Ocean County Rowan student returns from Katrina effort
Ocean County Rowan student returns from Katrina effort
April 16, 2008
Kathy DeMartino, of Little Egg Harbor, shelled out some money this spring break for a flight to a warmer location, but her luggage contained more work clothes than swimsuits.
She was part of a team from Rowan University that spent spring break helping rebuild residences in highly impacted regions of New Orleans. Although this is the first DeMartino volunteered in New Orleans, Rowan has sent a team the past three years.
“I learned a great deal about what New Orleans means to the families that live there,” the accounting major said. “It is not all champagne and roses as reflected in the media, and I think that it is important for people to know that.”
“Although it is heartbreaking to hear the stories and see the conditions of the city after 2 ½ years, the greatest reward was the excitement of Miss Viv (one of the beneficiaries of the students’ work) when she saw the progress being made on her house,” she said
DeMartino, accompanied by 32 of her fellow students and professors Dr. DeMond Miller (sociology), Dr. Jennifer Kadlowec (mechanical engineering) and Dr. Eric Constans (mechanical engineering) formed this year’s team. Professor Leigh Weiss (computer science) helped them prepare for the trip.
The group spent March 15 to 21, their spring break, on the effort. Financing a good portion of the trip themselves, they stayed with volunteers from University of Maryland Eastern Shore in a Xavier University dorm.
The Rowan group worked in the Seventh and Upper Ninth Wards. Student projects included minor gutting in damaged houses, installing insulation and drywall, painting, and feeding the homeless.
The effort is nothing new at Rowan. During spring break 2007, students and professors stayed at Xavier and volunteered for various projects. During spring break 2006, a team from across campus joined a few professors volunteering for Habitat for Humanity outside of New Orleans, living in a Federal Emergency Management Agency tent city—Camp Premier—in St. Bernard Parish and working on houses destroyed by Katrina.
Rowan’s support of the Gulf region started shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in August 2005. Engineering students volunteered in Picayune, Miss., throughout that fall semester to help rebuild school facilities in the town.
She was part of a team from Rowan University that spent spring break helping rebuild residences in highly impacted regions of New Orleans. Although this is the first DeMartino volunteered in New Orleans, Rowan has sent a team the past three years.
“I learned a great deal about what New Orleans means to the families that live there,” the accounting major said. “It is not all champagne and roses as reflected in the media, and I think that it is important for people to know that.”
“Although it is heartbreaking to hear the stories and see the conditions of the city after 2 ½ years, the greatest reward was the excitement of Miss Viv (one of the beneficiaries of the students’ work) when she saw the progress being made on her house,” she said
DeMartino, accompanied by 32 of her fellow students and professors Dr. DeMond Miller (sociology), Dr. Jennifer Kadlowec (mechanical engineering) and Dr. Eric Constans (mechanical engineering) formed this year’s team. Professor Leigh Weiss (computer science) helped them prepare for the trip.
The group spent March 15 to 21, their spring break, on the effort. Financing a good portion of the trip themselves, they stayed with volunteers from University of Maryland Eastern Shore in a Xavier University dorm.
The Rowan group worked in the Seventh and Upper Ninth Wards. Student projects included minor gutting in damaged houses, installing insulation and drywall, painting, and feeding the homeless.
The effort is nothing new at Rowan. During spring break 2007, students and professors stayed at Xavier and volunteered for various projects. During spring break 2006, a team from across campus joined a few professors volunteering for Habitat for Humanity outside of New Orleans, living in a Federal Emergency Management Agency tent city—Camp Premier—in St. Bernard Parish and working on houses destroyed by Katrina.
Rowan’s support of the Gulf region started shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in August 2005. Engineering students volunteered in Picayune, Miss., throughout that fall semester to help rebuild school facilities in the town.