Oct. 12, 2006

Notre Dame’s upcoming fall break will provide a variety of experiences for its student-athletes. Those involved in fall sports are preparing for their postseason while most of the winter sports student-athletes are gearing up for the start of their seasons that spread over both semesters. And for those who compete during the spring, the fall break provides options to return home for a few days, visit friends, hit a vacation spot with other students or simply relax on campus. But one group of student-athletes has opted to participate in a special volunteer service program, giving up five days of their fall break to help with ongoing New Orleans relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The group of 28 – which includes director of athletics Kevin White and five other athletics department personnel – will participate in the relief efforts with students from the School of Urban Mission (SUM).

(Note: check back to und.com later next week for testimonials and photo galleries from this unique service opportunity for Notre Dame’s student-athletes).

Senior women’s lacrosse player Meghan Murphy – whose junior-year honors included Academic All-America distinction and the athletics department’s Chris Zorich, in recognition of community service excellence – was the driving force behind the participation of the Notre Dame student-athlete group in the SUM Katrina relief. The project is one of many coordinated by the athletics department’s Student Welfare and Development operation, under the direction of Charmelle Green (formerly a Notre Dame softball assistant coach) and former Irish basketball player Harold Swanagan.

The Notre Dame contingent is set to depart campus early Saturday morning, Oct. 14, and ultimately will participate in various relief activities on Monday and Tuesday before departing New Orleans on the morning of Oct. 18. The group will be housed in a School of Urban Mission dormitory and will be involved in several activities with other volunteers from throughout the nation.

Volunteers with SUM/Katrina Relief currently participate in three main areas of service:

(1) Tarping roofs that are leaking and in need of emergency repair;

(2) Cutting back trees and other debris that were tossed on top of houses and sheds during the hurricane’

(3) “Mudding Out” – at the request of a local resident, the volunteer crew enters that person’s home and removes everything inside, with the belongings placed curbside to be picked up by the city

Murphy is one of seven members of the women’s lacrosse program who are set to participate in the New Orleans service project, with other participants from her team including: Shannon Burke, Meghan Murphy, Caitlin McKinney, Julie Foote, Kelly Gaudreau, Kaki Orr and Becky Ranck. Other participants include five from the men’s track and field team (Gonzolo Brenner-Lenez, Daniel Clark, Blair Majcina, Tray Morgan and Eric Quick) and three from women’s track and field (Lauren Biscardi, Mary Debevec, Maryann Erigha), plus rowers Eileen Froelhke and Elise Janowak, fencers Emilie Prot and Ashley Serrette, student managers Maggie McGinn and Hy Pham, and cheerleader Kathy Marvin.

Several members of the Note Dame athletics department administration will accompany the group and work side-by-side with the student-athletes in New Orleans. Those administrators include Charmelle Green, Harold Swanagan and Nadja Memmer from the athletic department’s Student Welfare and Development Office, Nina Stephan of the athletics compliance office and equipment room intern Amy Mason. Stephan – a former New Orleans resident and graduate of the Tulane Law School – was a Notre Dame student manager during her undergraduate days, as was Mason. They will be joined in New Orleans by White, formerly the athletics director at Tulane, who will take time out of his busy schedule to catch up with the group and participate in the relief effort.

For more information on the School of Urban Mission, see their website at: www.sumonline.org.