Disaster Relief

Hurricane Sandy Response Toolkit

Responding to Hurricane Sandy

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Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast on Monday, October 29th, leaving millions of people in New York and New Jersey and other east coast states without power.  The winds from the storm felled trees and damaged buildings, streets were flooded, and hospitals were evacuated because of failed power generators.  And before hitting the United States, Hurricane Sandy left considerable damage in the Caribbean, including Haiti, which is still recovering from the January 2010 earthquake.

The best way to immediately help the victims of a natural disaster is to fundraise and get the funds to on-the-ground relief organizations as quickly as possible.  The on-the-ground relief agencies have the connections and relationships to stretch their dollars and know in real-time what supplies and resources are most needed.

The Student PIRGs and the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness are recommending that students direct donations to the American Red Cross.  Their staff and volunteers are already on the ground in the Northeast, helping to identify and rescue survivors and making sure that people have their immediate basic needs for food, shelter and medical attention addressed.  The Red Cross has a text-to-give number set up – people wishing to donate to the Red Cross can text REDCROSS to 90999.

We are also recommending that students direct donations to OxFam, whose staff and volunteers were already in Haiti assisting with long-term earthquake recovery and will able to direct donations to the new problems created by the hurricane.

You can send the proceeds from your fundraiser to NSCAHH, and we’ll make sure that they get to the Red Cross or to Oxfam right away.  Our address is:

328 S. Jefferson Street, Suite 620
Chicago, IL  60661

HOW TO:

Step 1: Organize your Fundraising Committee

  1. Make a list of people and groups who might be helpful or interested in being on your Hurricane Sandy Fundraising Committee. Here are some ideas:
    1. The Dean of Students
    2. The Student Activities Director
    3. The Student Government
    4. Campus Religious Groups
    5. Service Fraternities
    6. Campus Environmental Groups
    7. The campus center for Service Learning
  2. Invite everyone to an emergency coalition meeting.  At the meeting, set a fundraising goal for the coalition, with a smaller goal for the amount of money you’ll raise in the first week and a larger goal for the total amount of money you want to raise over the course of the semester/year.
  3. Determine which fundraisers you want to organize and which groups/individuals will play roles in organizing them.  You’ll need people to work on logistics, publicity, and volunteer recruitment for each event.

Step 2: Hold your Fundraiser
Here are some ideas for fundraisers:

  1. Run a Spare Change Drive:
    1. Collect jars and paste labels for the Spare Change drive on them.  Put the jars everywhere: dorms, stores, academic departments, dining halls, etc. Ask local and campus cafes and coffee shops to place donation jars by the cash register for people to donate their change. Advertise the drive around campus.
    2. Go door-to-door: Some campus groups have raised thousands of dollars by going door to door in campus apartments or dorms and asking people to donate the change they have around the house on coffee tables, jars, and in couches.
    3. Set up a dorm competition.  American University students organized a dorm penny drive competition. Each residence hall had a huge jar in the lobby, and residents were urged to toss extra change into the jar. In order to increase competition and money raised, the organizers added the rule that paper money was subtracted from the total. So, in order to reduce other hall's points, residents put dollar bills in other dorms' jars.
    4. Set up a day when all of the spare change jars will be collected.  Recruit some volunteers to count of all of change.
  2. Sponsor a concert.
    1. Contact local bands and ask them to play a set for your concert. 
    2. Find a venue for the concert.  We suggest both looking into places on campus (many dorms and student unions have rooms that could hold concerts) and calling local restaurants/bars to find the best event. 
    3. Publicize the event – be sure you are telling people where the proceeds are going
      1. Put up posters and hand out fliers
      2. Ask groups and campus departments to send announcements to their listserves
      3. Have members of the coalition text their friends
      4. Setup a facebook event
      5. Call the campus newspaper and ask them to run a story on the event in advancevi.  Put the event on the online campus calendar
    4. Set up the logistics for collecting the money at the door.
  3. Organize a raffle
    1. Go door to door to local businesses and ask them to donate gift certificates or items for the raffle. 
    2. Find a venue for the raffle drawing.  We suggest both looking into places on campus (many dorms and student unions have rooms that could hold concerts) and calling local restaurants/bars to find the best event.
    3. Design and print raffle tickets (here’s a website: http://www.raffleprinter.com/)
    4. Determine the cost of the raffle ticket.  If you want to sell each ticket for $5, you’ll need to sell approximately 215 tickets to raise $1,000 (this will help defray the cost of printing the tickets)
    5. Recruit volunteers to sell raffle tickets and set goals for the number that each will sell
    6. Publicize the raffle drawing
      1. Put up posters and hand out fliers
      2. Ask groups and campus departments to send announcements to their listserves
      3. Have members of the coalition text their friends
      4. Setup a facebook event
      5. Call the campus newspaper and ask them to run a story on the event in advance
      6. Put the event on the online campus calendar

Step 3: Wrap up, and repeat!

  1. Count all of the money you’ve raised.  You can take your cash and change to a Post Office and buy a money order with it.  Send that money order to the National Student Campaign Against Hunger & Homelessness and we’ll make sure it gets distributed to the Red Cross, OxFam or the relief provider of your choice right away:328 S. Jefferson Street, Suite 620
    Chicago, IL  60661
  2. Announce your success.  Send a press release to the campus paper and radio station and to the local newspaper.
  3. Thank everyone who helped.  Be sure to thank administrators, faculty members, local businesses, and anyone else who provided resources and materials.  Be sure to tell the how much money you raised.
  4. Organize the next fundraising committee meeting and plan the next fundraiser!

Resource file download

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