Briar Cliff Students Aid Mississippi

Eight Briar Cliff University students spent spring break in. southern Mississippi doing hurricane relief work, tutoring young students and providing repair to a community center used to service immigrants, children and people in need.

Just six months after the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina, people in southern Mississippi are still struggling to find a sense of normalcy. Briar Cliff students helped Catholic Charities in Jackson with sorting, food, clothing and household items donated to the hurricane relief effort. They also assisted Catholic Charities in setting up more office space for case workers arid counselors as the need for mental health work for the victims is an increasing need in the region.

The economic conditions for Katrina victims are similar now as what they were right after the hurricane," said student Laura Cameron, a junior from Amelia. "Many people have no homes or jobs."

Working conditions throughout the area are extremely poor and conditions were only worsened in the aftermath of the hurricane. Poultry production and processing is the largest industry in Morton, a community in Scott County with less than 3,500 people, but the economy of the region was a bold realization for the Briar Cliff students who did repair work on a building that services the needs of many immigrants and their children as well as food distribution to the poor and elderly.

"The work conditions for the people, especially immigrants, are terrible," noted Michael Tschampl, a senior from Sioux City. "It was a very eye-opening experience for all of us.

In additions to doing work and distributing food in Morton, BCU students helped tutor children in an after school program and traveled with a Hospice nurse to rural areas. Each evening, the Briar Cliff Community would join in faith, sharing and prayer, reflecting on how God had touched their lives.

"This was a wonderful immersion experience for our students as they experienced people who have met with the struggles of prejudice, poverty and poor educational systems," explained Janet May, OSF, director of Campus Ministry at BCU And the mission's organizer. We experienced the richness of their cultures and grew in friendship and understanding of each other."

Other members of the Briar Cliff community traveling with May, Cameron, and Tschampl on the mission were students Matt Benson, Staci Cogdill, Melanie Crnkovich, Janet Meister, Destiny MiIler and Roxanne Pieper.

The nine day mission also included a visit to the National Civil Rights, Museum in Memphis, TN. It was the third consecutive year Briar Cliff has conducted a humanitarian mission to Mississippi. For more information about the mission or Briar Cliff University's Campus Ministry, contact May at (712) 279-5227 or by e-mail: janet.may@briarcliff.edu.

Briar Cliff University is a Catholic institution with an enrollment of more.than 1,100 students from 23 states, Canada; Bosnia and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Students are educated in the Franciscan tradition of excellence in the liberal Arts and prepared for professional success in an environment of care and compassion for the community.