Media Advisory

Several local college students will be spending part of their winter break next month in Biloxi, Miss., helping victims of Hurricane Katrina rebuild their homes. The team — 15 undergraduates from Johns Hopkins, two from Loyola College in Maryland, and one from University of Delaware — will depart Baltimore for Biloxi on Sunday, Jan. 8. Once in Mississippi, they will be hosted by the First Presbyterian Church of Biloxi, which has welcomed the local students to join its hurricane relief effort. Johns Hopkins seniors Zirui Song of Lacey, Wash., and Thomas McBride of Wilmington, Del., organized the goodwill trip, which will have students wielding sledge hammers and crowbars to clear debris before home repairs and new construction can begin. Both Song and McBride are majoring in public health studies and are members of Alpha Epsilon Delta, the pre-medical honor society and volunteer organization at The Johns Hopkins University.

To cover their travel expenses, the students have raised $2,600, with contributions from the Center for Social Concern at Johns Hopkins, Northrop Grumman Corp. and alumni. To speak with the students before they depart and during the trip, call their cell phones at 360-701-0154 (Zirui Song), and 302-229-3892 (Tom McBride).