Community Partnerships - Louisiana 

Together by Design

Engineer and Memorial University professor Darlene Spracklin-Reid has been taking students to New Orleans since 2009 to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. Spracklin-Reid co-founded the Together by Design project with John Oates, from the College of the North Atlantic. Their aim was to encourage volunteerism in Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as help the people New Orleans. The program started with the College of the North Atlantic and expanded to include Memorial University students. In 2016, Volunteers spent more than 2 weeks working on housing projects. This trip included a mix of carpentry and engineering students, working on one housing project in the city's Lower Ninth Ward — one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by the hurricane — and another on New Orleans east side. Spracklin-Reid said the trip not only helped the people of New Orleans, but let the student volunteers take their academic study out of the classroom. 

​CNA students have not only received a practical education with the help of the Fry Family Foundation, they have also learned the value of philanthropy themselves, by participating in projects funded by the foundation," said John Oates, Lead Campus Administrator for CNA's St. John's region. "Thanks to the foundation's generous contributions, our students have travelled to participate in the Rebuilding of New Orleans Project, which is helping to revitalize a community that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2006."

Former Vice-President of Development and College Advancement, Corinne Dunne, said Mr. Fry's commitment to CNA students is proof positive that he see the value of supporting young people in their quest for higher education, and understands that there are some who cannot achieve that without the financial support of a scholarship. She said that "He understands that experiencing the rewards of philanthropy are an equally valuable form of education, and thus his support for the Rebuilding of New Orleans Project is especially meaningful". 

The Together By Design team repairing a home in New Orleans.