One nail at a time during two trips to New Orleans late last year, Ballard resident Julie Reimer helped build a new home for a New Orleans resident devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Reimer, who lives in Loyal Heights, went to New Orleans as part of the Weyerhaeuser Company's disaster response efforts. Company employees from all over the U.S. spent hours building homes for Weyerhauser workers who lost their homes in the 2005 disaster.

In early 2006, Weyerhaeuser made a one year commitment to help their employees living in New Orleans who were victims of Katrina.

Reimer and other Weyerhauser staff stepped up to the plate to help out. She was in New Orleans for two weeks last October and another two weeks in December.

Reimer was out of town when the hurricane hit New Orleans on August 31, 2005 and did not see any of the television news reports. After living in Baton Rouge, where she attended Louisiana State University for five years, Reimer said her heart was there for the hurricane victims.

When Weyerhaeuser employees were told they could go to New Orleans to help build new homes with full support from the company, Reimer jumped at the chance.

The experience was like a crash course in carpentry. She drove nails, installed electrical outlets, switches, fans and other odd jobs.

It took volunteers eight weeks to build a new home. Each house was elevated to protect it from future floods.

Reimer and the other workers labored six days a week, all day long to complete their task.

Over 260 Weyerhaeuser employees and retirees repaired, rebuilt or replaced more than 50 homes damaged or destroyed by the storm. The company also dispatched a disaster relief coordinator to assist with relief aid, an adopt-a-family program, along with raising contributions.

Weyerhaeuser was presented with The Ron Brown Award for Corporate Leadership for their efforts.

"We were employees from all over the country. All of us working together to rebuild the lives of people. We were there to help," said Reimer.

On Sundays, the volunteers toured the city. Reimer said there is so much left to be done, homes and lives continue to be disrupted.

"I wish everyone can have the opportunity to see that. People are trying to put their lives back together again," said Reimer.

One of the side jobs Reimer did was going to an area near the Ninth Ward, where she helped spray bleach solution on black mold growing in homes.

She said there was still salt water in the ceiling lamp of one house and some sea shells under the bathtub. "House after house was devastated. It was crazy," Reimer said.

When the home Reimer helped build was finished, the keys were handed over to the owner. "It was very emotional. I basically built a friendship. The look on her face was a huge smile," she said.

Reimer is a chemist with Weyerhaeuser. She does research and development on new uses of tree fiber.