In October 2017, a group of 24 Utica College students, including many construction management majors, traveled to Houston to aid in cleanup efforts after Hurricane Harvey ripped through the region in August. Samaritan’s Purse, a non-profit disaster relief organization, hosted the students’ stay as they volunteered their time and labor for those in need. Then-senior PR/J major Briana Greco ‘17 traveled with the group to report on their experience.
I joined the trip to Houston as an inbound reporter. My main purpose was to document the UC students’ experience, but as the trip went on, I found myself as more than just someone with a microphone and camera.
At times, the journey was physically and emotionally draining. The days began at 6 a.m., and volunteers worked for eight hours clearing out destroyed homes and prepping them for contractors to later come in and start rebuilding. We were able to see firsthand the personal belongings these homeowners had to throw out due to the flooding damage, along with the trailers some individuals were living out of adjacent to their destroyed homes.
For all of us, witnessing this put our lives back home into perspective. Construction Management student Mike Delia told me how it was overwhelming to see some of the living conditions these people had to endure.
From the start, Assistant Program Manager for Samaritan’s Purse, Debra Cooper, who was our guide during the trip, prepared us for the hardest part of this type of work: leaving these houses completely gutted and empty, since we would not part of the rebuilding process, just the cleanup. She told us it would be difficult to walk away from individuals in such despair.
“This is a very low point in many of these people’s lives,” Cooper explained, but she went on to reassure us of the impact we were making by being there to lend a hand.
After three days of working on homes, we realized it, too. One homeowner told us how the work we completed in her house in just four hours would have taken her and her husband weeks.
Delia recalled the reaction of one homeowner when she learned that we’d traveled all the way from New York to help. “She just broke down and started crying,” he said. She was so overwhelmed with gratitude.
David Dubbelde, director of UC’s Construction Management program, organized the trip and knew his students would benefit from the hands-on experience.
“Part of what we do in the curriculum is emphasize the need to give back to the community,” he said. “So it’s a great opportunity to, rather than just talk about it, experience it, and see how you can help people.”
The UC Construction Management program also donated a large number of tools and safety gear to Samaritan’s Purse, for other volunteers to use in the cleanup efforts.
The trip to Texas was much more than we anticipated. The bus ride home was full of tired but grateful students who were proud of their efforts and honored to be able to help the people of Houston.
I signed up for this trip to be a part of something that would affect people’s lives and to report on stories that matter. I’m proud to have done both.
Since graduating from UC in December 2017, Briana Greco is now the Development Coordinator for the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties.
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