Elon plans service trips to assist with Hurricane Florence relief

Elon has announced the first in what will be a series of service trips to eastern North Carolina to assist with hurricane recovery efforts. 

The Kernodle Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement has partnered with Second Harvest Food Bank of Southeast N.C. in Fayetteville, N.C., to support their efforts to distribute food donations throughout a six-county area. The first of three trips to Fayetteville this month is scheduled for Oct. 11, with each trip open to up to 20 students, faculty and staff who wish to assist with the recovery. Additional trips will follow in future months.

Students, faculty  staff can sign up for these service opportunities by filling out this online form. Once you register, the Kernodle Center will be in touch with additional information. 

“This is the beginning of a sustained relationship with Second Harvest and other organizations in the affected areas that will last well beyond the next few weeks,” said Mary Morrison, director of the Kernodle Center. “We’re just getting started, and are eager to find ways that we can assist these communities as they recover from the hurricane.” 

Helping support the effort this month and in the coming months is a fundraising drive to assist with Elon’s disaster recovery service efforts. A special drive launched for Family Weekend generated nearly $3,700 as of Monday, with the funding to help offset transportation and food costs for service trips to eastern North Carolina. 

“I’m very grateful to those who made contributions because we did not have available funding to support these much-needed trips to serve in areas devastated by Hurricane Florence,” Morrison said. “I’m confident that through these efforts, we’re going to be meeting the needs that have been identified by the communities themselves.”

Additionally, the Chaplain’s Discretionary Fund, which is used to support those in the Elon community who are adversely affected by tragic circumstances like natural disasters, has seen close to $1,000 contributed since Hurricane Florence struck the state in mid-September.

Trips planned this month are scheduled for Oct. 11, Oct. 20 and Oct. 27, with volunteers departing campus at 10 a.m. and returning at 6 p.m.The team will work at Second Harvest Food Bank assisting with sorting and packaging the donations that have been received in recent weeks so they can be distributed to residents in need in Bladen, Cumberland, Duplin, Harnett, Hoke, Robeson and Simpson counties. 

The Kernodle Center is also exploring a partnership with Cumberland Strong, an initiative of the Fayetteville-Cumberland Recovery Coalition that brings together nonprofits, faith-based and charitable organizations to work together on disaster relief. Elon volunteers working with Cumberland Strong will likely be focused on housing recovery efforts, Morrison said. 

These partnerships have come about through N.C. Campus Compact, a collaborative network of colleges and universities in the state focused on civic and social responsibility. N.C. Campus Compact member campuses have been having regular conference calls since the hurricane to learn about how those institutions impacted by the hurricane are recovering and how other colleges and universities can assist. 

Morrison said her counterpart at Fayetteville State University helped connect the Kernodle Center with Second Harvest. Elon has previously offered alternative fall breaks dedicated to service in Robeson County and the communities surrounding the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and is looking at ways to renew efforts to assist in those areas. 

“We definitely want to work closely with UNC-Pembroke, and this is going to provide an opportunity to reconnect with those communities,” Morrison said.