Go Sea Wolves!

By Rachel Manuel

We just returned from our evening activity, which was attending a hockey game. The MS Sea Wolves won in overtime. Their winning probably had something to do with the fact that some of our group did the chicken dance, and they didn't exactly back down.

Today was day two of team leader training and it was a good mix of getting to know our fellow team leaders and talking about the week to come. We are staying at Seashore United Methodist Assembly (SUMA), which is a pretty neat facility directly across the beach. Last night and tonight we stayed in a "hotel style" arrangement, but tomorrow we will be moving into the dorms with the participants. The team leaders range from United Way professionals, campus staff, and other awesome people that are taking advantage of their spring breaks. We have team leaders from Ohio, Texas, Montana, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Alabama, Arizona, and Mississippi (I'm probably forgetting somewhere). We found out today who our co-team leader is and mine is Cody. Cody is a veteran ASB'er and he also happens to be majoring in Construction Engineering (good for me). He is in his last year of school at Southern MS, and he is originally from Jackson, MS. After he found out I was from Iowa, he asked "So do you think I have a real strong accent?" The answer to that is yes, he does.

We have been assigned to an organization called Camp Coast Care. The mission of this organization is to provide safe, sound, and permanent housing for MS coastal community members affected during Hurricane Katrina. We will for sure be doing refurbished construction, but we won't know complete details until our first day on the job this Monday.

Participants will be arriving throughout the day tomorrow and tomorrow evening we will be assigned our team and provided with information on the impact of Katrina in the area, as well as hear from some community members.

Now we just hope for safe travels for all the participants!