Georgia Outreach One hundred and forty students take time out to help those in need through the Albany flood relief effort. Tiley are til e few. til e proud . the 140 s tud nts who could run fas t enougl1 to s ign up for the flood relie f of 1994. These select few le ft Sept. 15 and drove 14 hours to arrive in A lbany, Ga. in the w e !lours of the morning to c lean an area !lit by massive flooding in July. Student Association President Nat e Me llo r organ ized the relief trip , and s imilar to til e Missouri trip las t y ar . these Harding s tudents were tll ere to do wlla t tll ey co~ld to l1elp. Eac t1 s tudent l1ad llis or Iler own p ersonal motivation . "l w ent to St. Louis three times las t yea r and it was very spirituall y uplifting. I thought the Georg ia trip would be th same way. but possibly on a larger scale, b ecause half of my family liv s in Georgia."' Rl10nda Raper. sophomore. said. Freshman Anas tasia Yecke sa id s impl y, "I feel grate ful that God gave me t11e opportunity to he lp o tl1ers ." Til e work b gan Friday morning after a few short hours of s lE'ep . Til e students w ere divided int o small groups . Til e largest group - armed with rakes . shovels and pitchforks and garbed in b lack boots, g loves and trasl1 bags - set ou t into rile drencl1ing ra in to llaul debris from til e yards of flood-ravag d homes. The wat er had risen to 1 2 fee t deep in m any areas, and hom es were g utted down to the bare framework , leaving pil es o f sheet roc k , lino leum. furniture. c loth sand toys. The piles w ere w e t from continuing rain , and tl1e stench of rotting homes and raw sewag fill ed the air. H wever. tile students worked diligently, singing and making tl1e ir task look easy . l~W l<l!J 11 ·11i111w11 - N;islwillc . Tcn11 . Art! l('/l 11 '/Jillill f)IO /l - I lmling cn . T("XilS Bru(/ ll 'l 1ono11 - LCWi S\ ' illc . T( 'Xil S Hdwku/J \l 'i<l1wr - C>rirben ·illc . Ca lif. LUllCC' \ l 'ifjillf]IOll - t>ittsti c ld . Ill . 1\lll !J \\ 'i/ey - Smy rnri . Tenn . Kuri \\'iley - I li g ill<tm!s R<tn c li. Colo. B r e111 ll 'illlil<' - Sulpilur Spri ng s . Tc x<is T! JO/JIUS ll 'ilkillSO/l - Se<trC) ' . . \rk . Elie f\< ' lll l<'l i l \l 'il/irnns - Me111pt1is . Tenn . .l<lll)('S ll ' il/iU/llS - Windo w Ho rk . ,\ri z . .lrnl<I Lynne ll 'il/irnns - Wynne. :\rk . .i<'r<'lll!J ll 'il/irnns - Ne wport .. \rk . S!'U/l ll 'il/irnns - ScatT ) '. Ark . Felic iu I l 'i/so/l - Ft. S111itil . Mk . .los/1 ll'i/son - C l1<1tlon1 . Pa . /_(//](/(' ll'i/SO/l - H C1 11l0 11il . C<tl i f. ,\/WI \l 'ilso11 - Coop e r Cit y. Flil. /> <' o fJ I <' 1:28 F r c s /J Ill i' 11 Tl1e sma ller groups did an assor tment of jobs l11at inc luded the res tora ti on o f a cem e tery and tearing tile w all s. insula ti on and duc twork from homes tllat l1ad not ye t been gu tt ed. Tl1cy worked hard botl1 Friday and Saturday and w ere re lieved wl1en tl1ey finally pil ed into vehic les and head ed back to the Bea tti e Road c llurc ll wl1ere llo t showers and d inner awa it ed them. The hearts o f tile Harding s tuden ts were to uc l 1ed by tt1e devast ation in A lbany. Tens of thousands of residen ts l1ad b een l1omeless for two months. li v ing in var ious s l1e lters and finall y in trailers provided for them. Many of the l1ouses w ere severe ly damaged and condemned. A few had fall en into deep s ink ho les. reduced to pi l s o f worthl ess rubbl e. It made s tuden ts thankful to have w l1at they d id, and even more dedica ted to g iv ing the ir lives to God's work. Jacob Moran sa id , a ft er a day o f working in tl1e s treets , "Som e thing I rea li zed wllil e I was out there was tllat I wouldn't be tll ere without God .... Wl1il e we w ere praised by o tll c rs . [our work) was s till considered foolishness in til e world's point of v iew." This spirit of se-rvan tl1ood , charac teristi c of Harding studen ts in tl1e pas t , drew its example from Gal. 5: 13- 14: "For you are ca lled to freedom; onl y do no t turn your fr edom int o an opportunit y for the fl esh . but througl1 love serve one ano ther . for the whole law is fulfilled in one word. in 111 s tatem ent. You shall love your ne ighbor as yourse lf. "' - Amy Swalwell
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc5NA==