I've always been one to get involved in some type of community service projects, AIDS or MS walks, or collecting canned goods. When I went to the American Humanist Association's conference with the Secular Student Alliance last year, I heard Ashley Carter from the University of Illinois Atheists, Agnostics, and Freethinkers give a talk about her group's service trip to New Orleans with Campus Crusade for Christ. After listening for a while, I couldn't help but think to myself, “Why haven't we thought of that?'

Once back in Ohio, the planning started early. I began to develop a relationship with a Christian campus group, The Thomas Society, at Ohio State. After having doing multiple events with them, we created a good relationship, and they were happy to allow us to join in on their yearly spring break New Orleans service trip with their church.

The trip itself was amazing. On the way down to Louisiana, not many people knew each other, even within our own group. Thankfully, the 14-hour ride down on the church bus helped us to get to know a few people, or at least those sitting around us. Initially, everyone just kind talked amongst themselves, hanging out in their own little cliques. At the time, the majority of the members of the Thomas Society had no idea that they had an atheist/secular group tagging along (this wasn't a secret, but initially the people organizing the trip were the only ones aware).

The first night there, people were slowly starting to mingle with each other in their rooms. Conversations galore included questions such as, “Where are you from?,” “What's your major?,” or “What church/campus ministry are you a part of?” After being asked the latter by a couple of girls, I responded with the fearful, “Oh, I didn't come with a church – I came with my freethought/atheist group.” The girls were a little thrown, but genuinely interested. It was a great conversation starter. The fun conversations continued with other people as well - from our rooms, to the bus, to Bourbon St., to the worksite. Everyone was quite friendly about it, and curious. There was no real arguing or any type of hostility towards one other.

The group that came down to help consisted of about 60 people (50 of which were students), so we didn't have the opportunity to all work on one worksite (there were about 8 of them). We go to do a wide array of things, from tearing out old rotted cabinetry, scrubbing mold off walls, and chipping up vinyl tile to putting up drywall, building porches, working on roof trusses, putting up soffits, and much more! Most of the homes we worked on were old ones being repaired from Hurricane Katrina, but there was some new construction as well. The work itself was quite fun, but incredibly tiring. Seeing the final product, however, with what all you had accomplished, and knowing that you were helping either build a new home or getting someone out of their FEMA trailer was a great feeling.  Some students actually got to meet the families that they had helped!

While we were down in New Orleans, we didn't only spend time with the church group. We got the opportunity to go explore the French Quarter, and we even got to meet up with the University of Illinois Atheists, Agnostics, and Freethinkers and a few members of the New Orleans Secular Humanist Association! It was really nice to be able to meet more people from the secular community across state lines.

Overall, the trip was simply amazing. Everyone who came had a great experience and has already been talking it up with other group members. It really brought our group closer together, and has motivated everyone to do more of this type of community service work. We're already in the early stages of planning the trip again for next year, as well as other, local service projects.

If anyone is interested in doing this type of trip, I'd highly recommend checking out the Secular Student Alliance’s Service Trip Activity Packet. It has tons of useful information that will help you and your group accomplish a very successful trip!