Of the thousands of people who have come to St. Tammany Parish to help the area rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, the young men and women of Americorps have been all over the area from Slidell to New Orleans, doing whatever they can to help the recovery.

A group of 10 Americorps workers who have been here for the past 10 weeks left this week to go back to their headquarters in Denver, and their work and experience here is a testament to Americorps.

Mandated by the U.S. Congress in 1993, Americorps was formed under the National Community Service Trust Act. Americorps is sort of like the domestic Peace Corps, where people between the ages of 18 and 25 can join up and go out into the country helping communities that need disaster relief, education support and other aid.

(Use arrows above to view more photos)

“We go where there is a human need,” said Mary Helen Gillen, who is from Maryland.

The Americorps ranks are trained at three “campuses” in the U.S. located in Denver, Sacramento, Calif., and Maryland. Pernell Krupp, who heads up the Americorps team in Slidell, said two more training centers are planned for Mississippi and Iowa.

Americorps workers sign up for a 10-month stint and travel all over the country, even though most of the workers have been working in the Gulf Coast region for the past three years because of Hurricane Katrina. Krupp said 60 percent of the Americorps workers are currently in the Gulf Coast region.

Krupp said his team have been in the area since May and left Thursday for Denver, where another team will replace them.

Americorps workers are not volunteers. They get paid a bit below minimum wage, but at the end of their time, they are given an extra $4,000 to use for continuing their education or paying off student loans.

The Northshore Disaster Recovery Inc. a non-profit, is the sponsor for Krupp’s team and has assigned it to various chores both in Slidell and in New Orleans. Matt Ward of Illinois, Matt Summerhville from Utah and Heather Ferrell of Utah were busy Monday using a power washer to clean all the dirt and mold off the playground equipment in Heritage Park. Meanwhile, Krupp and the rest of the team were busy storing building supplies in an NRDI warehouse on Old Liberty Road.

“We do what the community asks,” Ward said.

Since their arrival in May, the Americorps workers have done everything from gutting and renovating houses in New Orleans East to moving church pews from a Slidell church to a church in the Lower Ninth Ward.

Of course, they have other natural disasters that need the help of Americorps. Krupp, who hails from Georgia, said recently two members of his team were rushed off to help the people in the flooded towns of Iowa.

“We are trained in disaster aid, first aid and how to set up living areas in disaster areas,” said Americorps worker Isaac Zussman, who hails from Rhode Island.

As expected, Americorps workers come from all over the country and even from other countries. Inga Degegori is from Lithuania. She came to help after the hurricane, joined Americorps and decided to settle in the U.S.

Besides the pay and the feeling of helping out, the Americorps volunteers are well taken care of in their assignments. Krupp’s team lived in a house they helped renovate in New Orleans East. Their housing, food, clothing and health needs are taken care of by Americorps.

“They take very good care of us,” said Vanessa Staff of Massachusetts.

For Krupp, the work has other benefits. He said his team, which he calls Sun Six, has become a family, and the spirit of teamwork is what makes the hard work worthwhile.