Concordia College

Alumna’s Class Helps Flood Victims

Jun 11, 2009

  When Holly (Jeppson) Gustafson ’97 started looking for a service-learning project for her class of fifth- and sixth-graders, the Hartford, Conn., teacher found one close to her heart. A senior at Concordia during the 1997 flood, she felt for the Fargo-Moorhead community this spring while residents battled the worst recorded flood of all time.

Gustafson shared photos of 1997 and the present flood, told stories of sandbagging and she and her students brainstormed ways they could help flood victims from halfway across the country. They decided to collect items for flood victims.

“My students were very empathetic toward the victims and seemed very sincere in wanting to help them,” says Gustafson, who teaches at Breakthrough Magnet School. “Several students spoke up and wished that we lived closer to Minnesota so we could have gone and helped sandbag.”

Gustafson used her Concordia ties to start the project. Her friend Ted Horan ’96 put her in touch with Chelle Lyons Hanson, assistant dean of Student Leadership and Service. Before long, they narrowed the project to school supplies and toiletry items that would be distributed through Churches United for the Homeless in Moorhead.

“It made sense to turn to Concordia because most of the people I keep in touch with over e-mail and Facebook are Cobbers,” she says. “And it would be much more personal than dealing with the Red Cross or a larger organization.”
 
Then her class set to work.

They created fliers, started a competition with other classes, ran segments on a daily student news show and asked parents and teachers to support their cause. It paid off. In just a few short weeks, the students collected 421 items – 120 pounds of goods Lyons Hanson delivered to Churches United June 4.

“I encouraged her to personalize the donations so maybe people here could connect with the kids who sent it,” Lyons Hanson said.

And they did. The students created cards and sent them with their donations.

Gustafson says it was an all-around great project.

“The whole point of teaching our students about contribution is to help them learn what empathy means, to look beyond themselves and to help others in our school, home and community,” she says. “Maybe when they get older, this type of experience will inspire them to do something even bigger to contribute to our world.”