Hurricane Katrina-ravaged areas of New Orleans will receive another year of aid from Howard University students on its annual Alternative Spring Break (ASB) trip. But before applicants board the bus on March 15, more funds need to be raised.
A night filled with musical selections from the Howard University Community Choir, liturgical dance by the Rankin Chapel Liturgical Dance Ministry and spoken word by various artists put the ASB committee one step closer to its goal.
Friday's Second Annual Benefit Concert raised about $300, but concert coordinator Naa Kooshie Mills said the concert was not just for monetary gain.
"It was for publicity and just to get the word out about ASB and what we're trying to do," said Mills, a freshman political science major.
Gabrielle Ward, a senior international business major and ASB fundraising chair, agreed with Mills. Ward said the event was to "welcome the Howard University community, students and faculty into Alternative Spring Break's efforts to raise funds."
The committee has adopted other ways to get funds for the mid-March trip that include sponsorship letters to companies and local churches. ASB participants also received sponsorship letters to send to family and friends.
The estimated cost for each student, about $500, includes transportation, meals and housing and is funded completely by the ASB planning committees' fundraising efforts.
This is Howard's third year traveling to New Orleans and students are ready to, as host Teneasha Pierson put it, "finish unfinished business."
"We're going back this year because we have work to do," Pierson, a senior marketing major, told the audience.
The trip will be a four-day effort where students will work on different post-Katrina rebuilding efforts in New Orleans. This year, ASB has become a popular Spring Break choice among students. Since the first ASB trip to New Orleans, the number of applicants has doubled.
"So far there are 798 applicants, including the law school students and other graduate students," said Gerald Ashby, ASB coordinator.
Ashby said there is no maximum capacity for the trip and that the committee will try to assist everyone who has an interest in going in every way possible.
"We're trying to accommodate everyone, so everyone needs to say a prayer that we can take everybody," said Ashby, a junior political science major. "That's our hope."
During the concert, the audience was reminded of the purpose of ASB 2008 with Simone Hall's poem, titled, "Truth and Lies." Hall's poem highlighted the truths of post-hurricane Katrina efforts.
"They said 'the truth shall set you free,'" said Hall, a sophomore history major. "But truth be told, that day the truth came through the levees."
Hall said the poem was hard to write, but that she found inspiration in a peaceful moment.
"I was having writer's block but I just calmed, went to quiet place and God lead the words," Hall said.
Ty Axson, a junior broadcast journalism major, closed the concert by giving his testimonial of previous ASB trips. As the 2007 co-coordinator, Axson knows firsthand the benefits of going to New Orleans.
"One of the best things about the trip is that it helped me realize the things that I can do," he said. "I realize that I'm not able to rebuild every house but one house at a time, one brick at a time, one rail at a time. Those are the things that make a difference."
