CCC Looks to Send 1,500 Students for Katrina Relief
Making the most of its nationwide presence, the U.S. Ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ International (CCCI) is calling on college students from all its 1,298 college campuses to join the Katrina relief effort in the Gulf Coast.
Making the most of its nationwide presence, the U.S. Ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ International (CCCI) is calling on college students from all its 1,298 college campuses to join the Katrina relief effort in the Gulf Coast.
The interdenominational organization looks to send 1,500 college students to Louisiana and Mississippi to assist in Katrina relief efforts over a period of eight weekends – Sept. 19-25, Sept. 26 - Oct. 2, Oct. 3-9, Oct. 10-16, Oct. 17-23, Oct. 24-30, Thanksgiving Break, and Christmas Break.
“We're asking students from every campus to give a weekend to come down and help," said Rick Amos, Hurricane Katrina Relief Coordinator for Campus Crusade’s U.S. Campus Ministry. "We plan to mobilize thousands of college students across the country to help bring relief that's desperately needed.”
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Campus Crusade has partnered with churches and Christian relief agencies, such as the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Convoy of Hope and its own Global Aid Network, which are working on projects in Slidell, Ponchatoula, and Minden, La., and Waveland, Miss.
The ministry reports that more than 350 students have joined relief teams in the first two weeks of the operation.
Students can register to volunteer for a particular project on the U.S. Campus Ministry's website. They can choose from a list of available projects such as working with the First Baptist Church of Slidell to help individual families clean their home of hurricane debris and prepare it for reconstruction or teaming up with Convoy of Hope in Waveland to provide meals to evacuees in addition to "mudding out" homes immersed in mud.
Part of the job description for most volunteers will also include giving emotional and spiritual support to the hurricane victims.
Jen Smoker and Lisa Menard, who drove 20 hours from Towson University in Baltimore to help clean out ruined homes in Slidell, said they showed their love to homeowners by wrapping arms around them when they were emotionally shaken from seeing everything they owned be thrown into a trash pile in the front yard.
“I had no idea what to say, but knew that they needed us,” Smoker recalled.
Campus Crusade will also be providing volunteers with Bibles and an evangelistic piece, entitled “Higher Ground,” as a way to initiate spiritual conversations.
Other ministries belonging to Campus Crusade for Christ International, such as Global Aid Network, Here's Life Inner City, Athletes in Action, and Priority Associates have also joined relief efforts in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Amos said, “This is a time that we can demonstrate the compassion of Christ toward those who are hurting and bring them a message of hope and comfort."
For more information on how the U.S. Campus Ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ is helping Katrina relief efforts, visit the www.campuscrusadeforchrist.com.
