Contact: Maridith Geuder
Photo by: Russ Houston
STARKVILLE, Miss.--With retirement as Mississippi State's first lady only months away, Pat Lee could be planning leisure activities and travel.
Instead, the energetic wife of university President Charles Lee continues to spearhead a months-long effort to help Gulf Coast residents recover from Hurricane Katrina. Head of the "Bulldogs in Response" Task Force since Aug. 30, Lee said Tuesday [Dec. 6] the campus is this week delivering 5,500 coats and outerwear to schools in the affected counties.
"When we determined that there was a great need for coats as winter approached, we asked head football coach Sylvester Croom and athletic director Larry Templeton to head a coat drive," Pat Lee said. "The response has been overwhelming."
In addition to individual community donations and coat collections at two campus football games, Rotary International also contributed $10,000 to the effort. The state 4-H program also contributed about 1,000 coats purchased with donated funds.
"It's been a tremendous team effort," Lee said. "Providing necessary items such as warm clothing has been one of our real concerns as we go into the holidays."
All collection items are being distributed through school systems in Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson counties.
The "MSU Warms the Coast" project is one of several Pat Lee has led as a volunteer in Mississippi State's relief efforts. "Bulldogs in Response" was formed by President Lee in the days immediately following Katrina to coordinate and respond to humanitarian needs that the university could meet.
"Colleges and departments have provided specific expertise that will help the state rebuild, and our group has provided labor and a host of other resources," Pat Lee explained.
In a series of nearly a dozen separate relief trips since September, more than 250 MSU volunteers--including two student groups--have participated. The work has ranged from removing ruined carpeting and other debris to collecting and distributing more than 65,000 pieces of Halloween candy to more than 10,000 children.
Danny Cheatham, a retired administrator from MSU's Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine, has coordinated trips by the campus groups.
"I've been on seven of these trips, and they've been amazing," he said. "The look on people's faces when they see an MSU relief team arrive will keep you coming back to do as much as you can."
The volunteers have worked out of the university's Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi, where they have slept in sleeping bags and sustained themselves with their own supplies.
The "Bulldogs in Response" team's continuing efforts include, among others:
--Assisting personnel at the Naval Retirement Home in Biloxi to preserve artifacts, some dating from the 1800s;
--Donating and installing more than 130 computer systems--including hardware and software--in hard-hit Hancock County schools. (Coordinated by Dan Brook, head of computer applications for the MSU Extension Service, eight Internet satellite systems have been installed to replace destroyed land-based Internet connections.); and
--Helping provide school supplies and setting up classrooms damaged by the Category 4 hurricane.
Pat Lee said she's been "overwhelmed with the response" of the MSU family in reaching out to help others. She also plans to keep focused on doing everything possible for Gulf Coast residents as she and the land-grant institution's 17th president look ahead to retirement.
"This is some of the most important work I can be doing," she said.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For additional information, Mrs. Lee may be reached at (662) 325-3221.