While most high school and college students are flying to all points sunny for spring break, one group of Portland, Ore., teenagers decided to concentrate on refinishing decks and hanging drywall rather than bronzing their bodies, according to a report published in The Oregonian newspaper.
The group of 14 students from the Portland area arrived in Moore, Okla., population 40,318, to begin rebuilding homes and cleaning up trashed property in a three-block area destroyed by a 1999 tornado whose winds clocked in at 318 mph.
"I don't want to sound cheesy, but to be with people who went through that, to help them, feels so good and so much more important than (going on vacation)," 16-year-old high school senior Shannon Jones told The Oregonian. "I did think about it. With (friends of mine) going to Belize ... here I am going to Oklahoma City -- not a very exciting place."
Jones is part of a youth group from Portland's First United Methodist Church who decided to help out because of the suffering they had read about or seen reports of on television. Other Oregon teenagers left last weekend to begin building homes and finish work on a water system for residents of poor towns near Tijuana, Mexico. The latter group packed five vans with food rations and other supplies and drove across the Mexican-U.S. border on Saturday.
"I don't think I'll be missing anything not partying," 16-year-old high school sophomore Catherine Houchen-Wise told The Oregonian. "I'm having so much fun with all these people I know, and volunteering makes you feel so much better about yourself. Partying can be so fake."
Immediately following the wake of destruction in Moore and neighboring towns of Newcastle, Oklahoma City, Midwest City and Del City, the Heart of Oklahoma American Red Cross chapter set up a Web site to help victims of the storm that spawned 40 tornadoes. The chapter is still accepting donations. For more information call 1-800-HELP-NOW.
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