Hurricane Harvey has left a disastrous aftermath in its wake. After dumping an estimated 27 trillion gallons of water on Texas and Louisiana, it is ranked as one of the most damaging natural disasters in U.S. history and set a record for tropical cyclone rainfall measured in one place in the U.S. over the last 50 years. Many have lost their homes, and flooding continues to affect large areas of Houston, Beaumont and other areas of Texas. Estimates of Harvey’s cost vary. Some predict that the storm will be the most expensive in U.S. history, with repair costs over $190 billion, surpassing Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
At Southern, more than 90 students call either Texas or Louisiana their home, and on Aug. 30, President Dave Smith issued an email to the student body addressing the crisis and notifying students of the available resources on campus to seek emotional, financial and spiritual support.
As for immediate help, the Red Cross has partnered with Southern’s Christian Service program to mobilize student volunteers and relief supplies. Since the minimum time of the trip is two weeks, eligibility criteria have been set so that students’ time of absence has minimal impact on their academic responsibilities.
To be eligible, students must have a Southern GPA of at least 3.0, a good citizenship record and a letter of confirmation from the student development office. Students must also be sophomores or higher in class standing, make arrangements for missed class work, gain re-approval from the academic administration and attend the ARC training for responders. An email with steps to sign up will be sent to students as soon as they have been pre-approved. Trainings days are yet to be announced.
“This is a partnership. We wanted to see how we could work together,” said Jennifer Carter, service program director. “All trip, training, shelter and food expenses will be paid, and there will be nurses there to make sure everyone is safe.”
Southern’s uQuest missions department is also in the process of organizing mission trips on thanksgiving, Christmas, spring break, and summer break. Based on the number of students who signed up for each, an itinerary will be built with further details. Applications for these trips are available on southern.edu/uquest, as well as the applications for the Red Cross trips.
Southern students have also been proactive and open to help. Alexandria Martin and Jennifer Vigil, senior nursing majors, originally had an idea to host a bake sale to fundraise for disaster relief. After they reached out to Pastor Dave Ferguson, SA President Phillip Warfield and many other resources, the fundraiser soon turned into a larger-scale benefit involving not just Southern students, but the entire community. Cambridge Square is secured for the event, which will be on Sept. 17 from 4-7p.m. Martin and Vigil are currently working to involve a blood drive and a donation truck by the Samaritan Center and are encouraging students to help either with baking, manning the tables, or singing and playing background music. More details will be made available to students in the upcoming week.
“We just feel great that God is including us in reaching out,” Martin said. “It’s like our He took our loaves and fish and multiplied them,” Vigil said.