| ISU faculty and students turn tragedy into an inspiring story |
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| Written by Brandon James Smith, Daily Vidette Staff Writer |
| Tuesday, 29 September 2009 03:27 |
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It was nearly impossible to miss the flyers and bake sales spread throughout campus the week of Sept. 14 through 18. The flyers read; ‘Fell Hall Call to Action: Help the Navarro Family Rise from the Ashes.’ Last August, the house of Hector Navarro and his family caught fire as a result of a faulty kitchen appliance and nearly burned to the ground. The family, which includes six children, lost all of their belongings in the fire. Christine Doman was one of the people who saw the fire. “I live down the street from the Navarro house so I was actually leaving my apartment, walked outside and immediately saw the smoke,” she said. Making matters worse for the Navarro’s was the fact that the house was rented, but the family failed to have rental insurance. Doman, graduate teaching assistant at ISU, felt compelled to somehow help the family and saw it as a good opportunity for her to encourage students to get involved with the community.  She explained that there were four different groups and each one had their own responsibilities and tasks. The students ended up deciding to do a bake sale and donation drive. “With monetary donations, the bake sale and anonymous gift card donations, we raised $680 for the family,” Doman said. “Between food, kitchen supplies, cleaning supplies and clothes, we received over 320 items for them as well.” Items not needed by the Navarro family will be donated to Home Sweet Home ministries in addition to other charitable groups. “Christine [Doman] is a rare individual, she is very, very self-motivated,” Stephen Hunt, professor of communication and coach of the American Democracy Project, said. “She’s in her first year, first semester of her graduate program. Now, to take on a very ambitious task like this is almost unheard of.” Doman went to Hunt for advice and explained that he served as her mentor. “He actually went in and spoke to my students telling them, ‘you know, this is what we’re doing, this is the impact that you can have,’” Doman said. “He was just awesome through the whole thing.” Hunt deferred the praise, instead heaping it upon Doman for all of her hard work. “Christine Doman is the one who deserves all the credit,” he said. “In the 12 years that I’ve been at ISU, I’ve only worked with a handful of graduate students that had the capability, the energy and the drive to do something like that.” Doman sticks to the notion that more learning needs to take place outside of the classroom but within the context of a classroom. She wants to get students to realize that there is more to learning than just from a book or a lecture. “I’d like students to be aware of the fact that as they are at ISU and as they come to ISU, they are entering into people’s community,” she said. “As undergrads you think the campus is just there when you’re there, you don’t realize that people actually live there. “As often as we can, we need to realize that we need to do what we can and give back to the community that we live in. At that same level is keeping yourself protected and aware of what’s going on around you in that community,” she added. Both Doman and Hunt stressed that one of the ways students can keep themselves protected is to simply buy renter’s insurance if renting an apartment or a house.  “Students might not realize it, but many of them rent. Many of them don’t have renter’s insurance, and they could find themselves in the exact same situation [as the Navarro’s],” Hunt said. Hunt spoke proudly of Doman and her students and acknowledged that tragedy led to inspiration. “Everyone benefited from the Fell Hall Call to Action. The students benefited substantially, the community benefited, ISU benefited in a very big way and the Navarro family benefited,” he said. “What that group of students and Christine did, what they accomplished was that they did a significant amount of good for a family in need in the community. They sent a message to the University, to Bloomington-Normal and beyond, that despite stereotypes about students being apathetic and that they don’t care and they’re not engaged, that they do care, they are engaged and they are willing to work to make a difference,” Hunt added. Hunt made it clear that those students who want to work on similar projects like the Fell Hall Call to Action and to just simply help out in the community are always welcome to contact him. “There are all types of opportunities like this [at ISU] to get involved in,” Hunt said. “One of ISU’s core values is commitment to civil engagement.” |
