Crowder College Sandy Recovery Trip
By: Eric Crosswhite
Updated: January 19, 2013
NEOSHO -- Esther Aidelomon is a foreign exchange student at Crowder College in Nosho. Being from Nigeria, she isn't familiar with the power of Mother Nature.
"We don't have natural disasters, and even if we have we're not prepared for it. It's hard, very hard, for us to recover from one."
That's why she joined a group of eleven volunteers who traveled to Staten Island to help those who were affected by hurricane Sandy.
"I just wanted to know and experience how these people felt about it and be able to help them, see things from their own perspective rather than my own perspective," Aidelomon says.
"Just to help with the home owners who had sustained flood damage," says Crowder College instructor Latonia Bailey. "The group that went was actually the Baptist Student Union."
Seven students, two instructors and two community members spent five days helping hurricane victims clean up what was left of their homes.
"We ripped up floor boards and ripped the dry wall from the walls, basically got everything down to the studs," Bailey says.
In order to go, three members of the group had to be disaster relief certified.
"Because of the contamination of the sewage and the chemical contamination, you just have to be very careful," Bailey says. "And the mold as well."
Instructors say it was an eye opening experience for the students as well as themselves.
"You have expectations of what it is going to be like going in, but I think every one of us came out of it saying this was a great experience and we're so glad we came," says Bailey. "We wouldn't have wanted to do anything else on our break."
Esther says this is an experience she will carry with her the rest of her life.
"I've never experience anything like that and I just hope and pray I never experience anything like that."
The Crowder College Baptist Student Union takes part in two volunteer trips every year.
"We don't have natural disasters, and even if we have we're not prepared for it. It's hard, very hard, for us to recover from one."
That's why she joined a group of eleven volunteers who traveled to Staten Island to help those who were affected by hurricane Sandy.
"I just wanted to know and experience how these people felt about it and be able to help them, see things from their own perspective rather than my own perspective," Aidelomon says.
"Just to help with the home owners who had sustained flood damage," says Crowder College instructor Latonia Bailey. "The group that went was actually the Baptist Student Union."
Seven students, two instructors and two community members spent five days helping hurricane victims clean up what was left of their homes.
"We ripped up floor boards and ripped the dry wall from the walls, basically got everything down to the studs," Bailey says.
In order to go, three members of the group had to be disaster relief certified.
"Because of the contamination of the sewage and the chemical contamination, you just have to be very careful," Bailey says. "And the mold as well."
Instructors say it was an eye opening experience for the students as well as themselves.
"You have expectations of what it is going to be like going in, but I think every one of us came out of it saying this was a great experience and we're so glad we came," says Bailey. "We wouldn't have wanted to do anything else on our break."
Esther says this is an experience she will carry with her the rest of her life.
"I've never experience anything like that and I just hope and pray I never experience anything like that."
The Crowder College Baptist Student Union takes part in two volunteer trips every year.
