Campus Community Pitches in for Hurricane Relief
As heart-wrenching images of Katrina’s destructive
aftermath flooded America’s television screens, Trinity students
stepped back onto campus with a sense of urgency to aid in the
relief efforts. From athletics teams to the Student Government
Association (SGA) and the Black Student Union, the campus rallied to
raise funds and donate support.
Hillel and the field
hockey team volunteered their time at the State Armory, where
thousands of area residents dropped off donations of food and water.
Another group of students, in a grassroots effort, went door to door
(as well as classroom to classroom) collecting money from faculty,
staff, and students, raising $2,000 for Second Harvest, the largest
food relief organization in the country. And in the most successful
Katrina fundraising effort on campus to date, the SGA, under the
leadership of Narin Prum ’06, organized a benefit concert featuring
a cappella groups and other campus musicians that raised almost
$3,000—which is being matched by the President’s Office.
Director of the
Office of Community Service and Civic Engagement Joe Barber, after
much research and in consultation with student organizations, will send all College donations to two small relief agencies:
Southern Mutual Help Association, Inc.(www.southernmutualhelp.org),
which works primarily with agricultural
and pervasively poor communities, and NOLA Hurricane Relief
Fund (www.nolahurricanefund.org), a group of Tulane University
students helping New Orleans public school students.
Tulane students,
while working valiantly to organize the NOLA fund, were also
scrambling to find a school in which to enroll for the fall
semester. The College embraced the opportunity to welcome 10
students from Tulane and one from Loyola University in New Orleans,
quickly renovating apartments on Crescent Street to house some of
the students. A special orientation was held on September 14 during
which the president greeted the students, assuring them that it was
an honor to have them at Trinity.
The momentum for the
relief efforts is still in full swing with hundreds of plastic
yellow wristbands inscribed with “Katrina” being sold on campus as
well as “Rajun Cajun” T-shirts and Mardi Gras beads. Said President
Jones, “I am proud to be a part of this great College that has
rallied together to lend a helping hand to our fellow human beings
who find themselves in desperate straits and in unimaginable
circumstances wrought by the power of Hurricane Katrina.”
Story
contributed by Carlin Carr
back
to top
Return to eQuad table of
contents
|
