Every little bit counts...RACK the Aggies

[indyfrisco]

To: Faculty, Students and Staff
Subject: Relief Efforts at Texas A&M

Any Aggie of any age who believes the Spirit of Texas A&M is waning
should have been at Reed Arena over the past three days.

Under an agreement with local government officials, Texas A&M has made
Reed Arena available as a temporary shelter for a little over two
hundred or so evacuees from New Orleans through September 9th.

Probably like many parents and others, I was deeply concerned about
security given what we all had read about violence in New Orleans. I
only agreed to the use of Reed after being assured that the evacuees
would be vetted, processed and security wanded at a facility elsewhere
in Brazos County, wanded again upon arrival at Reed, and that
University police and other security would be present at all times at
Reed. Students who park at Reed Arena (mostly freshmen) will be
parking elsewhere on campus for the week. The evacuees are escorted by non-students wherever they go.

I asked the Commandant of the Corps of Cadets, Lt. General John Van
Alstyne, to take charge of this endeavor, in no small part because one
of his last responsibilities at the Pentagon was taking care of
displaced military families after 9/11. I also wanted a no-nonsense
person in charge. He has told me that he is quite comfortable with the
security arrangements. Either he or his chief of staff are at Reed
24/7.

Now to the best part. With little advance notice, Aggies sprang into
action last Friday. The Corps of Cadets was asked on Friday afternoon
to set up several hundred beds on the floor of Reed Arena; to help
establish a structure for processing the evacuees; to make arrangements
for them to shower and get new clothes; to help develop a process for
medical checks; and so on. (Contrary to some rumors, the Corps was
never asked or expected to provide security.) Lt. General Van Alstyne
asked the Corps Commander, Matt Ockwood, for 300 volunteers to do these tasks. 900 cadets volunteered, and Reed Arena was ready after the cadets worked all night.

The first evacuees began to arrive around midnight Saturday. They had
boarded busses in New Orleans that morning, had been driven to Dallas
and then finally to College Station - all in one day. Of the more than
200 arrivals, most were families, including some 40 children and a
number of elderly. They arrived exhausted, dirty, hungry and many in
despair.


They then encountered an Aggie miracle. Clean beds (not cots but
surplus beds from a refurbished Corps dorm), showers, hot food, medical
treatment, baby supplies for mothers, toys for children and more. But
most of all, what they encountered were a couple of hundred
compassionate, caring Aggie cadets and other volunteers. The cadets
escorted them to their assigned beds, and not only saw to their
individual needs, but sat on the side of their beds with them, talked
with them - treated them like they were a member of the family. The
cadets made them feel welcome and cared about.


Sunday, when I visited Reed, I learned that the women of the Aggie
Dance Team had organized and were running a distribution center for
pillows, towels, bedding, personal hygiene kits, baby food, diapers and
much more; that sorority women were running a child care facility for
dozens of children, well supplied with toys, juice, coloring books and
cartoon videos; and that plans were under way for other student leaders
and students to replace the cadets, some of whom had been at Reed for
more than 50 hours. Plans were underway for some of our athletes (and
escorts) to take some of the evacuee boys ages 10-16 to the Rec Center
to shoot hoops - boys perhaps including one I met who had treaded water
under a bridge for 11 hours before being rescued by a helicopter.

There is a communications room where the evacuees can use both
telephone and internet to try to reach relatives and friends. The Red
Cross, United Way, and other community organizations are right there on
the Arena floor, and the Salvation Army is serving three meals a day.
Escorted trips are being organized throughout the day to laundromats
and stores. Area physicians, supplemented by the Aggie Care Team and
the Health Science Center are available. Being treated with dignity,
respect and compassion, our guests have responded accordingly.


Many other Aggie students are involved in the relief effort on campus,
in the local community, and at our Galveston campus. Sunday afternoon,
students organized a massive collection effort to gather canned food
and clothes as part of the MSC's Open House. Student Government, led
by Student Body President Jim Carlson, is planning other relief-
associated activities, including helping organize more volunteers to
work at Reed Arena the rest of this week.


By agreement with Brazos county officials, Reed Arena is a temporary
location for these evacuees, and during this week, we are assured that
most, if not all, of the evacuees will move to longer-term housing.
Aggies need to know that the past few days have been a high point in
the history of Texas A&M as we have responded to this terrible disaster
named Katrina. Seeing the desire to serve, the organizational skill,
the willingness to work, the caring and compassion, and more, on the
part of the Corps of Cadets, the Dance Team, the sororities and so many
other students who have worked incredibly long hours - has been a
profoundly moving experience. I do not know a single University
official who, having watched our students over the past three days,
does not choke up with emotion out of pride in these amazing young
people.

And it's not just the students who have been amazing. It is also our
staff, including those who today began admitting and helping up to
1,000 students displaced by the Hurricane. Faculty and administrators
have volunteered as well, and also put in long hours to ensure that
these displaced students can be processed into Texas A&M and their
classes with speed and efficiency. I visited the processing center
this morning and met many of the parents and students; I know now that
they will never forget our generosity and warm welcome to Aggieland.


Aggies often speak of "the other education" here. My original intent
had been to keep the evacuees entirely isolated from our students.
Once assured of the safety of the students, that would have been the
wrong decision. I have no doubt that the Aggie students who are
participating in this extraordinary humanitarian endeavor will never
forget it -- or what they are learning from it about crisis management
and, far more importantly, about their own humanity and character. Nor
do I doubt that the evacuees, all of whom are now wearing Texas A&M t-
shirts, will always remember how these young people treated them and
cared for them.


The hearts of every Aggie should swell with pride in what this
University is doing for fellow Americans in trouble, and especially in
what our students and staff are doing, to help those devastated by
Hurricane Katrina. I thanked a University policeman inside Reed
yesterday for what he was doing, and he looked at me with tears in his
eyes and replied, "It's an honor to be here, sir."

Robert M. Gates
President, Texas A&M University

[GreginPG]

RACK aTm!

[Nolesy]

like I said before Rack those Texans.

Now if they can only heal the wounds inflicted by the Clemson loss :roll:

[Left Seater]

Well, if this is the prop your school in the relief effort then let me add this.

http://www.explore.rice.edu/explore/Tulane.asp

That link talks about how RICE will accept undergrads from the Houston area at no charge for the fall semester. The same is happening for all MBA students at Tulane.

Further the Tulane Golf teams may stay at RICE for the fall semester in order to practice and compete.

[indyfrisco]

Racks to Rice too. Talking with my folks who live down on the coast, pretty much every store, school, and business down there is doing what they can. Glad to hear these kinds of stories.

[the_ouskull]

We took in 14 Tulane students...

...only one of them has a parent on faculty here. Harold Grasmick... one of the coolest teachers I've ever had, and that's a lot of school for comparison.

the_ouskull