgia. The team of churches has adopted Hancock County - where Bay St. Louis sits - and sends volunteers, supplies and money.

At the church where the teens stayed - as well as the other host churches - locals filled out applications listing the help they needed. Fox interviewed the families he thought would be good candidates for the kids to help.

"Most of these people sign up on every list they can find," he says. "Because they never know where their name is going to come up first."

Virtually every church has a David Fox - someone who has some professional construction experience and can teach the basics of painting, roofing, cabinetry and other household projects.

Cross says she is bewildered by how the hard labor that could drive volunteers away seems to keep them coming back.

"Most groups are repeats," Cross says. "They get so touched that, if it's possible, they come back. Normally, they find someone they started working with and adopt them to watch their progress."

A dedicated effort

Donnie Stubblefield has lost track of how many times he's returned to Hancock County since his first visit just weeks after the hurricane hit.

The pastor at Naperville's Crossroads Community Church has committed to bringing groups of volunteers from throughout the suburbs for the next five to eight years to help the Ward family.

"If we finish with them sooner than that, we'll move on to another family for however long it takes," says Stubblefield, whose congregation raised $40,000 for the family. "We wanted to help the people who were helping the people."

Stubblefield met Mart and Jenny Ward during his first visit to the area. He marveled at how they coordinated volunteer efforts shortly after the storm, despite losing their own home.

He learned the couple lived with the rest of their family in 10 houses spread across 40 acres, which was swallowed by nine feet of water during the storm.

During spring break, Stubblefield's crew began building a new home for James and Cheryl Ward, Mart Ward's parents.

"Without Donnie and them, we wouldn't know what to do," James Ward says, adding that insurance companies deemed their homes wind- or flood-damaged, depending on the coverage they had. If they had flood coverage, insurance adjusters said the damage was wind-related and vice versa, he said.

Group Leader Mike Paull walks past the water lines still stained on the doors of First Baptist Church in Bay St. Louis, Miss. The church has vowed to be the last building to completely rebuild, instead vowing to serve as a boarding house for volunteers traveling to help residents rebuild along the coast.

"We've always been on the giving end," Cheryl Ward says. "It's very humbling to be on the receiving end."

The experience of living in tents and trailers also humbled those who came to help, like Sarah Campbell, 13, of Naperville and Sammie Helberg, 12, of Aurora.

"Other kids probably wouldn't like leaving the couch, because - let's face it - we're spoiled," says Sarah, who stayed at the site with her parents, Vicky and Gary, and brother, Andrew, a student at Neuqua Valley High School in Aurora. "We're used to nice houses, electricity; and here we're just in trailers."

"Nobody is used to this kind of stuff," adds Sammie, who came her with her 10-year-old brother and parents, Lynn and Don, the track coach at Wheaton North High School. "We're suburbia girls."

"But it doesn't matter how you live when you realize everyone is in the same condition as you are," Campbell says.

The Wards say they feel connected to volunteers, too.

"To see someone you don't know now like a brother or sister, it's hard to put into words what's here," says James Ward, a clenched fist over his heart.

The desire to return touched two other groups staying at Our Lady of the Gulf Church - just blocks away from the Campus Life group.

Members of Naperville-based St. Margaret Mary and Inverness-based Holy Family parishes were shocked when they discovered they were staying at the same church.

"It's like you're rooted here," says Candy Rice, the director of youth ministry for the Naperville church. "Now, you can't not come back."

After just a few days of work, the teens ask if they can return, says Marylee Nowak of Algonquin, who volunteers with the Naperville group.

"They got a taste of real life and what happens to people, because the suburbs are pretty comfortable," she says.

It's also likely that the Inverness group will return.

"I can't imagine not coming back," says Allie Griffin, 18, a senior at Naperville North High School. "I thought after seven months we would be painting the outside of houses, but it looks like Katrina happened yesterday."

Despite all the destruction they encounter, the volunteers are struck by the spirit of the people, Candy Rice says.

"They have every reason not to smile," she says. "And I haven't seen one resident without a smile."

'We made a difference'

At the end of their last work day, one group leaves a note for the woman whose house they painted.

"We did our best with a little paint, but it's really the work of Christ that matters here today," it reads.

Their leader, Joel Longshore, who heads up the Elgin chapter of Campus Life, reminds them that their contribution may not feel like much to them, but the work wasn't about them.

"When you live your life in despair and chaos, you will look for hope in any little place you can find it," Longshore says. "The frustrations these people are dealing with we can't fathom. But to paint this home gives this woman a little extra hope."

But by the end of the trip - and after the 16-hour drive home - the teens resolve their feelings in white letters written across the back of one of their vans.

"We made a difference in Bay St. Louis," it reads.

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