Road for Hope Walkers Return to Campus

Don't criticize someone, the adage goes, until you walk a mile in his shoes. But it takes a much longer walk — the full 130 miles — to understand the Road for Hope.

Eight days after departing Lewiston, Maine, on foot, almost 40 Saint Anselm students walked onto campus Saturday to cheers from family and friends. Their feet were blistered and t-shirts drenched, but their spirits soared as they kissed the ground and hugged their parents and siblings.

They camp in church basements and carry everything — mostly clothing and water — on their backs. Two vans, with an emergency medical technician and several nursing students, drive the route, but only drop their packs or accept a ride as a last resort. It's a matter of pride and accomplishment.

"They won't admit when they're in pain," nursing major Sam Varney '10 says, "especially the guys."

The evidence of the pain is their feet. Varney, along with EMTs Meg Wood '10 and Amanda O'Donnell '11, evaluate and bandage the sore feet — and sometimes recommend a time out. Suggesting a break from walking to students who each raised $500 in pledges this summer was not easy.

The walkers arrived in Rochester, N.H., on Wednesday, and were greeted by hugs from a dozen children from St. Charles' Children's Home. The home, a center for children to teens in transition between family circumstances, is an annual beneficiary of the walk and opens their doors, offering the walkers a room for the night.

"It is something the children very much look forward to," Mother Paul Marie of St. Charles said. "Its one of the highlights of our year."

Three days and 44 miles later, the walkers posed outside the brick archway to campus for a group photo with alumnus Fr. Seamus Greisbach, who inspired the walk with his own treck to campus 11 years ago. With the urging of friends and attention from the national media, he organized the Road for Hope in 1999, with the idea of fundraising for charities along the route.

The Road for Hope is a unique way to return to campus, many of the students agreed. While walking, veterans motivated themselves and the first timers with images of the return to campus — an escort from Goffstown Police up Saint Anselm Drive, banners and hugs outside the Dana Center, and a warm shower in their residence hall room. After Road for Hope, walking will never seem the same.

Photos by Greg Wallace '10

To see more Road for Hope photos check out the college's Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/saintanselm/sets/72157622133189774/

Read about the Road for Hope departure from campus.

Orientation Leaders Take Training to New Heights

When new students move to campus on Thursday, the first upperclassmen they will meet are orientation leaders. OLs, as they are called, will unpack the cars driven by anxious parents, answer the questions of nervous students, and tirelessly offer directions. To prepare for the incoming students, the orientation leaders spent Tuesday afternoon at a local ropes course. Read more

Ten Years Later, Annual Road for Hope Looks to Top $200,000

Thirty seven Saint Anselm College students are taking the scenic route back to campus this fall — and with very good reason. Starting in Lewiston, Maine, on Saturday morning, August 22, and finishing outside Saint Anselm’s stone face a week later, they are walking the 10th annual, 130-mile Road for Hope. Read more

Volunteers Offer Summer to Banish Bed Bugs

Fifteen low-income and refugee families living in Manchester’s Langdon Mill apartments have been tossing and turning at night, losing sleep for two years because of a bed bug infestation.

But they may soon rest easy, as volunteers from Saint Anselm College and other local organizations do not sleep well at night, even on summer vacation, knowing others are in need.

Six students, faculty, and staff have volunteered their summer vacation to help the 60 residents of 82 West Brook Street while their apartments are professionally cleaned. The volunteers live in the Manchester area and responded to an unusual summer plea from Meelia Center for Community Service director Dan Forbes.

“Eliminating bed bugs is always complex work, and it is further complicated in this case given the language barriers and refugee experience of the tenants," said Forbes. “This is why real community effort is necessary.”

The challenges are unique: the residents must move from their apartments bug-free into nearby temporary housing, then return to their cleaned, repainted, and refurnished apartments a week later. Many of their belongings, and nearly all of their furniture, must be destroyed to prevent re-infestation.

A language barrier complicates the Langdon Mill Campaign. When organizers and city health officials meet with families, instructions “have to be translated into four to five different languages,” Forbes said. Refugees hail from Russia, Somalia, Sudan, and Turkey, and they can find the displacement unsettling. Forbes describes volunteer commitment as an invaluable aid to these families.

“We believe success is far more likely if we have volunteers helping families with the preparation for the temporary move, visiting during their temporary relocation and continuing after reentry to reinforce the plan to prevent future infestations,” he told the volunteers.

The comprehensive plan is an approach that Forbes and his community counterparts hope will serve as a model for other low-income residents trapped in bug infested buildings throughout the city. The Meelia Center uncovered the plight of the Landon Mill residents when students contacted a refugee leader with donations from the college’s end-of-year Food, Clothing, and Furniture Drive. The response was, “We're desperate for the furniture, but can you put it in storage? The families are overrun with bed bugs.”

Last year, “we actually almost entirely furnished these apartments,” Forbes said. A system is in the works to provide for the furniture needs of residents through a safe donation program, preventing tenants from bringing in roadside furniture that may be infested.

Forbes expects to expand the Saint Anselm involvement in bed bug projects when the fall semester begins. He coordinates service learning for the college, and has found both interest among nursing students and need in the community.

“This is just one apartment building. Unfortunately many others in the city are also infested," he said. But with the dedication of Saint Anselm College volunteers, fifteen Manchester families will soon be able to sleep tight—and be safe from the bed bugs' bite.

The Langdon Mill Project has posted a list of needed items on their website, http://nhbedbugs.com/.

Chasing the Mourning Warbler; Dr. J Explains Four Song Regions

This is our second of two podcasts with professor Jay Pitocchelli; in our first podcast, he discusses his research and life in the field tracking the Mourning Warbler.

On the Saint Anselm College campus, Jay Pitocchelli is known for his biology and ornithology classes. But off campus — and among readers of his blog, www.anselm.edu/mourningwarblerblog — he is known for his body of scholarly research on the Mourning Warbler.

In our first podcast of this two-part series, Pitocchelli described the his research, travels, and innovative uses of technologies. In this podcast, he discusses the four regions of Mourning Warbler song that he has observed. His current research examines the birds' ability to identify Mourning Warblers from other dialects, or regiolects. He also let us listen to his audio recordings from each of the geographic and dialectic regions: Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Eastern, and Western.

Photo: Courtesy of Flickr

Chasing the Mourning Warbler; Dr. J on Doing Research in the Field

This is our first of two podcasts with professor Jay Pitocchelli; in our second podcast, he discusses the four song and geographic regions of the Mourning Warbler.

When nature shows the first signs of impending summer, migratory birds that have wintered in southern habitats begin growing fidgety and restless for the biannual journey northward. In his Goulet Science Center office, with a window overlooking the quad, biology professor Jay Pitocchelli experiences a similar sensation.

Saint Anselm College’s resident ornithologist packed his jeep this spring to continue his research on song variation in the Mourning Warbler. Pitocchelli, the preeminent expert on this olive-green and yellow warbler, named for its black bib and grey hood, has identified four regions with specific variations on the species’ song. This summer alone, he has observed and tracked the Mourning Warbler in Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin, as well as the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

While he drives the estimated 4,000 miles by himself, he keeps students, colleagues, and family updated on his blog, www.anselm.edu/mourningwarblerblog. He also posts audio, digital video, and photos of flora and fauna.

In this podcast, we asked him about his research, use of technology, and the art of bringing the two together in pursuit of science.

Photo: Courtesy of Flickr

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