Students raise $8,600-plus for victims of Katrina

3:47 p.m., Sept. 20, 2005--Students across the UD campus focused on a common goal the week of Sept. 12--to bring hope and assistance to those suffering the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Throughout the week, students sold $1 raffle tickets for a long list of prizes donated by area merchants, and, on Friday afternoon, a special event, "Giving on The Green," was held in the Trabant University Center, forced indoors by the threat of bad weather.

With all these efforts, students raised $8,665 to send to victims of Hurricane Katrina via the American Red Cross.

During "Giving on The Green," UD’s Registered Student Organizations, residential complexes, centers and schools, fraternities and sororities filled the Trabant University Center with more than 45 kiosks selling everything from a chance to throw a pie at a resident assistant to getting a tank of gasoline for the price of a $1 raffle ticket--all to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

There was an information/booth registration table set up by Residence Life where individuals could pick up a green ribbon and write a message to Hurricane Katrina victims. The ribbons were hung later in a Ribbon Garden on The Green just south of Memorial Hall. This week, volunteers are staffing a table near Memorial Hall, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., daily, through Sept. 23, for those who wish add ribbons to the garden.

Hundreds came to Trabant to take advantage of the food, games, services, beverages and other items and prizes being offered by various groups.

Several sororities sold baked goods, as did The College School and Laboratory Preschool. The preschool students also were selling their own artwork.

The Gilbert/Harrington Complex offered quilt squares for $2 each, on which a message to Katrina’s homeless could be written. The squares will be sewn together to form a quilt that will be sent to the governor of one of the affected states. Among the messages were “Never lose hope,” “Our hearts go out to you” and “May your roots always remain close to your hearts.”

For $1, anyone could play a game of chess with a “rated” chess player, get pizza or a soft drink, see who could hammer nail into wood the fastest at the Habitat for Humanity booth, take a chance on winning a jar full of Hershey’s kisses, get a chance for a variety of gift certificates, get a photo of themselves as characters at the tea party in Alice in Wonderland or even a massage, compliments of the Wesley Foundation Campus Ministry.

Musicians from the Dickinson Residence Hall Complex jamming in the Food Court were donating the money thrown into their instrument cases to the victims of Katrina.

T-shirts proclaiming love for UD were going for $5, and another group raffled a case of water for $1 a ticket.

At the close of the fundraiser, Residence Life announced the winners of the University-wide raffle that had been going on all week. The grand prize--an overnight stay for two at the Courtyard of Newark-University of Delaware—went to Devon Davis, a freshman from New Jersey.

The Laboratory Preschool and The College School raised $891, the highest amount at the “Giving on The Green” fundraiser, and the Dickinson Complex came in highest overall, with $1,092 between the sale of raffle tickets and its booth at “Giving on The Green.”

Sponsors of the activities included the offices of Residence Life and Campus Life and Student Activities.

Article by Barbara Garrison
Photos by Sarah Simon

E-mail this article

To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here.