PROVIDENCE — The banner showed a pile of twisted lumber, a roof propped at an improbable angle – the remnants of a New Orleans home shattered by Hurricane Katrina. Next to it were the words “We will rebuild.”

Tabatha L. Glavin, a Providence police sergeant, said that image of the ruined home captured the devastation she saw when she went to New Orleans in August, nearly a year after the hurricane, to help build homes with Habitat for Humanity. “Sadly, that is what you still see today in much of New Orleans, in the Ninth Ward,” she said. “Many residents said, ‘People have forgotten us.’ ”

But yesterday Glavin and other Habitat for Humanity volunteers hammered together the walls of a new house at downtown’s outdoor ice rink. They then took apart sections of the home, placed them on a container truck and shipped them to Mississippi, where the sections will form the new home of a Jackson County family displaced by Katrina.

“This is an important expression of how we have not forgotten our brothers and sisters who started in poverty and wound up with nothing,” said Nicolas P. Retsinas, a Providence resident who is chairman of the Habitat for Humanity International board.

When Katrina hit, many people wanted to come to New Orleans to help, but there just weren’t enough places for them to stay, Retsinas said. So Habitat for Humanity International came up with the “House in a Box” program, part of “Operation Home Delivery.” And so far, 340 houses have been built and shipped to the Gulf Coast.

Another 230 houses are under construction. And Retsinas told the volunteers, “Habitat has become the largest homebuilder in New Orleans because of people like you.”

Herman deKoe, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Rhode Island — Greater Providence, said the organization wanted to do something when the hurricane hit, and action began when India Restaurant called and combined on a fundraiser that generated $25,000. University of Rhode Island students and faculty helped raise another $35,000, and now Habitat for Humanity is trying to raise the final $15,000 needed to cover the project’s $75,000 price tag, he said. Those interested in donating can go to www.habitatprov.org.

At 11 a.m. yesterday, amid brilliant October sunlight, about 40 volunteers converged on the Bank of America City Center rink, covered in two-by-fours instead of ice. About 25 of the volunteers swung hammers, driving 3 1/2-inch galvanized nails into 184 wooden studs and quickly framing four walls, which were raised and later dismantled into 28 panels, ready for shipping.

“Today shows people can and will pull together,” deKoe said.

Other volunteers staffed a table where people could make $5 donations and sign wooden studs that would be used in Habitat for Humanity projects. A sign on the table read “Prove you’re a stud.”

Retsinas emphasized that in addition to natural disasters, there is a lack of affordable housing in general.

“People every day are a disaster away from not having a place to live,” he said. “The disaster could be a sick child, a broken car, a missed paycheck.”

DeKoe said that while this is the wealthiest country in the world, many families live in substandard housing. “That’s not acceptable ethically, morally and economically,” he said. He and other speakers urged Rhode Islanders to vote yes on Question 9, a November ballot referendum that would provide $50 million to build affordable housing.

Yesterday’s event, sponsored by Ed Wojcik Architecture Ltd., attracted a variety of political candidates and officials, including U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin, U.S. Senate candidate Sheldon Whitehouse, Governor Carcieri and his opponent in the November election, Lt. Gov. Charles J. Fogarty.