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BY MELISSA BERTOSH

In print | Published April 13, 2006

Members of the Common Grounds Solidarity Group, a new campus network aiming to raise awareness and funds for Hurricane Katrina survivors, organized three events over Parents Weekend. Profits from a T-shirt campaign Friday afternoon, followed by donations from the choral concert and a Hurricane Katrina benefit concert held on that night, helped raise approximately $3,600 for the Katrina relief efforts.

Three bands performed at the benefit concert including two Swat bands, The Lovepumps and The Horseflies and one Philly band, The March Hare. Heidi Fieselmann ’06, a member of the Common Grounds Solidarity group, organized the event.

“We didn’t set any major financial goals. However, we made about $450 from donations at the concert, which was wonderful,” Fieselmann said. “Overall, things went extremely smoothly. The bands were awesome and the crowd was great. It couldn’t have gone better,” she said.

Although people flowed in and out of Olde Club throughout the evening, Fieselmann estimated between 100 and 150 attended. “I thought the weekend was a big success,” said group co-president Danielle Toaltoan ’07. “Students should expect other small fundraisers throughout the rest of the semester.”

Established by Toaltoan and Kendra McDow ’07, the group will continue a “Do Not Forget” campaign through the end of the year. Upcoming events include a “Kanye” panel of experts on April 18 who will discuss race, class and the upcoming New Orleans mayoral elections, among other issues.

The upcoming elections present new difficulties in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, as many of the citizens of New Orleans have not yet moved back to their voting districts. “Winning the Ninth Ward in New Orleans usually guaranteed a candidate they would win the election. However, most of these people [African Americans] are still displaced in Houston and are being refused absentee ballots,” Toaltoan said.

On Monday, Toaltoan and McDow presented personal footage from their spring break trip to New Orleans. Toaltoan emphasized her surprise at how little had been done in the damaged parts of the city. “It’s completely embarrassing. Nothing has been touched. There’s no insurance, no electricity, no running water,” she said.

Toaltoan and McDow met with homeowners during their trip and heard jarring firsthand accounts of the hurricane’s destruction. “One man told us how his young nephew swam in the contaminated water to break into a store for food and was now suffering from a terrible skin infection,” said Toaltoan.

New Orleans native Jessica Langston ‘08 agreed that relief efforts are at a standstill, but notes that some improvements have been made. “A friend of mine … moved back into their house in Gentilly and had to bribe city officials in order to get electricity,” she said. "Those that had insurance prior to Katrina are pouring their own money into rebuilding their lives, that’s why the demographics have changed."

Langston said she is also frustrated by the administrative disputes that have arisen during the relief efforts. “The trailers are not being administered because city officials bicker about where they should go,” she said.

However, Langston pointed to the complete reconstruction of the New Orleans public school system as one productive outcome of the disaster. “The schools have been taken out of the city school board’s hands and are now under the care of the state,” she said.

John Alston, associate professor of music and director of the chorus and orchestra, spoke to parents and other audience members at Friday’s choral concert, asking those in attendance to make donations to benefit Katrina relief efforts. “I asked the audience to think about their luxury of being able to spend their Friday night relaxing and listening to our chorus while most of the world was struggling. The piece [Brahms’ Requiem] is about sorrow and not letting it crush you. It’s about comfort. I asked the audience who will comfort those in New Orleans?” he said.

Alston said he wanted to see the group succeed in their campaign and realize that making a difference in the lives of others is possible. “I’ve been the director of the Chester Children’s Chorus for the past 12 years,” he said. “When I came to Swarthmore, I just wanted to be a famous conductor, but I began thinking about our responsibility. Swarthmore isn’t the real world, but it’s easy to get things done here and it is good practice. I was willing to make a statement to the parents because I wanted to see the campaign make a good start.”

While New Orleans has a long way to go in terms of rebuilding, the Common Ground Solidarity Group hopes to maintain its position as a community activist student group, even after the situation in New Orleans improves, by assisting with other emergency relief efforts.

So far, Solidarity Network chapters have been established at several other colleges, including Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Temple and Colgate. Students interested in becoming involved are encouraged to attend the group’s meetings on Sundays at 1:30 PM at the Lang Center.

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