Media Advisory

This spring break, three Johns Hopkins student groups will be forgoing time at the beach in favor of helping those affected by Hurricane Katrina:

1) Students from the Bunting-Meyerhoff Interfaith and Community Service Center are planning an interfaith rebuilding trip to the Gulf Coast. They believe Katrina not only caused tremendous suffering, but also exposed dividing lines of class, race, geography and wealth. Their effort seeks to reach across some of those barriers to display a model of American religious pluralism that reflects shared commitment.

Between March 19 and March 24, 15 students and four staff members will be in Moss Point, Miss., to do roofing, painting and other rebuilding in a poor and devastated area. The participants represent a number of faith traditions and cultural backgrounds. The trip has been funded by JHU Campus Ministries, including all its participating religious and spiritual organizations, along with other campus partners. Leading the trip will be assistant chaplain Kathy Schnurr and Rabbi Joseph Menashe. They will be assisted by Lt. Col. Kenneth Romaine and Capt. Amy Wallace from the JHU ROTC Blue Jay Battalion. The group will stay at Dantzler Memorial United Methodist Church with other relief groups.

Contact: Kathy Schnurr at 410-979-2222 and Joe Menashe at 410-303-3879.

2) Between March 19 and March 25, students from the Institute for Policy Studies and their friends and family members will be living at Camp Premier, the St. Bernard Parish emergency tent city, and working full time to remove debris and start rebuilding.

They will be working in a community where most residential and commercial structures suffered structural damage. The major volunteer effort to rebuild, a collaborative project among the parish government, FEMA and New Orleans Habitat for Humanity, has only just begun.

The group will contribute 400 hours of labor and more than $1,000 in supplies and expenses. They are asking for the support of peers and colleagues in the Baltimore area, hoping to raise enough money to cover travel costs (approximately $800 for a rental van and fuel) and to make a significant donation to the St. Bernard community.

Contact: Jason Rano, (917) 838-9459, or April Hendrickson, (410) 804-3687.

3) Five students will head to New Orleans to work with the Common Ground Collective. They will be gutting houses, since many homes still need to be cleaned out entirely before new construction can begin.

Contact: Tom McBride at 302-229-3892.