Carolina Center for Public Service plans two relief trips to eastern N.C.

By JENA WITTKAMP
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- People in North Carolina counties hardest hit by Hurricane Isabel soon will get a helping hand from volunteers in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill-Carrboro communities.

UNC’s Carolina Center for Public Service has organized two volunteer work trips this month, starting with a daylong effort Saturday (Oct. 18). More than 40 volunteers from town and gown will head to Chowan and Bertie counties early that morning, said Dr. Lynn Blanchard, center director.

The second trip, to Chowan and Hyde counties, will be Oct. 23-25 during UNC’s fall break. Twenty-two students and two staff members had signed up by mid-week, and neither trip can accept more volunteers. But more trips are possible, given the level of interest, Blanchard said.

"About 120 people have answered our requests for people who want to help," she said. "That’s a great response, and it is to be expected from the Carolina family."

The center is partnering with organizations assigned to hurricane relief in each county to ensure that volunteers will work where they’re most needed, Blanchard said. Volunteers will clear debris and do repairs, especially in the homes of the elderly.

The UNC General Alumni Association is emailing information about the trips to Carolina alumni in the affected counties. Alumni may contact the center to arrange to work alongside the volunteers from Chapel Hill.

Destruction in these counties is so great that residents will need help for the next six to eight months, Blanchard said. The center is working to organize ongoing relief efforts with UNC’s Campus Y, Employee Forum, Graduate and Professional Student Federation, schools of government and public health, the APPLES service-learning program, the General Alumni Association and Student Government.

For the two trips this month, the center has received monetary and food donations from Bear Rock Cafe, Panera Bread, Strong’s Coffee, Sunrise Biscuit Co., Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse and Great Harvest Bread Company. "We don’t want the counties to incur any costs because the volunteers are there," Blanchard said.

Donations for Hurricane Isabel relief can be made at the Carolina First Web site at http://carolinafirst.unc.edu/gift/ by selecting "Hurricane Relief" under "Your Designation." Checks may also be mailed to the Carolina Center for Public Service at: Campus Box 3142, UNC-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3142. Make checks payable to the Carolina Center for Public Service and write "Hurricane Relief" in the memo field. All donations will go directly to support the relief effort.

To sign up for future trips or get updates on other relief efforts, contact the center by e-mail at ccps@unc.edu or by phone at 843-7568.

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(Wittkamp, of Raleigh, is a senior majoring in women’s studies and journalism and mass communication.)

Contact: Lynn Blanchard, (919) 843-7570
News Services contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589