Daytona Beach Campus Volunteers Make a Difference in Hurricane Matthew Response

Whether it required shoveling four feet of sand out of their coach’s house or repairing a roof for someone in need, Embry-Riddle Eagles were quick to reach out to their community in response to the damage left behind by Hurricane Matthew.

Due to Hurricane Matthew, 2016 Alumni Homecoming Weekend events at the Daytona Beach Campus on Oct. 6-8 were cancelled. Embry-Riddle's Industry/Career Expo and the eagleNight Networking Reception have been rescheduled for March 1, 2017.

Almost immediately after the effects of Hurricane Matthew moved north of the Daytona Beach area, Army ROTC Civil Affairs Officer Isaiah Carlton, who is also a student assistant in the university safety office’s environmental health & safety department, sprang into action, leading a highly effective off-campus recovery effort. 

Carlton organized 20 Army ROTC cadets to aid local residents who called United Way’s 211 helpline seeking disaster relief. The cadets spent long hours over the course of three days performing cleanup, roof repair and tree removal at eight homes in the Volusia County cities of Daytona Beach, DeLand, Ormond Beach and Port Orange. See Facebook photos.

“Our cadets and students here at Embry-Riddle value serving others and restoring our community,” Carlton said. “In their recent performance alone, they demonstrated seven values of leadership – loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage – by aiding the community in disaster relief. Yet the ones who are truly relieved, along with the affected citizens, are the volunteers who were rewarded by the service itself."

In addition to the United Way, Embry-Riddle also partnered in this initiative with Volusia County Emergency Management and First United Methodist Church of DeLand.

The biggest asset was the church’s contribution, according to Carlton. The church supplied three volunteers, a passenger van, and a disaster relief trailer packed with saws, wood, plywood, home renovation tools, tarps, ladders, drills and a generator.

Embry-Riddle, Volusia County, and the state of Florida supplied vans, water, safety and protective equipment, plywood, and FEMA tarps. Sodexo provided meals for the volunteers for three days.

The Army ROTC students involved in the effort to aid the local community are now forming an Embry-Riddle Disaster Assistance and Relief Team (DART) for future mobilization.

Students from the Marine Option Platoon in Embry-Riddle’s Naval ROTC program, as well as coaches, also provided storm recovery support: They shoveled four feet of sand out of the lower level of the Flagler County home of Embry-Riddle Cross Country Coach Peter Hopfe. See Daytona Beach News-Journal story.

Embry-Riddle students also found many other ways to make a difference before, during and after the hurricane strike.

• The Prescott Campus' admissions and safety and security department teams staffed a 24/7 call center to handle phone calls from concerned family members. Together, the students and staff received nearly 900 phone calls over five days on behalf of the Daytona Beach Campus during its closure for the hurricane.
• Students Kirsten Fawcett, Lauren Siegel and Nicholas Kluting took shelter at Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, where they met an elderly man, a U.S. Navy veteran named Everet Presley whose family in Jacksonville, Fla., had urged him to evacuate his trailer. Noticing that Presley had no provisions with him, the students shared their food, water, and an air mattress with him. Later, when he was safely back in his trailer, they brought him a hot meal. “We’re still in contact with Everet and his granddaughter,” said Kirsten, “and we’re hoping to keep our friendship going. It was a wonderful thing we had in the middle of the hurricane, and we feel better knowing that we helped someone else.”
• The Embry-Riddle Phi Delta Theta Chapter loaned student Samantha Villagran a generator to power her house while she used her truck to assist her elderly neighbors in removing large debris and fallen trees.
• Student members of the Catholic Student Union helped clean up debris at the Basilica of St. Paul in Daytona Beach.
• Resident advisers helped students feel secure by spending two days in local shelters with the students.
• Embry-Riddle accommodated utility crews and members of the Florida National Guard in the ICI Center as a staging area and temporary residence.

Moving the entire Embry-Riddle training aircraft fleet to Auburn University’s airport, planning how to keep students and employees safe, and coordinating their return to classes required many hours of close collaboration between many teams across the campus, including the flight department, the chancellor, the dean of students, campus safety, facilities, materials management, residence life, meteorology, communications, Sodexo, and grounds maintenance.