University of Toledo Alternative Spring Break Gulf Trip
UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO ALTERNATIVE SPRING BREAK GULF TRIP -- (House of Representatives - March 16, 2006)
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, I am taping or putting up here a Web site that will help to pay tribute to over 200 students, professors, and other citizens from Ohio's universities, schools, and just citizens interested who traveled to the gulf in our country on an alternative spring break.
Called Rockets on the Road to Compassion, the University of Toledo's alternative spring break directed the efforts of over 200 Americans in helping the hurricane-ravaged areas of the gulf. To learn more about what they did and are doing, go to the Web site www.UTalternative springbreak. utoledo.edu. I will keep repeating that tonight.
From March 3 through March 11, these magnificent Americans traveled to Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, and Georgia. The UT chapter of Campus Crusade for Christ sent 65 students to Pass Christian, Mississippi, where Katrina's eye made landfall.
The UT's Catholic Student Association sent 20 students to help build homes in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. Donovan Nichols, a University of Toledo graduate student and AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, led coordination efforts for 104 participants spread across five locations devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Bay St. Louis, Mississippi; Bayou LaBatre, Alabama; Orange, Texas; Lake Charles; as well as Metairie in Louisiana.
Organizers and chaperones included Dr. Celia Regimbal, tenured University of Toledo professor in health sciences, and Reverend Dee Baker, the director of the Toledo Campus Ministry on the campus. America thanks all of them.
The world can learn more about their journey by looking at their Web site, www.utalternative springbreak. utoledo.edu. Some of the hundreds and thousands and stories from the gulf are reflected by what they did.
We recall with them the words: America is only as great as she is good. I know that their goal is to help follow through on this journey, to tell other Americans what happened so they can follow suit and to help us as we continue relating to these communities.
Let me just read some of the excerpts on this blog. From Dr. Celia Regimbal, University of Toledo professor, assigned to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. She says, it has taken 21 of us 3 days to remove siding and get felt paper up. How long would it take one person? How long would it take to replace your neighborhood?
There is not a house in Bay St. Louis and Waveland that has not suffered some damage. We are guessing that 30 percent of the homes are totally gone. It will take years to rebuild the coast. We cannot forget that the folks here will continue to need our help.
Terrance Teagarden, who was assigned to New Orleans, wrote: between the two crews we have got operating right now down here, we look to have two houses gutted and a decent start on two more. Three houses gutted by crews of about 10 in 4 days' time. At this rate, he says, it will take years to get things back to normal here.
I saw President Bush and his escort fly over on a helicopter yesterday morning before we began our work. I heard the President say at a press conference awhile back he would love to bring his family here. Not in this condition he would not. Mr. President, he says, please come down to the 9th Ward and work with us, or any crew of volunteers for one day. I guarantee you will think differently of the progress made.
Then the young man says, honestly, pointing fingers will not help anyone anymore right now. We need thousands, droves, of Americans staying in tents and parks and churches all over the gulf region just helping to gut, prepare for inspection, and rebuild houses.
Through all of this, it has been the efforts of grass-roots organizations that have really gotten things done. Right now there is a need for playground items such as Hula-Hoops, balls. Schools and churches also need supplies to rebuild.
Donovan Nichols, who was assigned to Lake Charles, Louisiana, said, prior to Hurricane Rita, this town of Cameron had a population of roughly 2,000 people clinging to the edge of the Gulf of Mexico. Now, aside from relief workers, the community is deserted. While working on the roof at the house in Starks, two separate individuals dropped by asking us for help.
They described how they were not eligible for any FEMA money, but they really needed help. They sent them to some local churches for help.
Mary Ellen Edwards in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, says: our group here in Bay St. Louis spent part of yesterday and today helping a family of five who were trying to get their uninhabitable house cleaned up.
Madam Speaker, I know my time is expired, but I would like to place all of the remarks in the RECORD and ask the American people to look at www.utalternative springbreak. utoledo.edu Please help Ohioans rebuild the gulf.
Today we also helped out the whole community by cleaning the debris off of the beach. The community gets a reduction in the loans it has gotten from FEMA to help out the people in Hancock County for each hour of work volunteers do in beach clean up. Celia Regimbal set this up through the environmental staff person from Congressman Gene Taylor's office.
If the role of the government is to provide for the common good, the Federal Government just cannot seem to get much of a handle on this problem. Perhaps it is too worried about the media spin, its image, and pointing fingers than really working on solving the problem.
Imagine, by Neda Archie in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi:
Actually seeing the devastation has humbled me. The first day we drove through town I had no words. I felt every emotion possible to feel therefore I just looked with a kind of blank stare in disbelief. You don't know anything until you actually see it with your own eyes.
Imagine what is now trash and rubble used to be your prized possessions, your family photographs, your favorite pair of shoes, an old staircase from the house your family grew up in, and not your roof but your neighbors roof. Imagine trying to salvage and dry out a little piece of your life that existed before the devastation.
Imagine your schools you graduated from, the bridges you used to cross, the trees you used to climb, and the flowers that used to bloom are non-existent. Imagine losing some of your friends and loved ones. Imagine 75 percent of your town is gone.
Reflections by Danselle in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi:
These past few days have taught us all a valuable lesson, humility. This street was once where beach houses, mansions, and beautiful summer homes once dwelled. Now there's nothing but the Gulf. I expected to come down here and see at least a house fixture, but that's barely possible even 6 months later.
Most of the homes have been here for over 100 years, passed down through generations. These homes are extremely too expensive to replace, so most people have to settle with a home that's a lot cheaper.
The residents here in Bay St. Louis have experienced the absolute worst in wind damage, and were basically forgotten all about. We have been described as elephant biters. Katrina was like a big elephant dropped onto the entire coast, and we are here to bite chunks out of this elephant until it's completely gone.
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