ST. BERNARD PARISH, La. - The French Quarter, Mardi Gras, Preservation Hall: New Orleans once counted on these landmarks to draw a crowd. But in the three years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, the Big Easy's unending blocks of flood-devastated homes have attracted a very different sort of visitor.

More than 1.1 million "voluntourists" have responded to the region's call to service, contributing 4.5 million hours of help since late 2005, according to Mayor Ray Nagin. Although these good Samaritans hail from across the globe, they share a common purpose: They're eager to help Katrina victims rebuild their lives, and they're willing to get their hands dirty in the process.

Just this year, voluntourists have gutted houses, landscaped parks, painted playgrounds and rebuilt community centers. The American Library Association restored local libraries during its annual conference in 2006, while groups of visiting physicians have donated their time to the city's free clinics. No matter how people get here -- whether through their church, their college, a professional association or simply on their own -- there is a job for every willing worker and the need could not be greater.

A trip through St. Bernard Parish, once a middle-class suburb of 67,229 just outside New Orleans, reveals row after row of burned-out, half-collapsed buildings that wouldn't look out of place in war-torn Bosnia. Some have been overtaken by tall grass, while others have been reduced to a slab foundation. Virtually the entire parish was submerged under 5 to 12 feet of water, with only five homes spared.

On one lot, a homeowner has spray-painted "Goodbye oil' friend" on a shed, along with a plea: "Do demolish." On another, a brave soul has parked a FEMA trailer atop the slab that used to support his home. He is the only person still living on this street, which once had 30 or 40 homes.

The people who live in these neighborhoods say they feel betrayed and forgotten by their government, which has yet to restore basic sewage and fire services to much of the parish. (Vacuum trucks run 24/7 to transport human waste to the sewage treatment plant.)

Strong backs and greenbacks

But Wayne Warner, longtime principal of Chalmette High School in St. Bernard Parish, says the tireless efforts of volunteers from across America have restored his faith in his country -- and his countrymen.

Recalling the volunteers who gutted his home, Warner spoke of a man who broke down in tears one afternoon. Sitting on a nearby curb, the man wondered aloud, "There are so many houses like this left to do. What difference can I make?"

His voice quavering with emotion, Warner recalled his reply: "Well, it makes huge difference to me."

So say many New Orleanians. Locals feel doubly blessed by these out-of-state visitors, who inject welcome dollars into the regional economy even as they provide a desperately needed source of free labor. As the Rev. David Crosby of First Baptist Church noted, the floodwaters were followed by a "second surge of labor and goods. ... We need that surge to continue because we just don't have enough builders and tradesmen in New Orleans to get the job done."

Both Warner and Crosby emphasized again and again that locals are not lazy, and they want America to know that they are proud people trying to regain their independence. More than that, they don't want to be forgotten.

The depth of residents' gratitude was on display in the French Quarter on June 22 when two city natives stopped to thank a group of young men -- their telltale matching orange shirts tagging them as volunteers -- eating beignets at Cafe du Monde. A waitress reported these thank yous have become commonplace among appreciative diners.

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