College Student Makes a Difference Through Foundation Scholarship

Nicole Rodriquez drywalling the new home of Katrina victim

Nicole Rodriquez, Marketing and Spanish major at the University of Colorado – Boulder,  was particularly grateful to the Casey Feldman Memorial Foundation  for the scholarship  opportunity to  travel to New Orleans over her college spring break and aid in disaster relief.   “Volunteering is very important to me and I hope that in all my efforts I make some sort of difference, no matter how large or small it may be”, Nicole stated in her application for a $420 stipend.

The cost of the trip to cover travel, food and lodging was not something that was  in this senior college student’s budget.  Living with her parents throughout college to avoid housing costs, Nicole pays for her own college tuition with assistance from scholarships and a Pell grant.  She works some 15 to 20 hours per week during the school semesters in a work study program that enables her to buy books and further contribute to her tuition bills.

The New Orleans home which Nicole Rodriquez insulated and drywalled with other student volunteers

With a dozen or so other student volunteers though HandsOn New Orleans, Nicole spent her first day in New Orleans  replanting trees in a swamp in a City which lost some half a billion trees to Hurricane Katrina. The remainder of the week was spent insulating and drywalling a new house for a woman who lost her home to the hurricane and returned to New Orleans for the first time since Katrina.

“It was a wonderful week for me!” reported Nicole, who had previously volunteered locally for Habitat For Humanity.  “I thoroughly enjoy this work because I believe having shelter is easily one of the most important things in life and being able to provide this for those who are less fortunate gives me a sense of accomplishment.”

[Help other students experience the gift of helping others and donate to the Casey Feldman Memorial Foundation.]

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