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As seniors Zane Frisbie and Jonathan Stevens sat in their apartment on the night of Thursday, Sept. 2, watching the damage done by Hurricane Katrina, they asked themselves, “Why can’t we help?”
“You see these disasters in places that you can’t really get to — earthquakes and tsunamis across the world,” Frisbie said. “These were people that they were there and ask for help and saying that they weren’t getting it.”
Realizing there were no classes Monday because of Labor Day, the two roommates and friend Kenneth Portillo began their drive to New Orleans. Along the way, they met up with friends from Texas, who told them that there were many relief efforts in the Texas, in particular one at the Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio.
At the base, two warehouses were used for hurricane relief. The first warehouse housed displaced citizens and the second stored donated items, mostly clothing.
The three worked with several hundred other volunteers in the second warehouse sorting and boxing clothing. While contact with those who were displaced was kept to a minimum to avoid spreading illnesses, Stevens said people generally had high spirits.
“They said people were treating them like they were kings,” Stevens said. “The main thing is in two to three weeks when this is out of the media and that’s when the building is going to start. That’s when it will hit people.”
Frisbie, Stevens and Portillo said the most depressing part of the experience was hearing about people who were missing family.
Frisbie said that there is still many more opportunities for aid.
“The coming weeks are what’s really going to be important,” he said. “The clean up and a lot a of volunteer work is going to open up.”
The group is unsure if they will be involved in future relief efforts because of school and travel time.
Frisbie and Stevens both said if people are interested in donating items, summer clothing and baby supplies are all in high demand, as most clothes that they were sorting were winter clothes.
Frisbie also said American people wanting to help should set up their efforts with an organization like the Red Cross.
The group of Pepperdine students left Texas at 1 a.m. Monday and arrived back in Malibu at 1 a.m. Tuesday.
Submitted 09-08-2005
MALIBU, CA
