University Aids Katrina Victims

Jonathan Elkin ’08 and Melissa Berg of Franklin Marshall College repair the roof of a home in Biloxi, Mississippi, damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Elkin is one of 40 undergraduates who volunteered from March 11 to 19 as part of Alternative Spring Break.

Late in August 2005, the world watched, and wept, as a large portion of the United States’ Gulf Coast was nearly obliterated by Hurricane Katrina. But it wasn’t long before University students, faculty, and staff exhibited boundless energy and compassion, springing into action to help the victims of the disaster.

Before September was over, students in the College staged two musical benefits, JAM-balaya and JAM-balaya 2, to raise money for the American Red Cross. The University Jazz Ensemble concert and the Eastman Jazz Showcase collected money to help jazz musicians in New Orleans.

The Rush Rhees Library joined the national Adopt-a-Library program, and its benefit, JambaLibrary!, with lectures and jazz performances, collected donations to restock the library shelves at Southern University of New Orleans. The Memorial Art Gallery collected donations during the annual M&T Bank Clothesline Festival.

The Medical Center registered as a Hurricane Katrina Response Unit, health care professionals traveled to disaster-relief locations, and the Friends of Strong Memorial Hospital held a 5K run/walk to raise money for the relief effort.

And all divisions of the University opened their doors to students from Tulane University and other institutions in New Orleans, so they could continue their studies until their schools reopened.

In spring 2006, with the region still reeling, 40 students traveled to one of the hardest-hit areas, Biloxi, Mississippi, as part of the school’s Alternative Spring Break. So many students wanted to sign up for the trip that the College held a lottery to determine which students would go.

“Different schools and different people responded to the best of their abilities,” President Seligman says. “Our students, staff, and faculty responded from the heart with the type of empathy that a good neighbor or a member of a real community extends to those in need.”