Students Spend Spring Break Rebuilding Homes For Flood Victims

David Byrd, a sophomore atthe University of North Carolina at Greensboro, could be living it up on Spring Break.

Instead, he is in one of the hardest hit areas of Rocky Mount. He is rebuilding Habitat for Humanity homes hit by Floyd.

"I prayed about it and really felt God calling me to come here instead of going to the beach and hanging out," Byrd says. "Not only am I being able to serve the people here, but I'm able to serve Him, and that is what's most important to me."

A group of UNC-Greensboro students is spending Spring Break rebuilding homes. They belong to theInterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

For the next three weeks, students from other schools will do the same.

The work is not easy. It includes everything from scrubbing off mold to pulling nails from flooded floors.

"I've always loved construction work and I've been on the mission trips," says Melanie Pritchard, a junior at UNC-Greensboro. "I always go on the mission part with working outside and stuff like that. I just feel this is where the Lord really wanted me to be this week."

The project will help ease a serious housing shortage in Rocky Mount. Organizers say the work also teaches a thing or two to the students.

"We're really appreciating the fact that God does care for the needs of people," says Shawn Morrison, InterVarsity Campus Ministry. "So we're able to be used by the Lord to help in the area, so it's great."

The students hope to repair six Habitat houses by April.