{"73654":{"#nid":"73654","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Tech Students Spend Break Doing Hurricane Relief","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs many Americans take pains to complete their last-minute holiday shopping, a group of Georgia Tech students will be helping people whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina to rebuild their lives. It\u0027s the latest in a series of efforts by the students, faculty and staff of Georgia Tech to help those who were displaced by this season\u0027s storms.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOn Sunday morning, December 18, 46 Georgia Tech students and three staff members will head to Mobile, AL, for a five-day trip to help residents clean up their flood damaged homes. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We will be working in an area that was flooded by creeks as a result of the storm surge,\u0022 said Sarah Brackmann, assistant director of student involvement for the Office of Community Service (OCS). \u0022We\u0027ll be tearing sheetrock out of houses and cleaning up mold.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ECivil engineering student and president of the Tech chapter of Engineering Students Without Borders Angharad Pagnon said that her group and the OCS began contacting government agencies and non-profit organizations just after Katrina hit to find the best way to provide aid. They were told there was a need on the outskirts of the damaged areas. They came in contact with an organization called Volunteer Mobile, and it was clear they needed the students\u0027 help, said Pagnon.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022This is an area that has been overlooked, so far,\u0022 said Brackmann. \u0022These are people who received funds from FEMA, but the funds didn\u0027t cover everything.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBrackmann said students will be matched with their jobs for things like roofing, drywall and painting based on their skill level. \u0022A lot of the work we do will be flexible, as needed,\u0022 she said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETo help prepare students for the experience, the Georgia Tech Research Institute held an orientation for student volunteers. They showed them photographs of the area and taught them about the potential health and safety hazards they may encounter on the site.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to raising more than $50,000 for relief efforts, students and the Institute have responded to the needs of the Gulf Coast in a myriad of ways. Shortly after Katrina, Tech provided food and shelter to 275 student evacuees from Tulane University. Volunteers from Tech helped many of them get to their hometowns and assisted others who needed help finding housing in Atlanta.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech also opened the Coliseum for the Red Cross to use as a temporary shelter. Several volunteers from campus coordinated activities for the children at the shelter, while trained caseworkers volunteered their time to help evacuees obtain needed resources. Members of the Christian Campus Fellowship (CCF) helped provide meals to the evacuees at the shelter.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDuring the fall break, the Tech chapter of CCF organized a relief trip that delivered 225 student volunteers to four locations along the Gulf Coast. The organization worked with Tech\u0027s Student Health Services to provide tetanus shots for student volunteers, and the Counseling Center to provide orientation sessions. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EEven though it\u0027s been months since the storms hit, Brackmann said the need for relief is ongoing. \u0022There\u0027s still going to be a lot of need for the future. We want to do future trips over the spring and summer. That will be when we can really get to rebuilding the infrastructure in the affected areas.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"As many Americans take pains to complete their last-minute holiday shopping, a group of Georgia Tech students will be helping people whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina to rebuild their lives.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Students will travel to Mobile"}],"uid":"27310","created_gmt":"2005-12-14 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:02:23","author":"David Terraso","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2005-12-15T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2005-12-15T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"73655":{"id":"73655","type":"image","title":"Hurricane Katrina","body":null,"created":"1449178002","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:26:42","changed":"1475894388","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:39:48"}},"media_ids":["73655"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.volunteermobile.org\/","title":"Volunteeer Mobile"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.gtccf.org\/","title":"Christian Campus Fellowsip"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.service.gatech.edu\/agencyPage.php?agencyID=188\u0026name=Community+Service+Office","title":"Office of Community Service"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["david.terraso@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}