Sept. 19, 2011
Barbara Smith, UMass Lowell's assistant track and field coach, has made six trips to the Gulfport, Miss. area to help rebuild following Hurricane Katrina.
She has also volunteered in the poverty-laden Appalachia, W.V. area and most recently, the devastation from the June 1 tornado that ravaged several Western Massachusetts communities.
What happened in the town of Monson, Mass. June 1 wasn't nearly the caliber of Katrina, but the aftermath was, and remains, bad nonetheless.
Smith organized a group of 14 student-athletes from UMass Lowell on Saturday, Sept. 10 to aid in the cleanup of sections of Monson still reeling from the tornado.
"You get to the site and there's nothing left, just clumps of tress and debris in the path of the tornado," said Smith, a resident of Westford. "We saw foundations with no homes, homes with blown out windows."
UMass Lowell's contingent included members of the men's and women's track and field teams as well as the women's soccer team.
Unbeknownst to many is that the previous night, the women's soccer team battled to a 1-1 double overtime draw at Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y., returned to Lowell shortly before 11 p.m. Alas, several players were aboard to caravan for the 85-mile drive to Monson by 7 a.m.
"They also had the River Hawk Games that Sunday," Smith noted, referring to UMass Lowell's annual competition among its 17 varsity teams. "For our kids to do this takes a lot of effort and time."
The UMass Lowell athletes, along with Monson residents, spent the day clearing 1.5 acres of trees, stumps and debris from a Monson woman's yard which missed the path of the tornado by mere feet.
"Insurance doesn't cover the clean-up unless, for example, a tree damages a home," Smith explained. "We must've cleared 40 stumps about 2-3 feet in diameter, huge pines, not even good burning wood."
Members of the National Guard were en masse in Monson the weekend after the tornado, but since the clean-up effort has been left largely up to residents and volunteer groups, such as UMass Lowell's.
"We all have a call to service as athletes," Smith explained. "People give our athletes a lot just by being in the stands."
