After Hurricane Milton left over three million people without power and a significant amount of damage two weeks after Hurricane Helene, UW-Eau Claire’s Red Cross Club started a fundraiser to aid hurricane relief.
According to their website, the Red Cross Club’s primary mission is to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of an emergency by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.
“The Red Cross has what’s called disaster response teams that are going down south right now in Florida,” fundraiser coordinator Gia Foster, a first-year nursing student, said. “They provide food, shelter, medical assistance, anything that people down south need to relieve from the hurricane.”
The Red Cross Club has started a fundraiser this semester to raise money to help afford this aid and will continue until the end of the fall semester.
Foster said that students can help by scanning the QR code on the club’s Blugold Connect page, which has a direct link to leave a donation. Foster said sending the QR code to friends and family is also a great way to get the word out to more people.
Club president Olivia Ratchman said the club is great for nursing majors trying to get into the highly competitive program and for students who need to fulfill their service-learning requirements.
“Anyone who needs a CPR certification, a CNA certification, lifeguard or babysitter, they can get that for free as well just by being in the club,” Ratchman said.
Foster said it’s great for students who want to get involved without doing anything specifically nursing-related while also being great for healthcare students to network with healthcare professionals.
According to Ratchman, the club also does other volunteering activities: blood drives, making cookies for the local first responders, tie-blankets for children’s hospitals, cards for veterans, preparedness kits for the homeless and mapping disaster areas for when one occurs.
Ratchman said the organization will prepare hurricane relief kits in the coming weeks.
In previous semesters, the organization has held many fundraisers for disaster relief and club funding, according to Ratchman. Foster said their fundraisers are based on whatever fundraiser the Red Cross is having at the time, and all proceeds go directly to them.
Last year the club held a 50 Mile Challenge where a participant would agree to do the challenge through Facebook and friends and family then donate to you while you walk 50 miles in the month of October or November.
“Any donation helps if you can share the donation or share the fundraiser with family and friends who are looking to donate,” Foster said. “It’s a great way to help, and the profits go directly to the Red Cross. I know sometimes there’s hesitation with donating because they don’t know where their donations are going, but the Eau Claire fundraiser goes directly to the Red Cross, which goes directly to disaster response. It’s helping everybody.”
Boggess can be reached at [email protected].
