Louis Eswood graduated from UNH in 2009 with a B.S. in Fire Science/Arson Investigation. Today he’s an external affairs specialist at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Washington, D.C. He currently is deployed as a disaster assistance reservist, working on the agency’s Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts not far from his hometown of Parsippany, N.J. How he came to work for FEMA, and why he requested to help in recovery efforts, stems from the same reason he maintains strong ties and support for UNH – an appreciation for the value of a strong community.

What Motivates:

“When I was at UNH I was very involved,” Louis says. “I was president of the student government for two years and was heavily involved in clubs and organizations. UNH is a small enough school that you can get to know a lot of people that way, and many of those relationships are still ongoing; there’s a real sense of community. Those connections branch out and that community feeling remains even after graduation. After the storm, I heard from people I hadn’t spoken with since school because they knew I worked for FEMA, and I called and checked up on a couple of the professors I still keep in touch with.”

Why He Gives:

“I got so much out of my experience at UNH, and so much of that was because of people who had donated previously,” he says. “I was able to go to a Supreme Court hearing in D.C. that will probably become a historic case in the world of fire service. It could end up in the textbooks, and I can say I was there because of funding from the Bartels Fund. I donate to the Fire Science Gift Fund and also to the general Annual Fund because I want to be able to make experiences like that available for the next generation too.”