Feature Article
“You get tired, but when you see the satisfaction
on their faces, it made it all worth it at the end,”
Owens said.
Gutierrez said the woman who received house was
able to meet and talk with team members throughout the week.
“The gratitude was overwhelming,”she said.
Once work was finished for the day, team members
spent their evenings at nearby Lagniappe Presbyterian Church, where they shared bunk beds and
overcrowded living conditions with nearly 300
other people. One day, the group was able to visit
nearby New Orleans, where they witnessed a city
still trying to recover from the damage.
“Outside of the downtown area, it was devastation,”Owens said of New Orleans. “It’s a long way
from where it was before.”
Spray-painted street signs, trailers serving as
banks and churches meeting in half-open buildings
were some of the sights witnessed by team members. For students, it was a lesson learned outside
the traditional classroom.
“I bring back accomplishment. I feel like I actually did something,”said Hoida, who graduated
from SHU this spring with a degree in art therapy.
“They kept telling us that without us, it wouldn’t
have been done.”
“It’s sad because we live here in Michigan. We
can watch it on TV. We can just turn the channel.
Down there, there’s no remote control,”Owens
said. “It was an eye-opening experience. You go
down there and you know you are doing good
for somebody. But once you see the person, it all
changes. It motivates you.” u
BEING BOLD. THINKING HIGHER.