One week, seven days, 168 hours, 100,080 minutes. Each year college students from across the country get a week break from the stress and worries of their academic demands. Stereotypically students head to the beaches of Florida enjoying the serene beach waters and bathing in the sun. Meanwhile other students enjoy the opportunity to go sightseeing and explore a new city or a small town. For a group of four Stevenson University students, their experience was quite different.
A student led organization called CRU also known as Campus Crusade for Christ is notable for attending a spring break missions trip each year. This year students participated in a week-long trip to the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina for a week to help with disaster relief from hurricane Helene which devastated the area in September 2024. The student participated along volunteers and CEO of UNTO, a CRU organization, which serves communities across the world with disaster relief efforts. Students and volunteers worked side by side the entire week sharing laughs and life wisdom through the treacherous work making the experience even more meaningful.
“I got to practice a lot of my listening skills and a level of respect for the people who are older than me, not only through faith based things but through real life scenarios….it helped me gain a new appreciation for those who have been through so much,” fourth-year Libby Kearns said.
One hundred fifty students from across the country from Texas Tech University in Lubbock Texas to Marshall University in West Virginia created the road trip to Ridgecrest Conference center in Black Mountain North Carolina, dedicating a week of their time. For the Stevenson students, the travel to North Carolina included a 7.5-hour road trip in a seven-passenger van with students from UMBC. Most of the ride was quiet, which would be quite different from the environment that they would soon be in.
Once in North Carolina, the Stevenson students were given keys to their room, got themselves unpacked and settled in their spaces, met fellow students who participated with mission, ate their first dinner of many, and heard from their first sessions. These sessions included worship, speakers and discussions about sharing God’s kindness to others through out of the ordinary ways, which in this case meant to be disaster relief and hurricane clean up.
“I really feel like [this trip] showed what it meant to yield the fruit of your labor, and being able to share the gospel to others even if it’s not face to face,” third-year Autumn Fulton said.
Whether it was working under crawl spaces of destroyed homes or painting the walls of the renovated nursing home, it was clear that the experiences that were felt here could not be compared to any other trip. The Stevenson CRU spent the majority of their time working with yard damage. Hundreds upon hundreds of trees were left torn into two with the help of students needed to spill, toted and carried. While the work was exhausting at time, the purpose of completing the work was clear and provided motivation the to get the job done
Other days were filled with painting cabins and landscaping Camp Timberlake, an all-boys summer camp that dealt with the aftermath of the storm with hopes of preparing for the upcoming summer season. As well as working on private homeowners’ property that have not be able to make much progress on their own recuperating after the raging floods six months ago.
“I feel like this experience shaped me as a student because it allowed me to learn skills that I would not be able to learn in the classroom specifically with my major like Constuction skills,” third-year Tiffany Njemanze said.
After five long days of eight-hour shifts of work, many smores and bonfire worship songs, emotional yet powerful sessions with ministry organizations and their leaders, students prepare for the final day and the trek back home excited to share this experience as a pivotal moment of their Stevenson experience.
Note: Ashlynn Toppin is a third-year student and a member of Campus Crusade for Christ.
