Ambrose is known to show they care

by: katie voelliger
News Editor

September 11, 2001. The death of the Pope. Hurricane Katrina. When there is a crisis, the Ambrose community responds physically, spiritually, financially, and emotionally.

In response to the hurricane disaster earlier this year, SAU students joined together and planned fundraisers to show they cared.

According to Veronica Riepe, director of student activities, a committee was formed of individuals, who all shared a common goal. They wanted to help do something about the hurricanes hitting the southeast.

"I think the committee, which had seven or eight individuals, was started when people expressed an interest," Riepe said. "Some students expressed an interest from Campus Ministry and Student Activities to have an coordinated effort. We talked to some people from all different groups…and came together to brainstorm ideas."

She says she has no idea who came to whom with ideas for the events, but connections were made and events were held. Some of the events held were faculty/staff jeans day, the KALA drive-through, the prayer vigil at the chapel, and the Loras/SAU Residence Life challenge.

P.J. Foley thought the hurricane relief effort was more a teamwork strategy.

"I saw the whole hurricane relief event more as teamwork of St. Ambrose," said Foley. "Everyone helped out at what events they could. The events were clumped together."

"Dave Baker from KALA made a connection with Foley and then KALA came to us with the idea to help brainstorm more and get volunteers," Riepe said

Baker said KALA teamed up with Campus Ministry back in September to undertake some type of a fundraiser.

"We simply wanted to do something to help out," Baker said. "One of my volunteer DJ’s, ‘G’ from the ‘Monday Morning Wake-Up Call,’ asked me if there was any way we could do a Hurricane Katrina fundraiser on KALA.  I didn’t hesitate."

Another event was the Residence Life Challenge against Loras. Riepe said the committee wanted to challenge another school. Since Franklin hall director Emily Meyer used to work at Loras, she called them and they agreed.

Meyer was on the committee for most of the time, except for when a scheduling problem occurred.

"The challenge versus Loras was a Residence Life function," Meyer said. "The idea was brought up by me, because I worked at Loras last year. [Rohlman hall director] Rob Trembinski and I got it organized, and all the RA’s and Hall Directors worked on it."

Riepe also believes one of the events, Ambrose Aid, was a success, even though she was nervous about it from the start.

"The Ambrose Aid event was successful," Riepe said. "The students wanted to do something like that in the beginning and I was very nervous about it from the start. It was a lot of undertaking and work. I think the committee really talked and creating awareness was the main idea, not the amount of money the event raised."

"When it comes to Ambrose Aid, did we raise a lot of money? No. But did we create a lot of awareness? Yes, and to me that is what is successful," Riepe said. "Yeah, money is great…but reminding people not to forget that this is still going on is important."

Riepe also mentioned that they had 35 people at the event, including volunteers and that there were about 20 people volunteering. Also, three area churches were notified about the event, so a notice could be included in their bulletins.

A parish member from one of the churches said she did know about the event, but the church didn’t receive the notice about the event until after the bulletins had been printed for that week. She said it was almost like you had to attend mass Saturday night or early Sunday morning to hear about the event in advance, which was held later that day.

Student volunteer Craig Hurd was not even aware there was a hurricane relief committee.

"I was asked less than a week before the event if I could help at the event, and I said that I would be able to for a portion of the time," Hurd said. "I feel that the event was a good idea, but it was not planned effectively which caused the event to end up very poorly in comparison to the way that it could have turned out."

Hurd went on to mention that he saw little publicity about it on campus. He said he was aware of mass e-mails, which most students tend to delete without reading as well as two posters, although he said most students did not stop to read them.

Student Phil Reges volunteered for the event and offered to help spread the word.

"I think that if all of the resources that were available were used, there would have been a much better turn-out," Reges said. "I also believe that if the student body were made aware of the committee, there would have been a lot more people interested.  I told members of the committee several times that I would help get the word out about it, but I was told time and again that ‘they had it under control.’"

"If we were to do this all over again, I think we would have a media sponsor," Riepe said. "We do all of this work, but you have to make sure you advertise. We had flyers all over the city. We should have had a media sponsor, such as KWQC TV6. If we had them as a corporate sponsor, we could have had them run public service announcements."

"Another glitch we had was when people said they would make those contacts and then the contacts weren’t made," Riepe said. "You know, like every project you will have miscommunication and we did have a band drop out at the end."

Jane Kettering from Communications and Marketing did send out a press release.

"I thought the media coverage was great," Kettering said. "Also with press releases, many times many people receive them from within the same company/organization. So, it’s not just one person receiving it, but many."

The hurricane relief committee paid $300 to run the generators and they had to pay the production sound company. The use of the stadium was donated by the city of Davenport. The bands all donated their time.

"The big thing for me is that…people get locked into numbers. You can make the difference to one person," Riepe said. "Quality isn’t related to quantity. We would have liked to have a thousand people there, but instead we met a lot people. We did a lot of things, and did a lot of good, and it showed the spirit of St. Ambrose."

Rev. Chuck Adam mentioned that if one event didn’t go as planned, SAU still has something to be proud of.

"Obviously the Ambrose Aid concert did not pan out to be what planners would have hoped, but there is so much for Ambrose students to be proud of," said Adam.  "All told, from St. Ambrose, over $ 8,ooo was sent to Catholic Charities."