CONTACT:

Christy Grimes (Christy.Grimes)
Assistant Director of Public Relations
Greenville College
(618) 664-6515

GC Sends Out Students on Spring Break Missions Trips to Guatemala and New Orleans

Guatemala
Greenville College is sending a team of 15 students under the leadership of Dr. Richard Huston to build 100 of stoves in the Guatemalan Mountains this spring break.

In the late 1980’s HELPS International medical teams reported an alarming number of children being treaded for burns, and, at the same time, HELPS anesthesia doctors reported unexpectantly high numbers of respiratory problems. One medical team leader, Don O’Neal, an engineer, began an investigation of these issues and found that the answer was in the way the Indigenous people cooked. His investigation proved that this system of cooking was the cause for the burns and the smoke from these fires caused the respiratory illnesses.

After an exhaustive two-year investigation, Don O’Neal developed the Asher Award winning ONIL Stove. Today thousands of Mayan families are using the ONIL Stove. The benefits include: eliminating the burning risk to small children, more fuel efficient means of cooking, and vented burning within the home, eliminating the smoke hazards previously threatening lives. There are still tens of thousands of families in need of an ONIL stove. 

Hurricane Relief Trip: New Orleans
Greenville College continues it’s commitment to helping international as well as domestic needs, by returning to the south to aid ongoing restoration efforts following the wake of Hurricane Katrina. 

Partnering with Urban Impact, a long established urban ministry, the team will be directed to the most effective places of service for their abilities. Great needs still exist for volunteers to tackle demolition, clean up and home restoration. Coaches and players from the Greenville College football team will spend their spring break, March 11-19, gutting moldy homes, clearing debris, and cleaning up inner city neighborhoods of New Orleans Parish.

Last updated: March 14, 2006