ACCD News & Events

The SAC Community Responds to Hurricane Victims' Needs

For Immediate Release
September 12, 2005
Contact: John Hammond, Director of Public Relations, San Antonio College
210/733-2147
jhammond@accd.edu

The San Antonio College community of students, faculty and staff members have responded in a variety of ways to the needs of the victims of Hurricane Katrina, as outlined below.

"I am extremely proud of the response of the faculty, staff and students of San Antonio college to the many needs of those displaced by Hurricane Katrina,' said Dr. Robert E. Zeigler, President. He added, "The college is committed to doing everything possible to be of help, and all members of our college community have already demonstrated their concurrence with this commitment."

Supplies:
Last week the college began several drives to collect and deliver supplies. These include:

• Clothing (coordinated by the Housekeeping Department, at 733-2238 or 733-2247).
• Personal items (coordinated by the Office of Student Life, the United Methodist Student Ministries, and the Catholic Student Center)
• The Business Department faculty, SIFE (Student for Free Enterprise), and Public Administration student clubs collected and delivered clothing and personal items last Friday to the Boys & Girls Town facility.
• Money (The San Antonio College bookstore will give donations to the American Red Cross)

Phone Banks:
Students, faculty and staff are signing up to help with local TV station phone banks (coordinated by Martha Buchanan, Academic Support Specialist, at 733-2826).

Service Learning:
Faculty are invited to engage their students in service learning projects involving community service to help at the relief centers. (Coordinated by Audrey Grams, Service Learning Coordinator, at 785-6044).

Adopt a Family:
The SAC community is invited to adopt a family (either with supplies and aid or if they can to adopt them physically, coordinated by Dr. Joy Black, Dean of Student Affairs), and the college's administrative team will be adopting a family.

Counselors:
College counselors have been trained and are being dispatched today to the in-take centers in San Antonio to provide personal and, if appropriate, academic counseling.

Other Assistance:
Other personnel are also assisting with in-take at the centers in town, including staff and faculty from the offices of Evening, Weekend, and Distance Education (Dean Ruben Flores), Enrollment Management (Dean Manuel Flores), Library, Student Life, Admissions, and Child Development, among others.

College Admissions:
San Antonio College, along with the other ACCD colleges, is providing quick admittance to college courses, particularly for Flex II classes, which begin in October, as well as Continuing Education courses - which can be offered at various times throughout the year. The college is also working with four-year colleges to refer appropriate students.

The Women's Center:
The San Antonio College Women's Center (Dr. Helen Vera, Coordinator, at 733-2299) is working with the San Antonio Office of Community Initiatives (Dennis Campa, Director) to provide on-site workshops for victims of the hurricane.

Nursing Students:
San Antonio College Nursing students will be part of a larger contingent of nursing students in the city to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina. With help from San Antonio College Nursing Professors Evelyn Garcia and Carol Lewis, the SAC students will help hurricane victims at Kelly USA on Monday, September 12 and Tuesday, September 13.

According to Garcia, they will "assist with health assessments, medication profiles, etc." Lewis added that the students (who will wear their uniforms and school name badges) will also check on medications, listen to evacuees, and do whatever is needed.

The nursing students' assistance is part of a larger series of efforts by San Antonio College faculty, staff, and students to help hurricane victims. These include collecting supplies of clothing, toys, toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, deodorant, mouthwash, diapers, baby wipes, baby power, personal hygiene products, washcloths, towels, shampoo and conditioner, combs and brushes, body lotion, pillows, sheets, blankets.