News Release

Local angles: Buncombe, Haywood counties

CHAPEL HILL—Students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill invite members of the campus and local communities to donate supplies for hurricane victims in western North Carolina.

Non-perishable food items, clothing and cleaning supplies will be collected through Oct. 13. Students may place items in blue recycling bins on the first floors of campus residence halls. Collection bins also are located at the Frank Porter Graham Student Union off South Road and the Campus Y on Cameron Avenue.

Student Government and the Hunger and Homelessness Outreach Project of the Campus Y are sponsoring the drive. During fall break, Oct. 14-17, members of both groups will take the supplies to residents of Haywood and Buncombe counties.

"As students at Carolina, many of us take a lot of pride in our state," said UNC senior Genny King, co-chair of public service and advocacy for Student Government. A leader in the supplies collection drive, King is an anthropology major from Clyde.

"I went home to western North Carolina recently, and it was astounding to see the devastating effects the flood waters had in my hometown and other communities," she said.

Also at UNC, the Carolina Center for Public Service is collecting names of volunteers who would like to help with clean-up in the affected areas. For more information, visit www.unc.edu/cps or e-mail ccps@unc.edu. The center asks that volunteers with skills such as carpentry or plumbing note that in their e-mails.

The center has a hurricane relief fund set up through Carolina First, the university’s ongoing private fund-raising campaign. Donations will support trips to western North Carolina by UNC faculty, students and staff to help with clean-up. Those interested may donate securely by visiting http://carolinafirst.unc.edu/gift/.

Choose a payment method, scroll to the designation box and use the pull-down menu to access "Hurricane Relief for Western N.C." Gifts will count toward Carolina First’s $1.8 billion goal.

The region saw major destruction from hurricanes Frances and Ivan. Floods and high winds caused many residents to lose electricity, water and, in some cases, their homes and businesses.

"You can see marks of the flood nine feet up on trees," Campus Y Director Virginia Carson said after visiting Canton, where she spoke with representatives of the Haywood County Volunteer Center about clean-up and items that residents need.

UNC junior Seth Dearmin, co-chair of public service and advocacy for Student Government, also was in western North Carolina after the storms. A geography major, he is from Pinnacle.

"Businesses were closed. Restaurants were closed," he said. "There was no power and no water. These are people in the same state as we are, and also call themselves Tar Heels."

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Campus Y contacts: Landis Wofford, 914-4012, lwofford@email.unc.edu; Virginia Carson, 962-2333

Carolina Center for Public Service: 843-7568, 843-7567

News Services contacts: Print, L.J. Toler, 919-962-8589; broadcast, Karen Moon, 919-962-9585