September 21. 2005
lattò ©bseruer
Page A6
Concordia Helps Hurricane Victims
continued
fro m Front
union account in New Orleans.
V ancouver Avenue First B ap
tist Church, a m ostly African-
A m erican congregation in P ort
lan d , d o n ated m oney fo r her
clothing and she was given aid
from the Red Cross to help her get
back on her feet. W hen she heard
C oncordia U niversity was offer
ing lim ited scholarships, she ap
plied. She was given school sup
plies, books, a dorm room and
tuition. Her generous room m ates
even surprised her with a room
makeover.
“I’m ju st so thankful to every
one helping m e,” Calvin said, ex
pressing sorrow for the children,
w om en and elderly people who
lost everything they had.
A lthough C alvin said sh e’d
miss the friendly, southern hos
pitality of New Orleans, not to
mention its food and strong sense
o f history, she has no plans to
move back.
“1 d on’t want to put m yself in
that situation again,” she said.
Portland natives Alexis McCoy
and Ismaelite Saint Felix were both
freshman at Xavier Uni versity, hav
ing moved into the dorms two weeks
before the floodwaters from Katrina
wiped out the city. They assumed
the 400 students living in campus
dorms would be moved to another
school immediately if the hurricane
hit. Instead, they were told to move
to the top floors of their building.
They were given flashlights and
the power went out.
“The storm was coming - all you
heard was wind,” McCoy said.
Felix held onto her blanket and
a couple o f suitcases for the next
photo by
K atherine B lackmore /T he P ortland O bserver
Concordia University is providing free financial assistance to Alexis McCoy (left) and Ismaelite
Saint Felix, who arrived on the northeast Portland campus after Hurricane Katrina displaced them.
Blues
Concert for
Katrina
Relief
Linda Hornbuckle
neighborhood and are now ready to
provide you with a wide variety of
quality products and services.
Irma Thomas
continued
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C harm aine N eville, vocalist
daughter of New Orleans’ famed
Neville Brother, Charles, will also
perform as one of thousands to
escape from Katrina's floodwaters.
The songs of Ray Charles will be
honored by Linda Hornbuckle,
C urtis Salgado, Duffy Bishop,
Andy Stokes, Patrick Lamb and
Thara Memory, among many oth
ers. P o rtla n d ’s M arch Fourth
Marching Band will offer a colorful,
high-energy and eclectic set, along
with a mix of Mardi Gras mayhem
and stilt-dancers.
A donation of $ 1 Oor more can be
made at the gate. All funds raised
from admission and food sales will
be donated to America’s Second
Harvest and Oregon Food Bank for
hurricane relief.
For more inform ation, visit
www.waterfrontbluesfest.com.
We can hardly wait for you to stop by
to see all that we have to offer you.
W ood Village
23500 N.E. Sandy Blvd.
SUPERCENTER
I
few days w hile the students hung
around the dorm s, w aiting for an
answ er.
E ventually, when phone ser
vice was available, Felix was able
to make a quick call to her m other
to tell her “it’s not that bad."
A ssum ing school w ould start
back up again soon, Felix contin
ued to do her hom ew ork because
she d id n ’t want to be behind in
class.
Then the levee broke and w a
ter began to rise. The show ers
and to ile ts sto p p e d w o rking.
W ith w orries and tension grow
ing, rest w asn’t easy to com e by.
“W e ju st kept telling ourselves
‘at least w e’re aliv e.’ If I woke up
and saw the sun was shining, I
was grateful for that,” Felix said.
T hursday m orning, girls were
woken by the shouts o f “L e t’s
go, the C oast G uard’s outside!”
They gathered their things, went
dow n the stairs and w alked out
side into w ater that was about
three inches above the ankle.
(The w ater level around cam pus
eventually rose to about six feet.)
The students placed their belong
ings on floating chairs and were
rescued by boats fitted for ap
proxim ately 12 people, including
luggage.
The X avier students were then
taken to the I - 10 highw ay, where
they w aited 12 hours until they
were picked up by buses and es
c o rte d to safety by N atio n al
G uard units and L ouisiana State
Police. D uring their w aiting time,
Rev. Jessie Jackson cam e to say
a prayer and asked the crow d if
they w ere ju st happy to be alive.
The buses then transported stu
dents either to Grambling State
University, about 5 hours north
west of New Orleans, or Southern
University in Baton Rouge, an hour
and a half northwest, depending on
individual destinations.
W hen the students were rushed
onto the buses, they were told to
lay flat on the floor for protection.
Angry residents, they said, had
been randomly shooting guns to
try to get a ride.
“It was really scary because you
didn’t know what was going to
happen to you,” McCoy said.
With McCoy at Southern Uni
versity and Felix and Grambling,
they were given food, cots or m at
tresses, blankets, toiletries and tow
els.
Soon after, a friend’s grand
mother picked McCoy and a few
other students up and housed them
until they got back to Portland.
“It was scary, but when you have
people around you that you’ re com
fortable with, it makes the transi
tion easier,” she said.
Elsewhere, Felix was able to call
her dad from Grambling.
“I could tell he was overwhelmed
and anxious and worried,” Felix said.
She was eventually flown back to
Portland.
“I was just happy to be headed
toward home,” Felix said. “It really
helps you appreciate life. My heart
goes out to every one who helped
us.”
C oncordia’s O ngoing E m er
gency Student Aid Fund can be
supported with donations by mail
ing or delivering a check to the
Concordia University Foundation,
2811 N.E. Holman St. Portland, OR
97211; or by contacting Andrea
Bruno at 503-280-8505 or viae-mail
at abruno@ cu-portland.edu.