Alumnae to share experiences on CNN

Sloan will tell her story about helping New Orleans on ‘Anderson Cooper 360’

By Courtney Condron

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

When University graduate Ashley Sloan arrived in New Orleans to help victims of the Hurricane Katrina, she had a hard time sleeping without heat. And a lack of hot water took some getting used to as well.

A woman who had lost her home offered to let her sleep in a 20-by-30-feet FEMA trailer, along with the woman, her husband and their six grandchildren.

“After all the things she lost, she was still going to give back,” Sloan said.

Tonight, Sloan, a 2005 graduate, will be featured in CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” Hurricane Katrina two-year anniversary show to discuss her work in the area, and the work that still needs to be done.

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This is everyone’s country, and we need to help our fellow countrymen rebuild. People need to recognize that any area can’t be rebuilt overnight.

-graduate Ashley Sloan

“We are trying to work together to bring about support and awareness and to bring more people down there,” Sloan said.

Sloan was able to contact “Anderson Cooper 360” through AmeriCorps, a volunteer group she had volunteered with before. AmeriCorps submitted her biography to the show, and CNN called her that night to interview her. They told her that she spoke with a lot of passion, and tonight she will be interviewed in the last segment of the show.

“I definitely think national exposure to recognize any organization is great, and I think Anderson Cooper does a great job covering these issues,” Sloan said.

Before Hurricane Katrina, Sloan took a year off after her junior year to do community service work with AmeriCorps in the South, including New Orleans. After graduating from the School of Journalism, she worked at an advertising agency. There she had a client with a New Orleans store that was unaffected by Katrina, who told her she wished hurricanes happened all the time, because it had been so good for the store.

This instance motivated Sloan to return to New Orleans and help out.

“I realized that I needed to re-evaluate the path that my life was headed in,” Sloan said.

Sloan returned to AmeriCorps as a team leader. She worked in New Orleans with Tyler Manson, Wichita freshman. Manson took a year off to volunteer with AmeriCorps before coming to the University.

“When you work with them you meet the community and get so attached,” Manson said. “It’s great that Ashley decided to continue her service there, and it really is needed.”

Sloan recently co-founded a non-profit organization called Live St. Bernard. The organization’s goal is to finance and gut a home, rebuild it, and then use it to attract builders who want to and help rebuild homes in New Orleans.

“This is everyone’s country, and we need to help our fellow countrymen rebuild,” Sloan said. “People need to recognize that any area can’t be rebuilt overnight.”

— edited by Luke Morris

Comments

ptbecky (anonymous) says...

What Sloan and her fellow Americorps alumni are doing is amazing. Three young people so filled with compassion, determination and courage is very refreshing in this hurried, look out for yourself world. Americorps is a fabulous program, allowing our young people to see the need in our country and to go out do something about it. More articles like this in the paper would change the world's attitude. Good job

August 29, 2007 at 7:18 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

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