UNC clubs to fundraise for victims of Hurricane Sandy

Even though Hurricane Sandy left Chapel Hill largely unscathed, the storm’s aftereffects are still on students’ minds.

In an effort to help those affected by the storm, UNC’s Extended Disaster Relief club and the UNC American Red Cross Club will be raising money and awareness in the upcoming weeks.

Extended Disaster Relief, which is part of the Campus Y, will be Pit-sitting from now until next week in order to collect money to send to the victims.

Chris Wallace and Tiesha Martin, co-chairs of the Extended Disaster Relief club, are also attempting to work with the Residence Hall Association to set up canned food and clothing donations in residence halls.

“We’re trying to get people aware of who is affected and who is needing the money and where it needs to go,” Wallace said.

Martin said the main focus right now is to determine who needs the most help.

Wallace and Martin said they are hoping out-of-state students will tell the group if their hometowns need help.

Extended Disaster Relief also plans to take a trip to the affected areas during winter break to help clean up and rebuild.

“Right now we don’t want to go up and try and volunteer and be a burden, so we’re trying to do what we can do here first,” Martin said.

“And then, once stuff settles down a little more, we’ll go up and help.”

The club is also planning a trip to Haiti during spring break to help people there who were also affected by Sandy.

“When Sandy came to the U.S., people kind of forgot about the damage it did in the Caribbean,” Martin said.

“So we have to stress that, yes, the U.S. was hit, but we need to help other places that aren’t as fortunate.”

UNC’s American Red Cross Club will be concentrating all their efforts on raising money for relief.

Co-president Reed Romine said the club wants to raise $200 by the end of this week.

Members will be in the Pit every day this week from noon to 2 p.m. collecting donations.

“What we’re basically trying to do is take all the funds we can get this week and make a direct contribution to the Red Cross,” Romine said.

The money will go to support those who have been displaced by the storm and are looking for hotel rooms and food.

The Red Cross Club is also trying to work with businesses, bars and grocery stores to set up donation buckets at check-out counters.

“They’re a part of our American family, and we’re going to do the best to support them in their time of need and just try to represent UNC and our club well,” Romine said.

“We as UNC and Chapel Hill are just a part of the bigger puzzle, and we’re all Americans and part of the same family.”

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