Spring breakers fix homes.

The annual tradition for college students called spring break sends shudders down the spines of concerned parents as well as the beleaguered local residents of such beach side communities as Panama City, Florida, and Padre Island, Texas. However, if a new trend catches on, parents and many other folks may breathe a sigh of relief.

Inspired partially by the destruction wrought by hurricanes along the Gulf Coast last year, many spring breakers decided to volunteer their youthful energy to perform positive charitable work this spring.

In one article about this welcome turnabout, "New Orleans Working Vacations Catch On," in the Washington Post for March 15, the writer observed: "[Anita McClendon] and thousands of other volunteers are combining work and play to help rebuild this devastated city. This month, they are being joined by hundreds of college students spending spring break here and on Mississippi's Gulf Coast."

The article quoted Alexis Logan, 22, a senior political science major and one of several Howard University students who spent spring break working with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans. Said Miss Logan: "Traditional spring breaks are when students go to tropical islands and do what college students do.... This may not be as fun, but it will be just as rewarding in the end."

Another article, in the Christian Science Monitor for March 17, told of a student group from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who also spent spring break living amidst rather primitive conditions (outdoor toilets and showers) while helping to rebuild New Orleans. Philip Jones, one of the students, said: "This is the weirdest but most rewarding trip I've ever taken. At first, I said there was no way I was going to give up my last spring break to come here. Now I'm not regretting it a bit."

The report estimated that 10,000 such students spent their spring break helping with the rebuilding effort. "Everybody talks about all these billions [of federal dollars] coming down, but on a one-to-one basis they're not seeing anything," New Orleans City Councilor Cynthia Morrell told the Monitor. "It's an opportunity to go into a depression, and all of a sudden here come these kids, and even adults that come to help, and it's almost as if someone's reaching out a hand and saying, 'It's OK, we'll help you get on your feet.'"

Not everyone who spent his spring break helping out was a college student, however. Duane Clayton had recently returned from a tour of duty with the Army in Iraq. He ...