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Katrina Trip
This site is for the dissemination of
information about the upcoming trip to
Kiln, Mississippi for Katrina
relief.
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Student
Service Corps (SSC)
"Helping
Students Help the World"
(Link) |
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Hard
at work on spring break
BY
TED NESI / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Friday,
April 18, 2008
MANSFIELD
- For most people, spring break means beaches, boards
and bikinis. But for a group of Mansfield High students,
it will mean hard work for a good cause.
A
group of 24 students and four adults will depart Sunday
for the Gulf Coast, where they will spend their April
school vacation assisting with the ongoing recovery
efforts there in the wake of Hurricane Katrina 2 years
ago.
In
February, 16 other Mansfield High students did the same
thing over their winter break.
The
trips have been coordinated by Kathy Litchfield, an
English teacher and assistant swim coach at MHS who
brought the idea to her students after discussing it
with a friend who is working there.
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"There
was so much interest," she said. "It was
originally going to be an April trip, but there were so
many kids that I decided to split it in two."
The
group of 11th and 12th graders will fly into New
Orleans, then travel to work at Camp Coastal Outpost, in
Kiln, Miss., a town of about 2,000 people. An NBC News
reporter said Camp Coastal "has the look of an Army
MASH unit, with its rough-hewn bunkhouses, dining tents
and makeshift showers."
The
volunteers will be assigned various tasks based on their
skills.
One
of the students heading to the Gulf next week, MHS
senior Drew Rumbel, said residents of the Gulf Coast
still need help, even though Katrina's impact has fallen
out of the headlines.
"What
people don't realize is, while we complain about the
harshness of winter, there are people in Mississippi who
have lost it all from Katrina, and have been suffering
an endless battle to find shelter and take care of their
families," he said.
But
community service isn't cheap.
The
total cost of the two trips is about $36,000, and the
students have been fundraising to defray the cost
through bake sales, can drives and even a school
carnival.
Sam
Wisel, another senior going on next week's trip, said
the fundraising efforts have made the challenge of the
trip more rewarding, and he expects the experience to be
"life-changing."
"The
biggest part of this trip for us, the students and
teachers who are volunteering, is that we are helping
contribute to our society and being good citizens
through helping those who need it the most," he
said.
Litchfield
said she is proud of her students and impressed by their
dedication and commitment. "It is a really, really
good group of kids, and they're working really hard to
come down together and support each other," she
said. "That's really good to see from a group of
16-year-olds who would rather be out with their friends
on a Saturday night."
Donations
to the trip can be mailed to the school, c/o Katherine
Litchfield/Katrina Trip, 250 East St., Mansfield, MA
02048. |
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First I want to say a BIG THANKS to all the parents
that dropped stuff off!
Second, the fundraising "teams",
which will be updated as the Feb. trip fills up.
Also, the student
whose name is FIRST on the team list will be the
official team captain, and will be responsible for
being there and collecting a sign-in sheet to return
to ms. Litchfield the next school day. if the
team captain needs to switch, MAKE SURE TO PASS THIS
RESPONSIBILITY ON!!!! Thanks!
Third, important dates (these will be added
to!)
The Friday, Saturday, and Sunday after
thanksgiving 11/23, 24, 25 we will be selling candles
at the Old Country Store.
Friday- 10-4: teams 1 & 3from 10-1pm, teams
2&4, 1-4pm.
Saturday-10-4: team 3 from 10-1 pm, team 4 1-4pm.
Sunday-12-4, teams 1&2 from 12-4pm.
DRESS WARMLY!!!! remember posters!!!!!
This will NOT be a "strike-able"
event because it is over a holiday, but anyone that
can go, it would be
awesome. More dates to follow...
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FEBRUARY
TEAM 1
1. Kelsey Arnold
2. Taylor Ascoli
3. Caroline Ballerstedt
4. Carrie Brophy
5. Kelsey Flynn (?)
6. Bryanna Hayes
7. Emily Keohane
8. Katie Mills
9. Olivia Monks
10. Michelle Navoni
TEAM 2**
11. Kellie Paice
12. Kristy Peehilis
13. John Wentworth (?)
14. Meghan White
15. Elizabeth Sullivan
16. Joe i-forget-his-last-name ;(
17.
18.
19.
20.
**Teams 1&2 will most likely work
as one until team two fills up a little
more.
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APRIL
TEAM 3
1. Alyssa Beaton
2. Sebastian Belentschuk
3. Jeetayu Biswas
4. Laura Boehm
5. Adrienne Breef-pilz
6. Melissa Buchanan
7. Dan Buckley
8. Ian Cox
9. Tony DelViscovo
10. Ryan Goodwin
11. Grace Guillotte
12. Tom Hansen
13. Krista Hurley
14. Samantha Jones
15. Dan Liddick
16. Kristen McKay
TEAM 4
17. Danielle Hernon
18. Stacey Jarvis
19. Jenn MacNeil
20. Jamie Neureuter
21. Sarah O'Connor
22. Michelle Plasden
23. Kirsten Ridlen
24. Andrew Rumbel
25. Liz Russell
26. Tanya Schillawski
27. Jules Toback
28. Christina Vultaggio
29. Meredith Walsh
30. Erik Westhaver
31. Casey Wilder
32. Sam Wisel
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FUN
FACT: Kiln (pronounced "kill"), Hancock County - aka
"the kill," named for the large outdoor furnaces, or kilns, used by early French settlers to produce
charcoal
Where we are going, and where we are staying!!!
http://www.campcoastaloutpost.org/
Once you get to the map, put Camp Coastal Outpost into the search box on the top
left-ish...it
comes right up, and you can look around
a little!
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Kiln,+MS,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title
Take some time with this site and watch a few of the video diaries of people and their homes right after the
hurricane-the Hancock County DA's tour and home is unbelievable. This really gives a good idea
of what people down there have survived, and makes you realize (hopefully) why we are going down there! If
you look at the north west-ish of the map, you will see Kiln, which is where we are going. Bay
St. Louis, and Waveland are only about 8-10 miles away.
http://risingfromruin.msnbc.com/tour.html
Look at the comments below the article...sooooo sad.
http://www.hurricane-katrina.org/2005/08/dejavu_for_hanc.html
Basic damage by town-Kiln isn't on here, but Bay
St. Louis is
http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=3789025
Picture of the storm, how global warming is
affecting hurricanes
http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0829-hurricanes.html
Interesting/scary/sad
http://www.southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2007/08/two-years-after-katrina-washington.asp
A bunch of articles on our area and the hurricane after Katrina
http://www.wlox.com/Global/category.asp?C=78839
An estimated census done by the gov.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwR/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5509a3.htm
Where mississippi is now...as of oct. 31, 2007. Again, take with a grain of salt...this is from FEMA
http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=41553
Slide show from FEMA...sad
http://www.fema.gov/storm/katrina/photo_katrina1.fema?id=1
Good pr for
FEMA...interesting.
http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=38573
Another
gov. issued article on what FEMA did to help...
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KHII-6JD52D?OpenDocument
...
Keeping in
mind that Wikipedia is NOT always the most reliable source...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_Hurricane_Katrina_on_Mississippi#Hancock_County
...
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Mansfield
High School
250
East Street
Mansfield,
Massachusetts 02048
Dear
Sir or Madame,
I am writing to you on behalf of more than sixty
Mansfield High School students, and the residents of
Kiln Mississippi, about what I believe is a very
worthy cause. I am planning and organizing what was
originally supposed to be a rather small, one-time
trip down to the gulf coast during one of the school
breaks to help with the rebuilding process that is
on-going two years after Katrina hit. This trip has
ballooned, faster than anyone anticipated, and there
are now sixty five students that are on our rooster,
and instead of going for one of the breaks, we will
now be splitting our group in half and traveling to
Mississippi during both the February and April breaks.
The purpose of this trip, as I see it, will be
twofold; first, obviously, it is our intent and hope
to bring relief to some of the residents of Kiln
Mississippi, a relatively middle-class neighborhood on
the Gulf coast that has had a very difficult time
recovering from the devastation that Katrina caused in
August of 2005. The second hope, and intended purpose
of this trip, while perhaps less obvious, is, I think,
by no means less valuable. I hope that by bringing
students from Mansfield High School down to the
devastated Gulf coast, they will begin perhaps to
appreciate what they have, as well as be more
empathetic to those around them, and hopefully, this
empathy will follow them back from Mississippi and be
put to good use right here in your community.
You are perhaps asking yourself at this point what the
purpose is of this letter, and what you can do to
help. Our group needs help getting down to
Mississippi. It is a relatively inexpensive venture;
the cost for a room and three meals a day for the week
that we will be down there is approximately $115 per
person, and the only other cost will be each
individuals’ plane ticket. We are cautiously
estimating the cost per person right now to be about
$600, but we hope that by finding a good deal on plane
tickets, this price tag will go down. Any donation
that you or your business could spare would go
directly to the cost of this trip and would help a
Mansfield High School student or chaperone get down to
Mississippi during February or April of 2008. This
donation would be charitable, and as such, should be
able to be a tax-write off. To show our appreciation
for your donation, you and your associates would be
invited to our "Show & Tell" after our
return, as well as your company’s logo receiving a
spot on our commemorative "I Helped…MHS Katrina
Relief ‘08" t-shirts, as well as a
complimentary t-shirt. If you would like to purchase
extra t-shirts, please indicate that on the enclosed
Donation Intent Sheet.
All checks should be made out to Mansfield High School
Katrina Trip(?!?!). Please take a second to fill out
the Donation Intent Sheet, indicating what size
t-shirt you would like, and the sizes of any extra
t-shirt that you and your colleagues would like to
purchase. Please use the enclosed, self-addressed
stamped envelop, and we will be in touch.
We, the students and chaperones at Mansfield High
School, thank you in advance for any and all help and
support and look forward to meeting you at both of our
"Show and Tells".
Sincerely.
Kathy
Litchfield
Team
Leader
Mansfield
High School
Katherine.Litchfield@mansfieldschools.com
A
recognized school of excellence
U.
S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools Program
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Katrina
Trip Meeting Schedule
Parent
Meetings: every second Thursday of the month
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December
13th, 7pm, Auditorium |
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January
10th, 7pm Auditorium |
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February
13th, Auditorium |
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March
13th, Library |
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April
17th, Library (whoops- this is the third
Thursday, but we already reserved the space, so we’re
sticking with it.) |
Student
Meetings: Every second Tuesday, after school in room
282
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December
11th |
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January
8th |
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February
12th |
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March
11th |
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April
8th |
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