By Dale M. King
More than two weeks after an earthquake devastated Haiti – and search and rescue operations have turned to search and recovery efforts — “It is time for us now to grieve, and begin to heal,” said the president of Boca Raton-based Lynn University, which lost four students and two professors who had gone to the Caribbean country on a humanitarian mission.
“We had waited for good news, hoped for a miracle – prayed for a different outcome,” said Lynn President Kevin Ross. “But it is apparently not to be.”
Missing are Courtney Hayes, 23, of Boca Raton; Britney Gengel, 19, of Rutland, Mass.; Stephanie Crispinelli, 19, of Katonah, N.Y.; Christine Gianacaci, 22, of Hopewell, N.J.; Patrick Hartwick, 53, dean of the Ross College of Education; and Richard Bruno, 59, assistant professor in the College of Liberal Education.
In all, 12 students and the two faculty members went to Haiti to aid the poor. They were presumably at the Hotel Montana in Port-Au-Prince when the quake struck.
Eight students were rescued and returned from the quake-battered nation.
“Theirs was a journey of hope. Theirs – a selfless commitment to serving others,” said President Ross. “They were on the ground in Haiti to find, feed and focus on the poor of that nation.”
“In the day and a half before the quake, they did just that – doling out rice at a distribution center and holding the hands of sick children in a dilapidated orphanage. They intended to do much more. In their absence, it is incumbent upon the rest of us to follow in their stead.”
The university, he said, “begins to grieve as individuals and as an institution. And in doing so, we join the families of our missing students and professors, who continue to grieve at this hour – and who are certainly carrying the heaviest load. We know that even as these wounds open anew, they will also begin to heal. In the days and weeks ahead we will be focused on that healing.”
Parents of the four missing students also issued a statement, echoing Ross’s words and urging the “Lynn community to begin to heal and grieve.”
“For the student body we understand that life goes on,” they said. “But as parents of missing children, our hearts are heavy today. We, the families of Britney, Courtney, Stephanie and Christine, still have hope and will not give up hope until our daughters are found. Even as we are preparing for the worst, we are also hoping for a miracle.”
“At this moment, having our daughters returned to us is our highest priority. We have the assurances of those in the Department of State and those on site at the Hotel Montana that they will “to the best of (their) abilities” work to return our daughters to us.”
The statement was signed by: Lin and Lenny Crispinelli (parents of Stephanie), Jean and John Gianacaci (parents of Christine), Cherylann and Leonard Gengel (parents of Britney) and Franklin and Angie Hayes (parents of Courtney).
Ross said the university will continue to “encourage our students to live, work and serve abroad as well as here at home. It is an important part of who we are, and therefore, a defining characteristic of our graduates.”
“But we’ll also continue this work because we owe it to our six. Our students will continue to feed the poor, aid the sick, and comfort the hurting — and they will spread the word about the things they see and the needs they encounter.”
“They will do this, whether I think they should or not, because it is a passion that has been cultivated on this campus in large part by the very students who were serving on that Journey of Hope.”