By Jim Mahar, Professor Columinst
With the school year winding down, I will take this week to look back on the school year while next week’s article will be a look ahead.
After graduation last year, we had one of our largest events: the Rural Area Medical (RAM) clinic, where we helped turn the floor of the Reilly Center into a medical and dental center. We filled cavities, gave new glasses, preformed check-ups and gave referrals in the first RAM Clinic ever in New York. An estimated $188,000 of services were provided and the year was off to a roaring start.
For the rest of the summer, ramps and trail work became the standard fare, as local residents and a few alumni worked almost every weekend. Our outreach spanned across the Southern Tier and the jobs were especially satisfying, as they not only helped those in need, but also brought together people that would often not know each other.
As school began, a series of natural disasters drew national attention temporarily away from the political fronts. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria brought havoc to the Caribbean, Florida and the Texas Coast.
We teamed up with Enactus and local fire departments to raise over $10,000 to help those affected by the storm. Then, in conjunction with South Carolina-based Portlight Strategies and the Olean Medical Group, we raised money and donated over 50 wheelchairs for those who lost their chairs in the flooding.
In addition to the weekly work days in Western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania, where we patched roofs, we had a multi-weekend, house-painting job and built nearly a wheelchair ramp per weekend. We needed to start planning a large disaster relief trip.
After much deliberation, we settled on Texas and decided to fly. For fall break, a team went to work and scouted locations to stay in the Houston area.
After a few work days, we picked Dickinson, Texas and the Mount Olive Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor Amos Sowell, a small church that was providing almost 1,000 meals a day, six weeks after the flooding.
By far the hardest part of any trip is the planning and marketing involved; this trip was no different. BonaResponds is always looking for leaders and this year many stepped up. I won’t name names, except for one: Yvonne Gehrmann, who came every week, helped to spread the word of our trip and aided in recruiting students to give up their spring break to help those they did not even know.
Christmas break found BonaResponds working alongside Enactus in Freeport Grand, Bahamas. Roofing, helping out at a vocational school, painting and building classroom spaces were our main jobs. It was a great trip. Friendships were renewed and new connections were made. It was also a trip that reminded me of the extreme poverty that exists around the world and the difficult time that impoverished people have coming back from a disaster, as we saw whole communities with damaged and abandoned homes from Hurricane Matthew back in October of 2016.
This spring was dominated by a single trip. The trip to Dickinson lived up to its billing. It was a true game-changer, a life-changer. Fifty-six volunteers, students, faculty, staff, alumni and others who wanted to help, worked in flooded homes, on roofs and under foundations. They brought hope, love and even running water to people in need of all three.
In the weeks since our return, the winter weather has largely kept us inside, but we have been working on iPads to be shipped to Haiti, the Bahamas, Ghana and maybe Liberia. We have been out maintaining trails through Bob’s Woods that suffered extensive tree damage due to heavy snows and high winds.
Reading back on this recap, I see so many missing stories. Stories of blanket-making days. Stories of helping to build an aquaponics test program. Stories of helping after a fire destroyed a family’s trailer.
I want to thank each and every volunteer and donor who made these great works possible.
BonaResponds notes:
• We plan on going back to Dickinson after graduation. Tentative dates: May 17 to 24. We’d love to have you come. Please email Yvonne Gerhmann for details and to sign up. We will be using the same model: You fly to Hobby Airport and we take care of the rest.
• This weekend, we will be working both Saturday at 11 a.m. and Sunday at 11:30 a.m.
• “Little things matter. Ripples (both positive and negative) can start with a little splash.” BonaResponds mantra #26
This this the tenth in a series of articles by BonaResponds leader Jim Mahar, Ph.D.
