On behalf of all New Orleans area residents, I want to thank Sonia Khaleel, State News copy editor, Megan Sutton, my student, and the 21 other MSU students who participated in the Alternative Spring Break in New Orleans. We desperately need your help, and we appreciate it more than words can say.

It's true that you can't appreciate the magnitude of what happened there if you haven't seen it with your own eyes.

It's dramatic to see a house on top of a car, as in the photo published (SN 3/17).

Now imagine thousands of them. Imagine driving from the Okemos Meijer to the Capitol. Now imagine that every house and building for a mile on either side is completely destroyed and you have a picture of only one of New Orleans' devastated neighborhoods.

As much as it hurts to see my hometown in this condition, I'm very proud of the students who sacrificed their time to help out.

Tara Sanchez
linguistics professor