Bruin organizations hope to aid flood victims
Volunteers can give time and support
By Nancy Hsu
Several students said they are ready to aid local and on-campus
community service organizations with flood relief efforts, but
officials with most groups said it’s too early to tell how students
can volunteer.
"I think it’s too early to make an assessment," said Ramona
Cortes Garza, campus community outreach director. "They’re talking
about another storm coming this weekend. Maybe we’ll do something
if people contact us."
Some students say the lack of community response has been
troubling.
"If there’s anything going on, we’ll help," said J.P. Nelson, a
fourth-year English student and a member of the Phi Kappa Psi
fraternity. "We have a number of standing philanthropies going on,
and we’re concentrating on the ones we’re committed to. We’ve also
discussed flood relief, but we haven’t heard of anything being
done."
Though appreciative of the offer, Capt. Robert Rudd with the
Salvation Army in Santa Monica said they’ll probably need more help
once the Office of Emergency Services gives them clearance to go
into the flooded areas.
"We will be active once the storm has subsided," Rudd said.
"Right now, if (flood victims) need shelter, they have found
shelter. What they may need later on is assistance, emotional or
practical, for example, shoveling out the mud. It will be more
labor kinds of things."
American Red Cross officials said what they really need right
now is money.
"What we will start doing once the rain stops is send volunteers
out to do damage assessment and then doing case work with
individuals and families to find out what their needs are," said
Trish Bishoff, West Side district manager. "Based on that, we will
offer assistance. The biggest need is for financial donations,
however small."
When people want to donate goods instead of money, Bishof said
she usually refers them to organizations such as the Salvation
Army, Goodwill and the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
"I’m sure there will be a need for new mattresses and box
springs, dressers, beds, stuff that you can’t really use again once
it gets muddied," she said.
The Community Service Commission has a number of on-going
projects students can contribute to, but none related to flood
relief, said Saru Jayaraman, community service commissioner.
One of the groups, organized by Faye Clemet, with the California
Campus Compact, takes boxes of clothing, bedding and toys to
downtown shelters every week.
Thursday afternoon, she and a group of students took five boxes
of student and faculty donated items to the Catholic Family
Charities.
"The thing I’m looking for is men’s clothing," said Clemet,
pointing to boxes of women’s clothes. "Shoes and clothes in
general. All the men’s stuff is gone."
A few UCLA groups said they are determined to help in any way
possible. Members of the Beta Theta Pi and Zeta Beta Tau
fraternities said they will be having their own clothes drive next
week.
"At the end of last quarter, we were going to have a clothes
drive for the holidays and the cold weather, but since it started
raining, we just decided to shift our focus," said Carig Luntz, a
fourth-year sociology student and vice president of Zeta Beta Tau.
"We’ve still got to iron things out."
Students who wish to donate money to flood relief efforts can
send their tax-deductible donation to the American Red Cross, 11355
Ohio Avenue, Los Angeles 90025. Goods can also be brought to Faye
Clemet at the Community Service Commission office, 408 Kerckhoff
Hall.