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ORU Students Go South for Relief Efforts

By Rebecca Gehle

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Click Photo to Enlarge Houses that weren't swept away. Tommy Story

Oral Roberts University students are responding to Hurricane Katrina's devastation by forming a relief team that will go to Long Beach, Mississippi, over Fall Break in October. The City of Tulsa established a sister-city relationship with Long Beach, and the ORU team, comprised of 250 students, will be working on-site with Service International by cleaning between 25-50 houses per day that were damaged by the severe flooding.

ORU students will be trained upon arrival, and will be housed in temporary facilities while volunteering. Although extensive flooding and destruction occurred in Long Beach, the water receded soon after the hurricane subsided. Therefore, students will not be in danger of the standing water, filth and diseases that are hazards in other hurricane-hit areas of the South. However, as a precaution, students will be required to wear respirators when working in the houses so as to protect themselves against irritating airborne mold particles.