Important Dates:

Today: Email Jim and tell him you are going to help!

January 18, 2006 Information Meeting, Murphy Aud, open to all 

January 25, 2006-- 12:30 School of Business Faculty Presentation (other faculty welcome, please RSVP)

February 3, 2006--12:30 Friday Forum (presentation to campus-wide faculty and staff)

March 3, 2006- Buses leave SBU (after last class)

I have been meaning to talk to you each individually, but with time being what it is, I think this will have to suffice for now.  Sorry!  Jim

Letter to staff and faculty

The following is a letter that was sent to School of Business Staff and Faculty.  We will be doing more marketing to to both staff and faculty in January.  

Hi!

As you by now know, many from the SBU community will be making a trip to Mississippi for the Spring Mid-term break.  We want to invite you all on the trip.  It will be excellent and a trip you will never forget.  While you are all super-busy, we are confident that if you give the trip a chance, you will be more than pleased with the way it turned out.  (As mentioned in the Larry Orsini interview, while we have spoken with hundreds of volunteers that have wanted to go back and help again, we have yet to hear from anyone who says "gee I wish I had not gone".

It will be a great opportunity to interact with the students more deeply than can be done in the class room and in doing so you will see a whole other side of them.  In this way, mutual respect and admiration will grow more than you can even imagine!

Additionally, since you all know him, we thought that you might be interested in hearing what Larry Orsini has to say about the area and volunteering to help the hurricane victims.  To summarize, he said that he did not remember anything outside of his family that filled him with as much energy and happiness as his time in Louisiana.  The Larry Orsini interview about his time in Mississippi and Louisiana as a hurricane relief worker is available in a MP3 format so anyone should be able to listen to them with without special software.  

Larry Orsini part one -
http://www.ourmedia.org/node/111868

Second part of interview with Larry Orsini .
http://www.ourmedia.org/node/111898

Other interviews (and more to come), pictures, essays, and  details on our spring trip are available at
http://financeprofessor.com/katrina/Katrina_Relief_from_FinanceProfessor.html

While you will be hearing more about the trip shortly, we just wanted to give you all a "heads up" and a personal invitation.  It will be great and you will really make a difference. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask any of us below.

Remember this trip is for the entire community. Not just students, not just staff, not just faculty. Everyone. Bring your family. It will be a trip that they will never forget!

As an added benefit, partial funding is available for faculty and staff who ride in the student buses!

thanks!

Jim Mahar
Todd Palmer

Student leaders:
Christine Francis
Sean Lynch
Meghan Backus
Bridget Hurley
Cassandra Pirdy
Anne Werner
Karyn Wolfe

The cost of the trip will be as low as possible.  It will about $250 for non students(although we are trying to develop funding sources for staff who wish to go).  This price includes food while in the Coast region  and a place to stay while there.

I can not urge you to volunteer strongly enough.  You will be amazed at how much fun helping others can be!  Email Jim Mahar for information or on how you can help.
What will volunteers be doing?  In a word everything!  Volunteers will be gutting houses, cleaning, hanging sheet rock, delivering food, caring for animals, and much much more.  Some people will be helping to organize (both before and during the trip), others will be video taping the trip, and still others will be there to listen to and meet with victims.  

There is work for people from all walks of life.

Organization and logistics: Arguably the most difficult part of helping is to know how you can help and where your efforts are needed.  Let us take care of that part of the trip!  Even if you can only be there for a few days, you get to Biloxi and we will find you work and a place to stay.

Feel free to contact any of the group leaders.  Additionally if you are on campus, please look for our "tables" in the Reilly Center.  We will be having an information session on January 18th in the Murphy auditorium on the Bonaventure Campus at 7:00pm.  Money is due by January 25th (faculty have an extra week since we will be presenting to faculty on Feb 3, 2006.)

Donations are being accepted to help defray the cost of the trip.