For Immediate Release Princeton Seminary Students Return from Mission Trip to Gulf Coast Princeton, NJ, February 8, 2006– Two groups of Princeton Seminary students traveled to the Gulf Coast over the winter break in January to do mission work with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA).
	To download PowerPoint slideshow click here

Students began approaching Cathy Cook Davis, the Seminary’s director of student relations, in the fall after Hurricane Katrina, expressing concern and the desire to help. She connected them with each other, and helped them to plan a relief trip. The students raised their own funds through a letter-writing campaign, and with donations from their home churches, professors, and other seminarians. The campus group Seminarians for Peace and Justice donated the proceeds from their annual Alternative Christmas Gift Fair.

This group of thirteen students was based in Gautier, Mississippi. The students worked on several houses, helping people clean out their belongings, hauling debris, and putting up drywall. The group included two international students, Temsuwati, a Th.M. student from India, and special student Christiane Trefz from Tuebingen, Germany. “I was overwhelmed with the destruction,” said Trefz. “It looks like it just happened days ago. We were working on one house for a week. This was one house out of 1,000. But we were there to bring hope. PDA’s motto wasn’t ‘out of chaos, houses;’ it was ‘out of chaos, hope.’ We wanted to give hope, to show that God can work there, and that we care.”

The second group of students to travel to the region formed around a class taught by associate professor of Old Testament Chip Dobbs- Allsopp. As part of his class on biblical interpretation in a postmodern world, Dobbs- Allsopp encouraged students to propose a final project that would apply concepts studied in the class. Several students suggested a hurricane relief effort, which Dobbs-Allsopp supported, along with Cook Davis, who went on the trip. The students raised funds through a letter campaign, benefit concert, and silent auction.

This group of eleven students worked in Gulfport, Mississippi. Their main task was to remove tile and mold from houses damaged in the storm. They also participated in the upkeep of their camp, one of PDA’s volunteer villages, building platforms for the tents in another village and taking responsibility for cooking for the camp during the last few days of their stay. “Cathy [Cook Davis] and I both came away impressed with the students, and thankful for the privilege of being allowed to witness their leadership,” said Dobbs-Allsopp. “We saw them take control in ways we don’t get to observe in the classroom. That they did this work in the context of a class was phenomenal, because they took ownership of their education. I’m proud of them.”

Plans are underway for more mission trips to the Gulf Coast. Cook Davis is working with PDA to set up several yearlong internships and summer field education placements, and another mission trip is planned for next September. One student has applied to work as a camp manager for two months this summer. “Since we are now so intimately connected,” Davis said, “we need to not forget, to go if we haven’t gone, and to pledge ourselves to the work ahead.”