As part of their business Core class, a group of DU business students spent their Saturday hauling furniture, unloading trucks and sorting clothes at Operation Safe Haven.Jennifer Collins and Tessa Wheeler, classmates in the Leadership and Communication class at the Daniels College of Business, decided to do their eight hours of service on Oct. 29 at Operation Safe Haven, the Hurricane Katrina relief effort set up in Aurora on Sept. 18.Collins, an HRTM major, said the experience taught her teamwork within her group as well as leadership to prepare for the business world.”We had the opportunity to interview and record a victim of Hurricane Katrina,” said Collins. “It was definitely tragic to hear but I was glad to know that her family is OK and everyone made it out.”Victims of Hurricane Katrina often feel that surviving the hurricane was easy compared to starting a whole new life in Colorado. Operation Safe Haven works to ease victims’ situations by distributing donations and providing food, medical and housing services.Started by Gov. Bill Owens, the operation pulls together more than 25 separate organizations but has experienced a drop-off in volunteers since Katrina was in the spotlight two months ago.Wheeler said that plenty of supplies have been donated, but there was not enough help to deliver them. “Four of us (DU students) managed to stack seven pallets of clothing without even making a dent in the piles of clothes and boxes,” Wheeler said.Collins and Wheeler appeared in a Denver Post article on Sunday Oct. 30 by Michael McCollum.B According to McCollum, 10-20 families continue to show up daily on the operation’s doorstep.The shortage of volunteers slows the delivery of furniture and other donations to families that are still in desperate need. So far, over 400 families from Mississippi and Louisiana have eased into permanent housing from dormitories at Lowry Air Force Base.Collins and Wheelers’ teacher, Barbara Kreisman, is an Associate Clinical Professor at the Daniels’ College of Business. Kreisman said that the service-learning project is a part of the course so that students can experience leadership for themselves.According to Kreisman, students commonly choose to serve the elderly, participate in building projects or work with animals.”Many [students] take this very seriously and stay with their organizations for the duration of college,” Kreisman said. “The [service-learning] model is somewhat reflective of Bill Daniels, for whom the College of Business was named.B He was known for philanthropy and believed very strongly in supporting those with less,” said Kreisman.Wheeler also recommends volunteering, saying that “Despite the fact that it is somewhat time consuming, it is rewarding to be selfless and see others benefit from your work.”To find out about volunteering at Operation Safe Haven or for other community service ideas, visit DU’s Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning, in Room 22 in the Driscoll Center.For additional information, call (303) 871-3332.