More than a dozen Houston-area college students are learning a lesson in kindness from their counterparts in Atlanta after being stranded here since Sunday because of the remnants of Hurricane Harvey.
The effort by Atlanta University Center students to assist 17 Texas Southern University students and some faculty members is one of several campaigns by college students across Georgia to help those impacted by the monster storm.
The Texas Southern group was in Tallahassee, Fla., Saturday to watch its football team play Florida A & M University. While the team and others drove back to Houston, the group caught a flight to Atlanta, but all connecting flights to Houston were cancelled because of Harvey.
Raphael Moffett, Texas Southern’s vice president of student services, a former Morehouse College administrator, contacted Kevin Booker, an associate dean at Morehouse, to explain their dilemma. Morehouse officials and student leaders began brainstorming ways to help.
Morehouse opened its cafeteria to the Texas Southern group, as has Clark Atlanta University. The Atlanta students have allowed their new friends from Texas to use their computer labs to email classmates and relatives and share updates about their situation. AUC students held a prayer vigil Tuesday evening and are organizing clothing drives.
“It still feels like we’re not doing enough,” said Kamren Rollins, Morehouse’s student government association president.
The Texas Southern group, staying in a Hampton Inn near Atlanta’s airport, has been overwhelmed by the hospitality.
“It just showed how we’ve got to stand with each other,” said Tramauni Brock, a second-year pharmacy student who is also Miss Texas Southern.
The Texas Southern students said all their classmates are safe as far as they know and the campus does not have significant flooding. The Historically Black College and University has about 9,200 students, according to its website. Its school colors, maroon and gray, are — ironically — nearly the same as Morehouse’s.
The Texas Southern students have heard harrowing tales of faculty members whose homes were completely flooded and classmates whose vehicles are ruined. They have tried to help classmates by posting information on an online message board about helplines and shelters. They want to do more, but are limited because of their own situation.
“It’s not a great feeling,” Corbrin Burton, student government association president, said of watching news coverage of the disaster. “You just want to be there to help.”
Moffett said Texas Southern is working on an online effort, “TSU Cares Initiative,” for potential donors.
Other Georgia colleges and universities are also trying to help. Georgia Southern is collecting items for the next month at several athletic events. Kennesaw State and the College of Coastal Georgia are organizing blood drives. Georgia Southwestern State University is collecting clothes to be sent to the University of Houston. A Clayton State faculty member is headed to the region to assist with American Red Cross relief efforts.
Texas Southern’s website says classes are scheduled to resume Tuesday. Burton and his classmates hope to be there.
“We want to go home,” he said.
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