CSPP Students Spend Spring Break Rebuilding Homes & Lives in New Orleans

April 12, 2006 - San Francisco -- Five students from the San Francisco Campus of California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) at Alliant International University traveled to New Orleans to spend their spring break rebuilding homes and lives. The students -- Ramon Martinez, Cara Hoffman, Colleen Gray, Ashley Tani and Judy Hwang -- paid their own airfare and transportation costs, while Opportunity Rocks, an organization started by Senator John Edwards, paid for their meals in Louisiana.

Judy Hwang, who provided a chronicle of the students' experience between March 15 and19, said, "Personally witnessing the devastation of Katrina was a life-changing experience. I was also present in New York City when the terrorist attacks occurred on September 11th. In both tragedies, I was amazed at the camaraderie and joining of human spirits to help others during times of devastation, grief, and major losses."

A Chronicle of Rebuilding Homes & Lives

"I am writing you today to share with you our incredible community service experience in New Orleans, LA from March 15-19, when we joined with Opportunity Rocks and Habitat for Humanity to help begin the process of rebuilding homes for the victims of Hurricane Katrina," writes Judy Hwang. 

"Our journey began when we arrived in New Orleans to a reception held by Senator John Edwards to welcome 650+ college students from all over the nation in this combined effort and spirit of volunteerism. After four hours of instructions and safety training, we were shipped out on buses to Baton Rouge (1.5 hours from New Orleans) to be housed in Southern University's athletic gymnasium. For the next four nights, Southern University's gymnasium's concrete floor was our home.

"We met up with groups of students who went to New Orleans because they were sponsored by their respective colleges or universities. They had an administrative advocate who sought funding in order for the students to make t he trip without spending their own money.

"Alliant students were grouped with three other students from Barnard College, Columbia University and Baylor University. The eight of us were assigned to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Clifton Savage in St. Bernard's Parish. Their home was among the worst hit because Murphy's Oil Refinery had an oil spill that made their neighborhood completely uninhabitable.

"The Savage's home also had not been entered by any cleaning crew since the flooding and devastation of Katrina. Thus, we had our work cut out for us. For two days, we sledge-hammered, axed, and shoveled through debris, mud, oil, and eight months of standing water to cleanup the Savage's home. Admittedly, Mrs. Savage apologized for being a 'pack rat.'

"We gutted the home by removing shelves, doors, mud and oil-caked carpets, clothing, years of collected magazines and newspapers, cabinetry, major kitchen appliances such as stoves, dishwasher, sink, and refrigerator. The refrigerator had eight months of rotting food and there was definitely a foul smell when it slightly cracked open as we had to hack off the handles to remove it from the home.

"We were on our hands and knees to pick through three rooms of five-feet of the Savage's personal items in order to salvage intact memorabilia, such as fine china, portraits, family albums, porcelain figurines, etc. It was an exhausting and seemingly endless task, but the reward and highlight for us was to see the Savage's brighten face when they found their beloved lost items!

"It was a heartwarming scene to see Mr. and Mrs. Savage cry when they thanked us for our hard work and conveyed to us how appreciative they are for our efforts to preserve their 50-plus years of memories. They shared their stories with us and it renewed our strength to work even harder to complete the cleanup.

"We also had the honor and opportunity to meet Senator John Edwards in person as he made his way to St. Bernard's Parish to say thank you to the students. He particularly came over to our group because of the large pile of debris we had created outside the Savage's home. We talked to him about our wonderful institution, Alliant International University, and how proud we were to represent Alliant in this rebuilding effort.

"Senator Edwards congratulated and thanked our volunteering spirit, as well as encouraged us to create a local chapter of Opportunity Rocks. I am enthusiastic to report that our strenuous, muscle-aching, hard work paid off tremendously as the Savages were very happy with their 'cleaned' home."