1500 campus students from the International Churches of Christ help rebuild New Orleans
Mike Taliaferro • Jul 03, 2008
Ralph Boyd, CEO of the Freddie Mac Foundation and Michael Taliaferro of the ICOC
Once described as "a fast growing but controversial Christian group" the approximately 1500 campus students from the International Churches of Christ spent their 4th of July in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward today helping locals to clear and prepare 54 plots of land for rebuilding. The students came from all over America to spend the day removing brush and weeds, clearing out debris, and spreading topsoil. The Lower Ninth Ward was hard hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and residents are struggling to piece their lives back together.
The students were in town for the annual ICOC Campus Conference. This year's attendance of 1500 was far beyond the attendance of 1000 last year in Boston. It seems that the students were especially excited to come to New Orleans to make a difference in the lives of the people there.
HOPEworldwide helped to organize the day for the ICOC students. They were the first choice of the conference organizers, and by all accounts HOPEworldwide did a magnificent job. They spent months getting ready for the big day, training over 100 Americorps and HOPE Youthcorp workers.
Many federal, local and state officials turned up to thank both the students and HOPEww. Congresswoman Francine Waters of California, Raymond Jetson from the Louisiana State government, along with Ralph Boyd, chairman and Vice CEO of Freddie Mac corporation, all thanked the group at length.
Other community groups like Acorn showered us with thanksgiving. It was a great day for the students and for HOPEww, but it was an even better day for the residents. They have been given a chance to rebuild.
Michael Taliaferro, IcocHotNews
Editors Note:
As I reflect on this incredible event, I am reminded of the former dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University, Rev. Thornburg, who wrote about the ICOC saying "They are a fast growing but controversial christian group", and Carolyn Kleiner who said that "they are outlawed on thirty nine campuses around the US". (I don't know where she was getting her information from, because the ICOC is registered on hundreds of colleges across the US). However, I think if they could see this group of 1500 young campus men and woman, from all across the US, doing this amazingly constructive work in New Orleans, they may have to eat their words.
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Margaret Chipunza is the CFO of one of the best banks in Zimbabwe, a wife, mother, and a devoted servant in her local church.