Comforting Katrina's Children

Jennifer Garner, Reese Witherspoon and Holly Robinson Peete tour still-devastated New Orleans and hear tales of heartache. Now, their message to the world: 'It's critical. They need help'



"I was surprised by my own emotional response," says Reese Witherspoon (with Tylea Conner, 4, left, and Ashanti Chartain, 2) at a FEMA trailer park – one of three sites, along with a school and makeshift hospital, that she visited with a delegation of 30 women from Hollywood.



"I see a lot of hope and joy in these children, laughing and playing despite all that's happened," says new mom Jennifer Garner (with Tylea Conner). "I'll think of them when I hold my own daughter close to me."



"Why am I here before my lawmakers?" asked Holly Robinson Peete (left, with Malaak Compton-Rock, wife of comedian Chris Rock) on hearing that only 88 of 535 legislators have come to New Orleans. "Why aren't they down here seeing this?"

Source: PEOPLE