Hobart and William Smith Colleges

6 January 2006 Students work after Katrina featured in newsletter

The delegation from Hobart and William Smith Colleges has completed its work in St. Bernard's Parish (County) near New Orleans, La., and returned to Geneva.

Students were featured in an article in the St. Bernard Parish Government newsletter.

They removed everything from the house back to the timbers so that the structure can finally dry out. The work was done to help residents keep their homes.

Fourteen students, led by Averell Bauder 81, director of the HWS Public Service Office, worked with Operation Helping Hands, a program of Catholic Charities of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Students making the trip were Alysa Austin 08 of Stamford, Vt.; Erinn Cain 08 of Palmyra, N.Y.; Sherry Funke 08 of South New Berlin, N.Y.; Vanessa Gorsuch 06 of the Bronx; Jake Gray 09 of Greenwich, Conn.; Freya Hoffman-Terry 06 of Chatham, Mass.; Jennifer Newsky 07 of Wells, Maine; Ariana Nussdorf 06 of Douglaston, N.Y.; Jillian Petrella 09 of Fredonia, N.Y.; Kirby Rootes-Murdy 08 of Bethesda, Md.; Carolyn Smith 06 of Walworth, N.Y.; Alexis Swan 06 of Horseheads, N.Y.; Sarah Trapani 06 of Auburn, N.Y.; and Dale Watkins 09 of Preston, Conn.

Every house in the parish has been declared uninhabitable and the electricity is still out.

Bauder praised the students for their willingness to give up a week of vacation, and said some of them took the Red Cross disaster classes on campus in November.

Helping Hands says they have work for thousands of volunteers for many years to come, Bauder said, and we hope this is only the first of a number of trips to help.

Other details about the Colleges response to Hurricane Katrina are available at http://www.hws.edu/news/news/katrina.asp.