2008 Woodie Awards
Editorial: A mission for good
Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: Editorial/Opinion
01/30/08 - While many university students are on the beaches of the Bahamas during spring break, others will spend the brief session of freedom swinging hammers and driving nails, all in the name of community service.
In March, Gail Faris will lead a group of 25 students on a mission to rebuild homes in the storm-ravaged city of Birmingham, Ala. Although the memory of Hurricane Katrina may fade fast for those in New England, it is still readily visible along much of the Gulf Coast.
If New Orleans is any example, the picture is bleak. By some estimates there are more than 20,000 derelict buildings within the city, many thousands of them homes, according to a New York Times article. The article, published just last Sunday, cites the disturbing and depressing statistic that roughly 27,500 families remain in FEMA-issued trailers that provide cramped living space at best.
More than two years after President George W. Bush stood in the heart of New Orleans and promised that "we will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives," finding affordable housing remains out of reach for thousands of families up and down the coast.
The Alternative Spring Break program will serve a most basic need of lending a hand while helping raise awareness of the desperate need that those caught in the hurricane's path experienced. Although not connected, it seems only fitting that the program comes just two months after an Honors class held an event to put the spotlight back on the Crescent City.
The event and trip show that students can, in their own small ways, make a positive impact on those thousands of miles away they have never met.
The trip is also not a one-way benefit. While residents will benefit from the physical labor, the students stand to gain a valuable understanding of a culture very different from rural Kingston. In Alabama, the students will find thousands of residents with a commitment to rebuild and find a population strongly attached to their faith.
In March, Gail Faris will lead a group of 25 students on a mission to rebuild homes in the storm-ravaged city of Birmingham, Ala. Although the memory of Hurricane Katrina may fade fast for those in New England, it is still readily visible along much of the Gulf Coast.
If New Orleans is any example, the picture is bleak. By some estimates there are more than 20,000 derelict buildings within the city, many thousands of them homes, according to a New York Times article. The article, published just last Sunday, cites the disturbing and depressing statistic that roughly 27,500 families remain in FEMA-issued trailers that provide cramped living space at best.
More than two years after President George W. Bush stood in the heart of New Orleans and promised that "we will do what it takes, we will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives," finding affordable housing remains out of reach for thousands of families up and down the coast.
The Alternative Spring Break program will serve a most basic need of lending a hand while helping raise awareness of the desperate need that those caught in the hurricane's path experienced. Although not connected, it seems only fitting that the program comes just two months after an Honors class held an event to put the spotlight back on the Crescent City.
The event and trip show that students can, in their own small ways, make a positive impact on those thousands of miles away they have never met.
The trip is also not a one-way benefit. While residents will benefit from the physical labor, the students stand to gain a valuable understanding of a culture very different from rural Kingston. In Alabama, the students will find thousands of residents with a commitment to rebuild and find a population strongly attached to their faith.