Students all over the South have been called to participate in the response to the damage done by last year’s hurricane season. MTV is now making this call global. Through their “Think” foundation MTV has teamed up with the United Way to form a committee called Storm Corps. According to mtv.com, the corps is “a commitment from young people across the country to spend their Spring Break rebuilding lives and to learning about themselves in the process.”

Storm Corps is advocating an “alternative Spring Break” by sending 100 young people to help rebuild the Gulf Coast, including Biloxi, Miss. and Foley, Ala. from March 11-17. According to MTV’s Web site, applicants who are selected will “work in teams to muck mud, clean up child care centers, tear down moldy walls and rebuild roofs.”

Applicants are selected according to their responses to various essay questions. MTV and the United Way will cover the cost of room, board and transportation of the volunteers.

Meanwhile, the Loyola University Community Action Program has been encouraging students since the beginning of the semester to get involved in rebuilding the community. LUCAP is advocating programs such as Emergency Community, an organization that provides hot meals, clothing and labor to affected areas and Common Ground Relief, an organization that provides aid and support to communities. This semester, the most popular volunteer programs have been Hunger Relief, an organization that “feeds 1,500 people a day in communities that have lost everything under 18 feet of water,” said LUCAP Special Affairs Chairperson Wilhelmina Peragine, sociology junior.

LUCAP will use $8,000 recently allocated to them by the Student Government Association to purchase faceplates to protect the students and transportation to bring them to the Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish. According to LUCAP Associate Chairperson Jay Alcazar, biology junior, they will gut houses with homeowners.

Instead of encouraging students to spend their Spring Break in a different way, LUCAP is urging them to spend their semester differently.

“Why wait until Spring Break to do something for your city?” said Alcazar. “We’re promoting on-going projects, we’re really looking for a commitment (from students).”

Laurén Bienvenue can be reached at [email protected]