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March 21, 2006

Fletcher Students Travel to New Orleans on Spring Break to Help Clean Up Hurricane-Ravaged City

Several weeks ago, Marta McLellan, a 25-year-old Fletcher student from Birmingham, Alabama, had an idea for Spring Break. Instead of going to Barbados or just hanging around Boston, she thought it would be useful to round up some Fletcher students and go to New Orleans, still suffering the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

The students raised around $2000 in contributions from the Fletcher community, rented two vans and hooked up with an organization called the Student Hurricane Network, started up by a couple of law students, looking to mobilize law students from around the country to help with the clean-up on their Spring Break.

Law students from Harvard and Suffolk University mobilized their own contingents. Indeed, about 400 students from around the country gathered in New Orleans to assist in the cleanup. FEMA provided them with food and shelter. ACORN, a relief group, supplied them with schedules, instructions, along with protective clothing and masks.

For nearly a week, they were housed at “camp Algiers,” a FEMA tent city across the river from New Orleans. The work was grungy—consisting of cleaning out old homes, and taking down moldy walls. But it was time well spent.

The trip, which began with the Fletcher students assembling in the Fletcher parking lot on March 18, ended with their return in the same parking lot a week later – just in time for classes.

As part of the effort, Bella English, a veteran feature writer for The Boston Globe, and a Globe photographer named David Kamerman, went along with the Fletcher students.

The result is a 2,000 word story in the March 29 edition of The Globe, with a photo on p. 1 “teasing” the story in the Living/Arts section, plus seven photos with the story, as well as a montage of photos which can be accessed at boston.com

Today’s generation of young people is sometimes dismissed as self-centered, apathetic and cynical. These Fletcher students toss that image out the window. So check out the links and enjoy. It’s a feel-good story for these feel-bad times.

Posted by fletcher at March 21, 2006 03:51 PM