Hearing about and watching on television the havoc that Hurricane Katrina wrought at Dillard University in New Orleans hit close to home for Lynda Nauright, nursing professor at Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.
"I went to nursing school in New Orleans at Louisiana State University and lived near the Dillard campus," said Nauright, Ed.D., RN. "I had just been back to a conference in New Orleans in June, before the hurricane, and met Betty Davis, the dean."
Lynda Nauright, a professor at Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, started the Beads for Books drive, which collects books to be donated to Dillard University in New Orleans. "I wanted to do something personally to help, not just send a check," she said.
She learned that the Dillard campus had been flooded by 5 feet of salt water for three weeks. The campus buildings would have to be gutted. The school would be closed for fall semester and would hold classes in a hotel for spring semester.
"I wanted to do something personally to help, not just send a check," Nauright said. When she realized that the university — as well as many of the faculty living nearby — had lost their libraries, she decided to hold a book drive.
"All faculty members are bookworms. Even in this electronic age, there's something special about books, and it's hard to get most faculty members to part with one," she said.
At a research conference at Emory, Nauright asked faculty and graduate students who attended to donate recent nursing textbooks to Dillard University.
In October, she drove to New Orleans with 12 boxes of books to give to Davis.
"When I had lunch with the faculty and told them that I'd gone to the Lower Ninth Ward to take pictures to show the faculty here, one professor said, 'We thought everyone had forgotten,' " Nauright said. "I think they were as appreciative of the gesture as they were of the books. When people give you their books, they're giving a part of themselves."
On the same trip, Nauright was impressed by the upbeat attitude of her friend Carol Buisson, who had lost her home and her business buildings to the flood. Buisson believed that she was one of the lucky ones, because she could rebuild.
"She also told me that if I could give 12 boxes of books, she would send me 12 boxes of beads to help with the drive," Nauright said. "She sent the nice ones."
Since then, Nauright's Beads for Books drive has collected an additional 26 boxes of books, and the Emory Student Nurses Association has adopted the drive as a service project. There have been many knocks on the professor's door by people bringing books and leaving with beads.
"It's been very rewarding," Nauright said. "Everyone's excited, and you can see how generous they've been, because there are beads hanging all over the school. It's very festive."
She plans to continue collecting and delivering books as long as the school needs them. "Some people ask to write a check to help nursing students there, and I take those, too," Nauright said.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Checks made out to Dillard University may be sent to Lynda Nauright at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University, 1520 Clifton Road N.E., Atlanta, GA 30322. Books can be dropped off at Nauright's office, Room 316 in the School of Nursing building.