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This
student-run program is designed to match volunteers with service
opportunities in the Hays area. Sponsored by the Student Government
Association, the Center for Civic Leadership, and the Office
of Student Affairs, Tigers in Service is a clearinghouse for
students with a desire to participate in community service
activities. |
January, 2006: Hurricane
Relief Trip
| On January 2, 2006, 12 Tigers In Service volunteers
and four Nurses Christian Fellowship members said goodbye to
the normalcy of the rest of winter break and set off for New
Orleans with a mission in mind: to help with the hurricane relief
efforts. On January 3, we arrived at the Grace Disciples of
Christ Church in Mandeville, LA, a short hour from New Orleans.
Three days were spent “cutting and gutting” homes
in the heart of one of the cities most drastically affected
by Hurricane Katrina. Before home owners can |
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even dream
of rebuilding, their homes mustfirst undergo the “cutting”
process, which involves removing all the furniture and personal
belongings that have been in the house since Katrina hit.
Since the water levels rose up to the roofs of the houses,
and stayed there for several days, all the items in the houses
are extremely moldy, wet, and heavy. The next step is to completely
“gut” the houses by taking out all the walls and
ceilings, leaving only the wood structures to frame the houses.
After the “cutting and gutting” process is complete,
the home owners have hope for rebuilding.
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Tigers In Service volunteers began the return trip home after
completing the daunting task of stripping two homes. Volunteers
were not only able to aid others by performing much needed physical
labor while on this trip, but we also had the opportunity to
hear firsthand accounts from those who had escaped the hurricanes,
lost friends and possessions in the tragedy, and who are now
working towards the mounting goal of rebuilding. The owners
saved anywhere from $6,000-12,000 of insurance money by having
Tigers In Service volunteers “cut and gut” for them.
While we saved a few people thousands of dollars, when we were
in New Orleans, we learned that the greatest gift we gave was
not the gift of physical labor, or even money; the greatest
contribution we gave was hope. A bunch of college kids from
Kansas caring enough to put their lives on hold to help others
gives more hope to those who must live with the reality of the
hurricanes than one could ever imagine.
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The people we encountered while in New
Orleans have made permanent footprints on the hearts and lives
of every volunteer who went on this relief trip. One specific
image that comes to mind is that of a yard sign that was standing
in the middle of all the destroyed homes, it read: “I
AM COMING HOME! I WILL REBUILD. I AM NEW ORLEANS.”
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