Katrina 'voluntourists' make labor a vacation - USATODAY.com

Katrina 'voluntourists' make labor a vacation - USATODAY.com:

"Shattuck is among the massive wave of volunteers — half a million, by one estimate — who have come here from across the nation in the nearly 18 months since Katrina struck.

Their impact on the storm-ravaged state has been immeasurable. From Pascagoula in the east to Bay St. Louis in the west, these volunteers have been the one positive constant for residents who have battled through lengthy power outages, mosquito infestations, stuffy FEMA trailers, recalcitrant insurers and an often molasses-slow government bureaucracy.

'They built our community back,' D'Iberville Mayor Rusty Quave says. 'Without those volunteer groups, we would be just starting. Our houses would be like some of the parishes in Louisiana where there are 10,000 houses that have not been mucked out.'"