Thirty-two members from the University’s Muslim Student Association are swapping out their Thanksgiving break with a service trip to provide relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

Students will be traveling from Nov. 17 to Nov. 26 to Sugar Land, Texas, for the organization’s fifth annual service trip.

“As an organization, one of the main things that we do is promote unity through community service,” Aminah Bilal, junior in LAS and volunteer coordinator of MSA, said. “By going down to a place that has an urgent need for disaster relief, we want to show the world that we are here to help and to spread a love for service that unites us all.”

Anushah Malik, junior in LAS and outreach head of MSA, said planning for this trip dates all the way back to the summer and has become more intense as the trip approaches.  

“We meet every Wednesday for more than an hour to finalize our plans. It is crunch time,” Malik said.

Bilal explained that being responsible for 32 people is a big responsibility.

“MSA has a very detailed budget that is delegated to renting cars, hotel rooms and anything else that the group might need. Before planning for this trip, I had no idea how to figure out gas mileage for cars, but now I am an expert,” Bilal said.

This will be MSA’s third relief trip partnered with the national non-profit All Hands Volunteers.

MSA member Muneeb Ansari, junior in LAS, believes the history between All Hands and MSA makes the planning process run a bit more smoothly.

“All but one of the committee people for this trip went on the trip last year.  Having worked with All Hands before, we understand what they expect of us and what our day looks like,” Ansari said.

The daily schedule of the trip begins with pre-dawn prayers, breakfast with other volunteers and work beginning by 9 a.m.

Volunteers will be a part of the initial-response phase of relief in Texas. The work in this phase ranges from packing food to cleaning debris out of homes through a process called mucking.

“It is amazing to see how much good college students are able to do with their youth and their energy because it is exhausting. I cannot imagine my parents doing this because you are running on little sleep, not eating the best food and you are just working all day,” Ansari said.

The MSA volunteers plan to work hard, even on their day off.

“We have a free day because All Hand’s does not work on Mondays. We reached out to the Houston Food Pantry. If we have the opportunity to work for just an extra half an hour, then we are going to take it,” Ansari said.

According to Malik, MSA is hoping to collect money to help fund their trip and donate to All Hands and the Houston Food Pantry.  Their goal is to raise $2,000 through their YouCaring page.

Malik, Bilal and Ansari all hope to continue annual relief trips and have seen a growth in volunteer numbers over the past few years.

“We used to have to ask people to go on these trips, but this year we had 55 wanting to go, and we could only take 32,” Malik said.

Bilal and Ansari said the trips will continue in the following years whether or not there is an area in need of immediate natural disaster relief.

“There is always a need somewhere and if you cannot find it, then you are not looking hard enough,” Ansari said.

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