The members of Phi Kappa Psi will  make improvements at Sarah T. Reed High School on Saturday, Dec. 5. The day of service aims to repair damages at the high school that was damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

The school requires major improvements so it can be a suitable learning environment for children in the community.

    President Noel Ledesma, marketing senior, and Scholarship Chair James McBride, theater sophomore, coordinated the first of what they’d like to make an annual event for the fraternity.

“This first annual service project at Sarah T. Reed High School gives our fraternity and the Loyola student body an opportunity to give back to a local community that still feels the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This will be one of the many initiates Phi Kappa Psi will take during this academic year to help give aid to the youth of New Orleans,” Ledesma said.

    The fraternity members and other participants will be performing basic maintenance and repairs such as repainting walls and landscaping. Volunteers will also paint a mural.

    McBride, also a Loyola ambassador and Jay O’Conor, a Loyola admissions counselor, will help students fill out college applications as well as host a Loyola information session.

    “One of our fraternity’s core values is to find joy in serving the less fortunate.  Because we are in New Orleans, we are in an excellent position to put both of these values into practice, and there is nowhere where it is more necessary that in the public schools of this city,” McBride said.

    For those interested in volunteering at Sarah T. Reed, buses will leave the turnaround at 9:30 a.m. Breakfast and lunch will be served.

    “We want this to be a successful event so that we can help improve the community at large. We are hoping that through this and events like it, that Phi Kappa Psi and the students of Loyola can learn something about themselves and others living in their community,” Ledesma said.

Allison Baznik can be reached at [email protected]