The University of Mobile (UM) campus felt only a slight impact from Hurricane Katrina — a few broken windows in Martin Hall, a few trees down, a few shingles blown off, a damaged fence and five days without electricity.
But the impact the hurricane left on the university family goes much deeper. For many, the world has turned upside down.
“Our house is completely done for,” said Josh Banashek, a senior social science major from Bay St. Louis, Miss. “It was completely picked up and moved. The walls are gone, the roof is caved in. It was just demolished.”
Banashek’s parents and three brothers are now living with him and his two roommates in a three-bedroom apartment in Saraland, and his parents are traveling between the Mobile area and their hometown to begin putting their lives back together.
At UM, which sits on 800 wooded acres in north Mobile County, the hurricane has impacted up to 150 students from hometowns severely hit by the storm. Many faculty and staff members had damage of varying degrees to their homes, ranging from a home in Ocean Springs, Miss., that was destroyed to Mobile homes damaged by water, wind and falling trees.
The university closed the campus the Saturday prior to the storm so students could travel out of the path of the hurricane. Only 11 students and a few staff members remained on campus in the first floor of Weaver Hall during the hurricane. Afterward staff members helped students find temporary homes until power could be restored to the campus. Classes resumed Sept. 6.
UM President Mark Foley, speaking to students, faculty and staff at the Mid-Week chapel service Sept. 7, said bringing order out of the chaos of the hurricane calls for a personal, healing touch.
“With something this massive, you have to break it down into pieces that are small enough for you to touch on a given day,” Foley said. “My challenge to you — and my own personal challenge — is to bring that healing touch in your own life or the life of another. Every day find one way to personally change the disorder of Katrina into the order of life.”
Campus Minister Neal Ledbetter is among several administrators charged with contacting UM students from storm-ravaged areas to assess their needs. “With students who are directly affected, they’re so overwhelmed it’s like they almost don’t know what they need,” he said. “Everything that was not on campus, they lost.”
University officials are working with affected students to help them find ways to stay in school, including matching students’ needs with individuals, groups or businesses willing to help. (UM, Emily Griffith contributed)
University of Mobile looks after students, faculty hit by storm
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