Students from all over the country were touched by the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, and many decided to take action. Instead of heading to the beaches of Florida and partying from sunset to sunrise, students from UB joined with other colleges and chose an alternative spring break by heading to New Orleans to assist in the aftermath cleanup.
UB students bused down to New Orleans during their Spring Break of 2006 and came back with an entirely new outlook on their lives and the city of Buffalo. After realizing how every bit can help the devastation, some of the 60 students decided that they wanted to create a permanent club dedicated to helping out their community.
"Our mission as Urban Renewal is to connect the student body with the Buffalo community through hands-on community projects," said Farah Brunache, a junior sociology major and current president of the Urban Renewal Club.
The club was founded by Creighton Randall, an urban planning graduate student, and by Tam Dinh, a sophomore political science major. Officially recognized by UB in the spring of 2007, the club continues to do community service projects.
"When students returned from that trip, they had a different outlook about people who are suffering from housing situations," Brunache said.
While the club has traveled to New Orleans and plans to travel there for alternative spring breaks in the future, the main objective of the club is to serve the Buffalo community.
Helping the community is a good way to learn about the community and get to know people outside of the campus, according to Brunache.
Members like Steven Mannella, a sophomore environmental design major, want to help Buffalo get back to its former glory.
"I have an interest in Buffalo," Mannella said. "I wanted to find a club that did work in the city."
Last year, they had a true opportunity to demonstrate their dedication to giving back to the Buffalo community when the October Storm hit Western New York. Even though power and Internet was down, they found a way to get students together. On the first weekend of the storm, they were already working in the community to improve conditions.
One of the club's New Orleans and October Storm volunteers, Andra Brumberg, a senior psychology major and vice president of the Urban Renewal Club, feels that one of the greatest rewards from being a member of the club is seeing the results of helping someone in need.
The club has worked exclusively with other Buffalo renewal groups that were formed outside of the campus. At Urban Renewal's most recent meeting, they had a guest speaker from People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH Buffalo) who discussed the different ways they are planning on improving the housing projects in Buffalo.
"It's nice to give back to the community," Mannella said. "I like doing this type of thing."
Club members are planning on joining the members from PUSH for an anti-poverty platform summit on Oct. 13 and on Oct. 17.
"We did some PUSH days last year," Brumberg said. "We worked on trying to improve the downtown housing."
The program HECK is a small group of engineers and home maintance workers who will train club members on how to perform basic repairs and touchup jobs. Most importantly, they will be focusing on projects that will help homes maintain heat in the winter.
Brunache presented a slide show that discussed poor housing planning on Sycamore Street in Buffalo. The housing developers built on toxic soil, wasting millions of taxpayers' dollars by having to start over with the housing project.
She also talked about a program called "Right Sizing," which is designed to help the city of Buffalo decrease the amount of vacant homes.
After the presentation, club members expressed their opinions on the issues and brainstormed ways to get involved with the projects, as well as how to make others aware of the poor handling of taxpayer money.
Randall, who still attends the meetings as a graduate student, hopes to continue with the community service involvement.
"It is great to come back and see Urban Renewal connecting with issues," Randall said.
Brunache said that they are always welcoming new members. Meetings are every other Tuesday from 5:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. She said to look for posters and flyers around campus for various activities and upcoming events. For more information, students can contact the club at UBrenewal@yahoo.com.
"Be ready to make a difference in somebody's life," Brunache said.
