Aug. 25, 2017, Texas was hit by Hurricane Harvey, a category three hurricane with one hundred thirty miles per hour winds, and only twelve years after the Gulf Cost was hit by Category 5 Hurricane Katrina.

Both storms left behind billions of dollars worth of damages. There were people without homes or power, and nowhere to get food or supplies.

When Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the DSU Geospatial Information Technologies (GIT) Director, Talbot Brooks, lent a hand by assisting the U.S. Coast Guard by researching addresses and locations into GPS coordinates.

More than ten states came to the rescue with volunteers when Katrina hit, all from which came in contact by the Delta State GIT program. “The spirit is alive and well in the state of Mississippi.” Brooks, says once they had successfully printed over two hundred maps in only ten hours.

Furthermore, the Statesmen united once more to help Hurricane Harvey victims. Thousands of relief items were collected on DSU campus and packed into vehicles on Sept. 7, 2017.

DSU Basketball player and Texas native, Erin-Kate Richardson, quoted from the movie Jumanji— “A little rain never hurt anybody.” And followed up her quote with “Even though the damage was devastating, we can bounce back on our feet just like Mississippi did when Katrina hit the coast.”

With that being said, the President of Administrative Staff Council at DSU, Caitlyn Thompson stated that, “The mission of the project was to provide support to those in need after the natural disaster. The demonstrated support for this project is just one example of how the DSU family gives back beyond the educational sector.”