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Contact:
Clayton Berry
Phone: 314.977.7117
berrycl@slu.edu
March 9, 2006
SLU Students Travel to New Orleans This Weekend for Rebuilding Efforts, to Assist Hurricane Victims
ST. LOUIS -- This weekend, more than 50 Saint Louis University students will give up their spring break vacations for rebuilding efforts in New Orleans.
This latest mission follows a trip to the Big Easy in November, when nearly 40 SLU students gave up spending Thanksgiving with their families to assist with relief efforts.
This time in New Orleans, 39 SLU students will assist Service International with the demolition of buildings that were flooded or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. After demolition, the students will help with power washing, sanitizing and rebuilding efforts.
Another 15 SLU students will work with Operation Helping Hands in New Orleans, where they will help remove debris in neighborhoods and assist with light carpentry, as well as construction and restoration of homes and buildings. A Jesuit from New Orleans studying at SLU is leading this trip.
Annually, dozens of SLU students forgo sunny beaches and snow-covered slopes to participate in spring break mission trips organized by the University’s Christian Action Program, known as SLUCAP. The trips exemplify the University’s Jesuit mission to educate students to be “men and women for others.”
This year, about 150 students have signed up for mission trips to not only New Orleans, but other U.S. locations as well as spots in Mexico and El Salvador. They will assist the poor, elderly, children and refugees in both rural areas and inner cities. Service sites include soup kitchens, homeless shelters, food pantries, Catholic Worker communities and other outreach programs.
Interviews with students are available before they depart. Find out why they are giving up spring break vacations to help hurricane victims. Get video/photos of students packing for the trip.
To arrange an interview, call Clayton Berry at (314) 977-7117.
Students heading to New Orleans will meet at 5:30 a.m. this Saturday, March 11, in SLU’s Tegeler Hall, 3550 Lindell Blvd. They will depart via a chartered bus. They return to St. Louis Friday, March 17.
