Greek students serve up Katrina relief in Mississippi

Last weekend a group of 50 IU students traveled to Gulfport, Miss., to aid Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The group, composed of greek students from 10 chapters on campus, volunteered at God's Katrina Kitchen, a nonprofit organization, serving meals to displaced families and helping the organization move its campsite to a new location.\nAlthough it has been more than a year since Hurricane Katrina demolished communities in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, thousands of residents are still homeless and in need of aid, said junior David Schweer, who organized the trip with sophomore Chelsea Vanderlinden.\n"I went down there and thought because the hurricane happened so long ago that things would be back to normal, but that's the farthest thing from the truth," Schweer said.\nSchweer said he was surprised at how poor the conditions still are for Louisiana residents and that he was glad to help as much as he could for two days.\nAnd that's just what they did, said Vicki Weesner, God's Katrina Kitchen camp coordinator. \n"They did everything from help us move the camp to our new site, to serving food, to moving supplies and organizing the new site, to raking and cleaning up," she said. "They were really great to have."\nGod's Katrina Kitchen serves up to 3,500 meals a day to both homeless people and volunteers helping with Hurricane Katrina relief. The organization is in the process of moving its entire campsite to a new location, a task that was sped up by weeks because of the help from IU students this weekend, Weesner said. \n"They had to completely move their entire kitchen and bunks to a new location, and we helped them do that and set everything up," Vanderlinden said. "I think it was really cool for the long-term staff to see how students came down to help them. They were telling us they didn't know how it was going to get done."\nThe group, which unofficially called itself the "Road Trip to Relief," has no set plans just yet for future weekend relief trips but hopes another will be in order for the spring. \nDespite God's Katrina Kitchen's Christian affiliation, the trip was not sponsored by any religious group and was open to all students. \n"We really appreciate ... these kids, and if they can do fundraisers and get groups like this down more frequently, that would be great," Weesner said. "It has been a blessing to us"