UA Students to Perform Service Project in Houston on Fall Break

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama’s Division of Student Life and the Center for Service and Leadership are sending more than 100 UA students, along with four staff members, to help in Hurricane Harvey relief efforts in Houston from Wednesday, Oct. 25 through Saturday, Oct. 28.

The UA team will travel to Houston on two charter buses, which will leave from the Ferguson Student Center at 5 p.m. Oct. 25.

While in Houston, the students will serve with the local American Red Cross (2700 Southwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77098).

The students will take part in sanitizing, cleaning, packaging and preparing more than 40,000 cots for shipping.

The cots were used in relief shelters during the flooding in Houston. The cots will be packaged and loaded into four 18-wheelers and sent to help with recovery efforts in other affected communities, including Puerto Rico.

Students will serve at this location all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

“It is amazing to watch students respond to the call of service in times such as these,” said Courtney Chapman Thomas, director of the Center for Service and Leadership. “And, it’s important to remember that recovery takes a long time, so I am very proud that these students want to be a part of the long-term recovery of Houston, and it is so exciting that this work will be able to help our neighbors in Puerto Rico as well.”

While in Houston, students will work with several prominent community members and leaders in relief efforts, who will talk with students about the importance of service during and after disasters. Students will return to UA Oct. 28.

This trip is part of the Center for Service and Leadership’s Beyond Bama: Alternative Break program.

For more information about the Center for Service and Leadership or the Beyond Bama: Alternative Break program, go to www.volunteer.ua.edu or call Courtney Chapman Thomas at 205/348-2865 or 713/818-8712. Thomas also will be in Houston and can respond to media requests.