This spring break, a team of Maroons turned their time off into a time for action by helping families still recovering from the wreckage of Hurricane Helene.
Students, faculty and staff headed to North Carolina to help restore mobile homes that were left battered when the Category 4 storm hit six months ago.
The trip, an alternative break program, took them to the mountain town of Swannanoa, just outside Asheville, where they spent the week sanding, caulking, priming and painting rooms to get them ready for families eager to return home.
The families visited the students to let them know how much their help meant — a memory that Mikaela Gantz ’25 will carry with her.
“The owner of the house where I mainly worked shared his family’s story of surviving the hurricane,” said Gantz, a double major in political science and environmental studies. “They lost their cars, almost all of their belongings, and their house was destroyed. But he ended by repeatedly emphasizing that none of that mattered as much as his and his family's lives. We have life, he said, and that is worth more."
For Gantz, it drove home what it truly means to lead a life of purpose. “This experience reaffirmed to me that the most meaningful use of our time is not in accumulating things, but in helping others,” she said. “The opportunity to help other humans improve their lives is the greatest gift we can give.”
The alternative break trip was organized by Roanoke College’s Center for Civic Engagement and Chaplain’s Office in partnership with the nonprofit CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort). In addition to volunteering their time, the team brought a shipment of supplies to donate to hurricane victims.
The trip included students, faculty and staff who stepped up to join the wide-scale efforts to set things right for families after the hurricane. Seeing the sheer magnitude of recovery work happening on the ground struck Mahaan Govender ’26.
“I learned the true extent of what’s needed to bring a city or even a neighborhood back from the damage of a hurricane this severe,” said Govender, an alternative break student leader and a double major in economics-finance and health and exercise science. “It is immense, and it will take more time than you think.
“Luckily, I also learned that there are lots of people who want to help,” he said. “I met people from New Orleans, Vermont and so many other places who came to help them. That inspires me.”
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A Time For Action
