Sports Editor Will Helms, second-year sports management student
Our church group got out to our first worksite on Kilbourne Avenue around 9 a.m. on Tuesday. Less than a day after Gills Creek flooded, forcing hundreds to evacuate, the water had already drained away, leaving only mud in the houses.
Yeah, lots of mud.
The line on the walls showed that the day before, the water had been above my shoulders. We began the important but sobering work of removing everything from our first house, and I do mean everything.
The homeowner was calm, but anxious. He thanked us for coming and asked that we be on the lookout for his wallet and passport. When he was forced out at five in the morning, he couldn’t grab them and they had washed away.
In all honesty, aside from seeing all the lost property and memories, the hardest part of our volunteer work thus far has been finding places to park. There are that many volunteers.
The outpouring of support from students and neighbors has been incredible. Organizers have faced shortages of tasks — not people to complete them.
Students have risen to the occasion to offer support for their temporary home and it has been amazing to watch. Student volunteers have offered labor at homes, shelters and distribution centers to ensure the safety and comfort of those most heavily affected.
South Carolina, let us not forget to continue helping our community. Let us continue to show support for those affected and lend a hand where possible. Students have risen to the occasion, and frankly, it’s been pretty awesome.
Columnist Abe Danaher, first-year political science student
Sunday night, I was three minutes from beginning a reckless journey home.
Three minutes from hopping in a car with two random guys and one friend destined to Delaware, with no viable option to get from there to my home town in New York.
Three minutes from making a crazy decision, based solely on the belief that anywhere was better than being in the city of Columbia.
Over the course of three days, everyone who had known me up to this point in my life seemed to have texted me asking if I was okay. My hair began to look as dirty as the brown and green water that came flowing from my faucet when the city finally restored water to the pipes. And I felt a prisoner to my room: barred from the outside world by the curfew and weather that made walking outside both dangerous and many times illegal.
The floods didn’t affect my dorm, and I didn’t see firsthand the devastating affects that they had on the area. But the floods instilled a feeling of discomfort in me, and the need to escape.
They didn’t make life unlivable, but they made it hard. And judging by some of the pictures I saw this week on television, I'm sure I wasn’t alone.
Opinion Editor Ben Turner, fourth-year journalism student
As our group of about 50 students boarded the bus outside the Russell House on Wednesday afternoon to volunteer, we weren’t all necessarily sure where we were going or what we would be doing. But we were united in our desire to help others.
There was never any doubt about volunteering this week for fourth-year public health student Ben Lampe. “Since we go to school in this city and the city supports our university, I didn’t have a question,” he said. “This is where I go to school so I should help out.”
When we traveled over to the Drew Wellness Center to help unload and distribute water, that theme of unity continued.
Rev. Aaron Bishop, after giving us direction on where to go and what to do, reminded us why we were there. “This is about us being one Columbia. This is about filling a need,” he said. “So when people start showing up, let’s serve them.”
It’s easy sometimes to forget those around us. Whether it’s because we are on campus so much of the time or we may just be passing through for a few years, USC students can be cut off from the surrounding community. That wasn’t the case this week, as just like the city and state we watched our daily lives be upended by this horrific storm. Now, as our campus and most of us have been spared major hardship, we have a chance to give back.
Hopefully this will serve as a wake-up call to those who have not been as mindful that we all live in this area, and indeed on this earth, together. We must always endeavor to help our neighbors despite our differences.
After the work was done, Rev. Bishop invited another local pastor to lead a prayer. He began with a similar message. “Do you see what we can accomplish when the church works together?” he said. "Hallelujah.”