Chadron State students provide hurricane relief

2009 May 1

Alex Adden of Sidney, a junior at Chadron State College, is one of nearly 50 volunteers who participated in one of two college-sponsored hurricane relief missions to the Gulf Coast during spring break.

Adden is one of 41 students who went to to Galveston, Texas, where Hurricane Ike battered the region Sept. 13, 2008. Another eight students went to New Orleans to assist in an effort to restore the region's cultural heritage, damaged by Hurricane Katrina four years ago. A primary objective of both trips was to give students experiences in volunteering.

Those going to Galveston did extensive physical labor, such as cleaning up fallen trees, tearing shingles off a roof and knocking down a garage that had been heavily damaged by the hurricane.

In New Orleans, the students helped the Catholic Archdiocese reclaim archival materials and refurbish artifacts that had been soaked by the flood that nearly washed the city off the map when Katrina hit in August 2005.

The Galveston trip worked under the auspices of the National Relief Network, although it did not provide funding. The trip was paid for with a mixture of appropriations from several college funds, a grant from the Midwest Consortium for Service Learning in Higher Education, donations from the community and out-of-pocket contributions by the participating students.

Deena Kennell, CSC director of internships and career services, led the Texas group. Sarah Polak, director of CSC's Sandoz Center, was sponsor of the New Orleans mission. Assisting Kennell as trip sponsors were Jim Sheaffer, retired CSC political science professor, and Tara Hindman, a CSC graduate assistant.

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A more detailed story about the to trips -- with photos and quotations from some of the students -- is available at http://www.csc.edu/news/story.csc?article=4982