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In 2008-09, several groups of UWindsor students set a sterling example of what it means to give back.
A group of 27 UWindsor residence students spent reading week 2009 in New Orleans as part of the Alternative Spring Break initiative, volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in rebuilding efforts for the city devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. They shared their experiences in near-real-time on www.heroneworleans.blogspot.com.
The group was part of the Higher Education Reaching Out (HERO) project, which also sent students to volunteer in the Dominican Republic as well as back home in the city of Windsor.
Likewise, Lancer men's hockey players traded their skates for workboots over the holiday break, travelling to New Orleans on Boxing Day 2008. Team members painted classrooms, replaced broken windows, removed sodden ceiling tiles and ruined air conditioning units from Our Lady Star of the Sea elementary school, closed since 2005. The Lancers also participated in a Habitat for Humanity project in the city's 9th ward, the area hardest hit by the floods that followed the catastrophic storm.
Back home, several Lancers took time out of practice to visit the Paediatric Care Centre at Windsor Regional Hospital – Metropolitan Campus.
Team members interacted with the children, playing games, reading to them, and doing arts and crafts. Foosball was the game of choice, and all the children handily defeated each Lancer they faced.
While there, the Lancers also donated $100 worth of arts and craft supplies to the hospital.
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