As we looked forward to another summer’s peaceful transition to fall, mother nature had other plans. Starting on August 25, a ripple effect of floods and hurricanes hit the southern United States and the Caribbean.

Hurricane Harvey was the first to strike. Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained wind speeds reaching up to 130 mph and nearly 50 inches of rainfall covering southeast Texas and Louisiana.

On Sunday, September 10, Florida saw the devastation of Hurricane Irma. When it reached Florida’s coast, Irma hit the Keys as a Category 4 and proceeded toward inland Florida as a Category 3 storm.

While the effects of both these hurricanes were felt deeply by the U.S., parts of the Caribbean and U.S. territory Puerto Rice were devastated and people there are still struggling. While it is difficult to send enough aid to all the places affected, people are coming together from all over to lend a helping hand, and this is where ENC comes into play.

As a Christian campus with service at the core of the college’s identity, relief efforts are in place. How can a small campus in Quincy make a difference? ENC is doing big things to help.

On Friday September 15, an offering was collected during chapel and the campus gave around $800 for projects in Texas.

Another student-led project is the Crisis Care packages. The Director of Spiritual Life, McKenna Kern stated, “It was not my idea. It was Lynn Bollinger and Emily Ludwig [who suggested it]. They wanted a sponsor, so I was more than happy to help in any way that I could.”

Kern explained the process in which the school is trying to help. “What it looks like is we [SGA] are going to be reaching out to different departments such as sports teams, clubs, admissions, and other departments. Some things that we are asking for are: shampoo, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, towels, band-aids, hair combs, and small toys for little kids.” SGA wants to make this a campus wide event, so there are locations for students to drop off any item on the list.

On September 27, during the school service project day, students put together the packages and prepared them to get sent off by a local church.

The hope is that this event will bring the campus together to help share love and positivity in a time when it is needed most in a way that also benefits those in need.