The opportunity to serve in Houston, Texas was presented by Mike Fales, a personal mentor of mine, and director of service learning and campus ministries at Olivet College. This is the Alternative Spring Break program where students dedicate a week of service in a community much different then the ones they are accustomed to. Fales created the program in 1999, and its currently in its 19 year of service.

 

A total of 18 students and two Olivet employees including Fales, packed enough luggage into two vans for a week long trip from March 11-19. The group travelled 24 hours to Houston where we would be volunteering for the St. Bernard Project (SBP), a non profit disaster relief organization that was founded in 2006 after Hurricane Katrina.

 

Hurricane Harvey hit Texas on August 25, 2017, and caused $125 billion dollars in damage which is more than any other natural disaster in U.S History besides Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Harvey affected more than 13 million people in Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Louisiana. Harvey also affected over 200,000 homes, and destroyed roughly 13,000 homes.

 

During the week, we worked on three different homes, doing gutting, mold remediation, drywall, and carpentry. After one of the work days, we were invited to a welcoming home event for a family that featured a surprise; Houston Texans Defensive End JJ Watt, who contributed $12 million dollars individually, and raised over 37 million through his foundation, the JJ Watt Foundation.

 

To go to these areas that are different then the ones I’m accustomed too really puts everything in perspective. Everyone has issues they're going through, but to know the circumstances of different people, and to have even the smallest impact is life changing. Seeing places that are destroyed and families displaced makes you realize how much of a blessing it is to have clothes, a roof over your head and even something as simple as clean water.