A growing group of University students and community members is preparing to leave behind school, work, sports teams and everything else to travel to the areas in southern Asia most devastated by the tsunami.
They don’t know exactly where they’re going or exactly what they’re going to do — they just know they’re going to help.
Junior Matt Short, a basketball player on scholarship, freshman wrestler Jeremy McLaughlin, undergraduate Ethan Holub and University volunteer wrestling coach Tony Overstake will be in Asia from March 20 until April 20 along with at least eight members of their church to offer assistance and support to the victims of one of the largest natural disasters in history.
“We’re just pumped to bring some tents and just hang out with the kids if nothing else,” Holub said.
The men said they had been talking about the tsunami survivors and praying for them, and they felt led by God to put their words into action by going to the area and helping in whatever ways needed.
“It just weighed on our hearts,” McLaughlin said. “Everyone wants to change the world, but we don’t see a lot of attempts to do it.”
Short and McLaughlin said the month-long trip will not affect their status as student athletes at the University because they will still be enrolled as students while in Asia and will complete the credits required to stay eligible.
“The scholarship will still keep on going,” Short said. “There’s a way for me to do it without leaving the team and that’s the best thing for me.”
Overstake, who graduated from the University in 2002, said he recommends that the students going on the trip talk with their professors about making arrangements for the missed weeks of classes and prepare to work hard when they return to make up for the missed time.
Short said he is in the process of arranging to take 12 independent study credits while he is gone to continue his political science degree work and maintain his athletic eligibility.
All four men attend Calvary Fellowship in Eugene. They said members are spreading the word about the trip and helping bring in donations and additional support, although the church isn’t organizing the event.
The group is encouraging anyone else interested to contact them directly or through
Calvary Fellowship.
“We’re people with hearts to go love other people, serve and show faith through action,” Holub said.
The men said they have contacted various organizations about assisting in the relief
efforts but have not been able to make any permanent commitments because
most groups are only looking for trained
medical professionals.
“We’re looking for organizations who need people to serve,” Short said. “We just want to work hard.”
“I know how to put on a Band-Aid,” Overstake added. “We just want to do grunt work, feed the kids and play with them.”
They don’t have specific plans or an itinerary, but the men say they will travel from Bangkok, Thailand, down to the coastal areas most affected by the tsunami and hope to end up in Indonesia.
“Everyone else is afraid to go there and worried about themselves and not many have gone,” Holub said.
Indonesia is very difficult to get into, Overstake said, but group members are hoping to take a boat over and spend time wherever they can, helping anyone who will accept it.
“We want to go over there and help people who want help,” McLaughlin said.
In order to blend in, the men say they will spend the next month researching the
cultures and studying the languages of the regions they will visit.
“We don’t want to be looked at as
tourists,” Holub said. “We want to get in with the locals.”
Holub said he has traveled to more than 35 countries and has found the best way to experience the different lifestyles is to embrace the regional culture.
The men said they will try to be as close as possible to the tsunami victims by staying with the survivors in refugee camps and not escaping at night to one of the newly rebuilt hotels that they worry have taken priority in the rebuilding efforts.
Members of the church have expressed interest in starting a long-term program, such as an orphanage somewhere in the region, and are hoping to raise $50,000 for the cause,
Holub said.
“We want to start an orphanage,” Holub said. “It’s something we can send college kids over to serve.”
All four of the men agreed there is much to do before their departure, such as obtaining passports and getting the required medical shots — Short alone needs eight — but said their trip is well worth whatever cost
they pay.
The men said they have received a huge amount of support from their families and members of the community and are looking forward to using that support to help them really make a difference.
“We’re not there just to say it and walk away,” Holub said.

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