New Center Seeks Volunteers To Help Evacuees
While people across the country have opened their homes,
hearts and wallets to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, SHSU’s
new Center for Community Partnerships is seeking to help
those in our area who have reached out to evacuees by collecting
for one of their most pressing needs—volunteers.
“We were going to the shelters and asking them what they need, (for the
center) to organize something on campus,” said Amelia McGlone, student
director Center for Community Partnerships. “Our first idea was to have
a campus-wide drive, but what they were telling us that they needed was not items,
but they needed people.
“
They needed students to volunteer because there are just not enough people at
certain times, especially during the day,” McGlone said.
In conjunction with the Huntsville-Walker County Chamber of Commerce, the center
will be recruiting student and staff members to help those who have relocated
to the Huntsville area.
The CCP will register volunteers through its office, which will be located in
the Frels Building pending room assignment, and organize groups of five to volunteer
throughout the city. Groups can be comprised of students, faculty
and staff.
Groups, which should include people who are able to volunteer at the same time,
may register together through the center, or people may register individually
and will be put into groups based on schedules. As groups are needed, the chamber
will contact the center, which will in turn contact the volunteer groups, McGlone
said.
Huntsville is currently housing evacuees at such places as First Baptist Church,
Family Faith Church, the University Hotel and La Quinta Inn, and volunteers will
be used for a variety of tasks.
“
They have this thing called the control center where the evacuees can go to pick
up clothing and food. They’re the ones actually giving the stuff to the
evacuees,” McGlone said. “We also have people who need to go the
COME Center or Good Shepherd Mission to sort clothes—they have piles and
piles of clothes that need to be sorted—or go through the canned food.
They’re trying to let
the more experienced people work with the evacuees,
especially for the ones who are very traumatized.”
The center will also accept items at its storage facility, in Frels Building
Room 212.
“
The Good Shepherd Mission and other shelters in Huntsville have stopped taking
donations because they just have so much stuff,” McGlone said. “We’re
providing a long-term storage so in two months, when the Good Shepherd Mission
runs out of something, we’ll have items stored away to give to them.”
She added that student organizations that want to hold campus drives for items
can bring what is collected to CCP’s storage room and they will sort and
box the collected items for them.
The Center for Community Partnerships was developed through SHSU’s American
Democracy Project.
“
What they (ADP) stress is service-based learning, and so with that idea, what
they wanted to do is create a central location on campus for all community-service
based organizations to come to get ideas for projects that they can do in Huntsville,” McGlone
said.
Before Katrina hit, the center’s primary task was to create a database
for organizations in the community seeking volunteers so the center could pair
students who were looking for community service projects with an organization
looking for help.
Since Katrina, the office’s focus has shifted to helping survivors, McGlone
said, though it is still helping students, faculty and staff find places to volunteer.
The center will continue to recruit for volunteer groups as long as there are
evacuees in the area, McGlone said.
“
What we make sure people understand is that this is long term,” she said. “They
(outreach organizations) have more volunteers now than they will in a month.”
Volunteer registration forms are available in the Dean of Students Office, in
Lowman Student Center Room 215 or in the Student Government Office, in LSC Room
326.
Those would like to assist in the disaster relief efforts, or have any questions,
should contact the Center for Community Partnerships at 936.294.4491.
—END—
SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer
Gauntt
Sept. 9, 2005
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