Rebuilding the Gulf: Campus Ministry Gives Back in the Big Easy

by The Cowl Editor on January 16, 2020

Campus

Friars visited the city’s many landmarks in their spare time. Photo courtesy of Cailtin Gleeson ’22.

by Kyle Burgess ’21

News Co-Editor

This past week, eleven Providence College students had the opportunity to experience Southern Hospitality while serving the communities of New Orleans, LA during the annual NOLA Immersion Trip. The program is sponsored by Campus Ministry and allowed the volunteers, accompanied by Pamela Tremblay, campus minister director of service, immersion & social justice, and Fr. Peter Martyr Yungwirth, O.P., to aid in the continuing rebuild of the city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction as well as gain an appreciation for the unique culture and people that call NOLA home.

Per Campus Ministry’s website, the primary focus of the program’s mission “is both a general response to the Gospel call to do justice and a specific response to the reality of post-Katrina New Orleans, LA. The NOLA Immersion has at its core a commitment to the dignity of the human person, lived out by accompanying our neighbors in the journey toward justice.”

Students on the NOLA trip would encounter these neighbors in many areas that were not only devastated by the hurricane, but also by government neglect. The State of Louisiana failed to provide adequate aid to residents of places like the Lower Ninth Ward due to its vast poverty, and instead bought out houses to rent to victims.

Outside aid such as Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation, which broke ground in 2007, constructing new, environmentally-friendly houses inevitably backfired as well, with the structures being deemed “defective” because of electrical, plumbing, and ventilation issues.

Touring communities such as the Lower Ninth Ward gave a sense of purpose to the students’ mission and inspired them to go about their work with great enthusiasm to make a difference. Students worked to bring justice through a wide variety of projects, including house repair and construction, providing food for the homeless, sorting out clothing donations for displaced young adults, and even helping on the administrative side of outreach centers in preparing Microsoft Excel spreadsheets for managers.

Friars found every job they partook in highly rewarding as they were able to directly interact with the people they were serving. The volunteers quickly grew on the residents in the shelters they worked at, eventually greeting each other regularly on a first-name basis and conveying shared interests in the other’s life story. Additionally, Friars were able to work alongside members of other outreach programs that were operating in other boroughs of New Orleans such as the St. Bernard Projects.

When not serving in the Harry Thompson Center or constructing homes, these Friars could be found taking in all the sights and experiences that the city had to offer. Highlights of these side trips include the Whitney Plantation, Joan of Arc Parade, the Katrina National Memorial Museum, and the Studio Be Art Gallery.

Students even got the chance to watch former Friar Kris Dunn ’16 and the Chicago Bulls take on the hometown New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center. A group dinner of traditional New Orleans cuisine followed, and students were treated to local fare of jambalaya and King Cake while meeting with PC alumni from the area.

“The faith and sense of community that we were welcomed into was incredible,” recalled Caitlin Gleeson ’22. “We all learned a lot about New Orleans that we did not know before we came here. I never realized the lack of relief with its ties to government corruption and to continued racism in the state, but we could still see the impacts of our work in helping to serve others.” For those who took part on the trip, the experiences they brought back to Friartown are ones they will not soon forget.

Campus Ministry Fundraises for Annual NOLA Trip

by The Cowl Editor on November 14, 2019

Campus

by Nicole Silverio ’22

News Staff

On Tuesday evening, Campus Ministry hosted the 12th annual NOLA Immersion Meal Auction in McPhail’s. The meal auction raised money to sponsor the students’ trip to New Orleans, LA.

The purpose of the trip is to follow the Gospel’s call by helping communities affected by Hurricane Katrina.

NOLA is a campus organization striving to repair New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005, which destroyed an estimated $81 million in property damages including many homes and businesses, leaving residents devastated. It destroyed about 90,000 miles of land in LA.

Pamela Tremblay, director of service immersion and social justice at PC, stated, “We look into why New Orleans is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina after all of these years. A part of our research is to figure out why Hurricane Katrina has been so catastrophic.” Tremblay and Fr. Peter Martyr Yungwirth, O.P., the chaplain of NOLA, have organized this student service trip to New Orleans.

This year’s meal auction successfully raised $950 by auctioning off meals with about fifteen faculty and staff members. Students had the chance to bid on ten different dinners with their favorite faculty and staff members in order to raise money for the trip.

Quincy Bevely offered to go out to dinner with four students while the dean of students offered to cook for ten students in the President’s house. An estimated number of between 40 and 50 students attended the event.

The goal of getting involved with NOLA on campus is to engage students in service and prayer by building a community that rebuilds the damage in New Orleans. The NOLA team meets every week to discuss the issues in New Orleans and discuss their services in the upcoming winter break.

This month there was a NOLA retreat for all members of NOLA Immersion. The group partners with organizations such as the St. Bernard Project, the Harry Tompson Center, Greenlight New Orleans, and the Lower Ninth Ward Village.

During winter break, 13 students participate in the immersion trip. The NOLA Immersion trip costs about $200 per student, including all transportation and accommodations.

Tremblay explained how they strive to keep costs low for students so that anyone interested in taking part in the service can do so. Back in 2005 when PC began this service, the main goal was to provide relief by helping to rebuild homes. Nowadays, Tremblay explained that socioeconomic status plays a significant role in the lack of repair in certain areas of the city.

The Lower Ninth Ward of the city in particular struggles from the hurricane, therefore, the Lower Ninth Ward is where students spend the majority of their service time.

“We are really grateful for the support from the university,” Tremblay said. “And for the support to make this trip possible each year.”

Since the students on campus were very young when Hurricane Katrina took place, NOLA strives to educate students on campus about the scar Hurricane Katrina has left in New Orleans. NOLA wants to celebrate the community services the PC community does, being able to help other communities across the country and around the world heal from tragedy.