Keep Worthy Causes Alive

Stories don’t stay in the news forever. Diminishing attention spans in an era of instant communication force all media outlets, including this newspaper, to constantly search for new things to report, often at the expense of issues that deserve exceptional attention.

At Georgetown, where a commitment to service to others is engrained in tradition, some issues extend beyond the scope of media coverage and reach out to our sense of responsibility. When stories aren’t in the news, however, many students forget about people and causes that could benefit greatly from their help, and overlook those of their peers who answer the call.

Last month, five Georgetown students spent their Homecoming weekend in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward gutting an entire house to prepare for the return of a family that was displaced by Hurricane Katrina. These students, members of the Georgetown-based student-led non-profit organization Blanket New Orleans, have traveled to New Orleans on three separate occasions to distribute blankets and relief kits to affected families since the launch of their group in January 2006.

As news about Hurricane Katrina and relief efforts moved further toward the back pages of newspapers across the country, these students kept the lives of the people on the Gulf Coast close to their hearts.

Little more than a year since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast and displaced thousands of families (Georgetown enrolled 83 students displaced from Tulane and Loyola universities to study as part of an emergency cross-registration program), we have already begun to forget the enormous human tragedy there, it seems.

That issues like Katrina fade from our attention is perhaps more disappointing because Georgetown students have shown they can, indeed, make a difference. Last year, students banded together last year to form GU HERE, raising tens of thousands of dollars for Katrina relief, only to disband at year’s end. Groups like Students Tacking Action Now: Darfur, a national action movement begun at Georgetown, and the Hilltop chapter of UNICEF stay dedicated to their causes even as other groups suffer from the effects of apathy in their peers.

As Georgetown students, we bear a unique responsibility in service and social justice. This duty can at times be challenging and burdensome. But we must recognize that our commitment to service is not dependent upon how much press coverage a crisis receives, and that we must always look to serve as “women and men for others.â€