Newswise — Over 200 Taylor University students, faculty and staff members will travel to the Gulfport, Mississippi area later this month during Taylor's fall break to participate in clean-up and other relief work for that area devastated last month by Hurricane Katrina.
The group will leave via chartered busses and university-owned vans on Thursday, October 20th, and return to campus on Sunday, October 23rd. While in Gulfport, the Taylor contingent will split into teams to do cleanup work and some demolition. On Friday, members of the group will engage in ministry outreach to area children, and on Saturday evening they will host a large dinner and worship service.
According to Taylor student co-organizer Margie Davis, the effort was originally planned for 70 participants but was changed due to a large response from the Taylor community. "We had 30 to 40 students who went on the (Hurricane) Ivan trip to Pensacola, Florida; we didn't want to turn anybody down," she said. "All the applications kept coming in and we just made a way to make it happen."
Davis said the group will work with the local United Methodist Church district organization while they are in Gulfport.
"Students Margie Davis and Val Harle are doing an outstanding job of preparing this team for two days of sun-up to sun-down relief work in Mississippi," said Randy Gruendyke, the Taylor campus pastor. "We are grateful to the Lord for His gifts of time, materials and over two hundred students, staff and faculty who will take part in this labor-intensive project."
Students, faculty and staff at Taylor have also collected over $7,600 for hurricane relief efforts.
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