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Elon community continues hurricane relief with return trip to Gulf Coast
In three days, the group performed more than 900 hours of relief work to help the Bay St. Louis community, one of the towns hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. During mass on Sunday, May 28, Father Tracey of our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church in Bay St. Louis recognized Elon as the first group of people who came to aid their community after the hurricane hit. He thanked Elon for its significant and ongoing effort to help rebuild their community.
Students participating in a Fall Break service trip were the first group of Elon volunteers to visit Bay St. Louis, thus beginning the ongoing efforts to help the small, gulf side town rebuild. Trips were also made to the area during Winter Term, the break between Winter and Spring terms, and over Spring Break.
Brian O'Shea
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Memorial Day weekend was especially
meaningful for a group of 30 Elon faculty, staff and students
who continued Elon’s commitment to the hurricane
ravaged town of Bay St. Louis, Miss. The group was led by JJ
Scott and four student leaders from the Kernodle Center for
Service Learning.
“As a university, we wanted to
give faculty and staff the opportunity to experience
first-hand the profound growth and learning from service
which our students gained over the course of four trips to
Bay St. Louis during this past year,” said Dr. Smith
Jackson, vice president for student life and chair of the
Elon Hurricane Katrina Relief Steering Committee.
During the winter term trip, a
service-learning class taught by Ocek Eke, assistant
professor of communications, and Alexa Darby, assistant
professor of psychology, established a relationship with the
family of Mary and Terry Dow and pledged to rebuilt their
house. During the Memorial Day weekend trip, Prof. Darby,
along with Prof. Jessica Gisclair, associate professor of
communications, headed a specialized work crew within the
Elon group which spent over 220 hours insulating and sheet
rocking the walls of the Dow House, as well as framing a new
room and cleaning the debris from the property. Prior to the
trip, donations to rebuild the house were collected from
faculty and staff across the university, and electrical
supplies were donated by the family of Elon student Jaime
Snyder.
The following faculty, staff,
students and guests volunteered for the Memorial Day trip.
Staff members applied and were granted Service Sabbaticals
through Project Pericles, so they didn't have to take
vacation for the days they spent in Mississippi.