Students pitch in for Katrina victims

Although it’s a time when students are pinching pennies and scrounging for free meals, monetary needs seemed to take a backseat to Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath as Aggies began donating to impromptu fundraisers on the Utah State campus last week.

Starting last Tuesday during Bingo Night, a part of ASUSU’s Week of Welcome, donation jars were distributed to collect funds for hurricane victims, Laurel Evans, ASUSU vice president of programming said.

“Good job Utah State, you have truly shown what great students we have here,” Evans said about the outpouring of generosity she saw last week.

There isn’t an official count of what has been collected, however, Evans said ASUSU has raised more than $600. Fundraising efforts will be ongoing for the remainder of September, with collection jars set up in the Student Involvement and Leadership Office, in the Taggart Student Center Room 326 and Val. R Christensen Service Center in TSC Room 332B.

Donations will also be collected during STAB events and at the UNLV football game Sept. 24, Evans said. The money raised will mostly likely be sent to the Red Cross to distribute, she said.

Ammon Hills, a sophomore majoring in business administration, said ASUSU spearheading the fundraising efforts is a positive thing for the students, as well as for those who need help.

Those who have been hit the worst by the hurricane have lost everything they need for survival, Hills said, and people should help out if they can. However, Hills said he would have donated to the cause, but did not see any donation jars set up last week.

Fellow business major Zach Porath agrees with Hills about the need for USU students to donate. Being at a university, students gather here from all over and some may have been affected by this disaster, Porath said. As a student body, we should help out Hurricane Katrina victims because if anything happened here, we would expect the same thing, he added.

Sentiment such as that demonstrated by Hills and Porath are what has impressed Rosie Strong, ASUSU vice president of athletics, the most.

“Students just emptied out their pockets…so that was impressive to me because it was an out-of-the-blue [fundraiser],” Strong said about the Bingo event. “I was proud to be an Aggie that night.”

Evans added, “Which, for being the first week of school with people paying tuition and buying books, was absolutely fabulous.”

Although donating to hurricane victims is a noble cause, there are charitable scams throughout Utah that students should be aware of. Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr., although encouraging people to donate, warned Utahns of fraudulent charities that may arise because of this disaster.

“Don’t automatically say yes when asked to give money or buy an item in the name of those affected by Katrina,” said Francine Giani, executive director of the Utah Department of Commerce and Consumer Protection, in a press release issued last week. “We are already beginning to get the phone calls from responsible citizens wanting to know if those they are being contacted by are registered charities.”

-kcashton@cc.usu.edu