|
MSU fraternity to help Habitat on Gulf Coast |
|
Thursday, 03 January 2008 |
 Shoshana Brackett/SDN By SHOSHANA BRACKETT
Starkville Daily News
Instead of relishing the last few days of Christmas vacation at home, about 50 Mississippi State University fraternity brothers traveled to the coast Wednesday to work with Habitat for Humanity.
The group of young men from MSU’s Phi Delta Theta chapter will spend today and Friday helping coastal residents get new homes.
The Phi Delta Theta crew volunteered their labor for Habitat for Humanity in Bay Saint Louis.
The fraternity first coordinated a volunteer labor effort last year, though several members have also volunteered on the coast with other relief efforts through their churches or other organizations.
“The first time I went down was about six months after the hurricane came through, but it looked like it had just happened,” said freshman Holt Trenor.
Another year later, Trenor said the cleanup and rebuilding process had definitely progressed but much work was still left to be done.
During their two work days, Phi Delta Theta members will log more than 800 work hours for low-income families in need of housing, nearly reaching its annual goal of at least 1,000 service hours.
The work trip serves as Phi Delta Theta’s major service project for the year.
“I’m proud to say that half of our undergraduate members will make the drive to the coast to build houses for Katrina victims over Christmas break,” said Nicholas Papas, Phi Delta Theta public relations chairman. “I hope our efforts will encourage other campus organizations to help out in 2008.”
Two-and-a-half years after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, residents and thousands of volunteers continue the rebuilding effort.
Last year, the Phi Delta Theta group did demolition and finishing work while on the coast. This year, the group plans to help with more “hands-on building,” Papas said.
The fraternity members said they volunteered for the project because they enjoy helping others.
“It’s just nice to help people out if people need help getting a new house,” said MSU freshman Clay Whatley. “It’s a good way to give back.”
The Phi Delta Theta members who left from the fraternity house at MSU said they also volunteered because each knows at least one person who was displaced by Katrina.
“I have family in D’Iberville, Biloxi, and we all know somebody who was affected by Hurricane Katrina ... ,” Papas said.
“I think pretty much everybody knows somebody.”
|
|
Last Updated ( Friday, 04 January 2008 )
|
