Students Raise Funds for Hurricane Victims Prior to SU-Wake Forest Football Game

Carrier Dome

Friends, families and students at Syracuse University who have been affected by devastating hurricanes Irma and Maria will be doing their part to assist storm victims. A hurricane relief effort will take place Saturday, Nov. 11, at the Carrier Dome prior to the start of the Syracuse University vs. Wake Forest football game. Students, many of them from the Caribbean, will be located outside the dome carrying buckets and posters with Disaster Relief printed on them, collecting money for the hurricane relief cause.

“Our students began organizing immediately after hurricanes Irma and Maria,” says Bea González, vice president for Community Engagement. “They needed to find avenues to support their family and friends since they are so far from home. In partnership with several student organizations, faculty and staff, Hendricks Chapel developed a webpage for information on relief efforts.” Specifically instrumental in the relief effort are Associate Professor Cecilia A. Green from the Maxwell School; Christian Andino Borrero ’21 and Deborah Orieta ’20, both from the College of Arts and Sciences; and Bruno Regalado ’19 from the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Hurricane Irma made landfall in Barbuda on Sept. 6 as a Category 5 hurricane. With winds of over 185 miles per hour and a storm circumference larger than the state of Ohio, Hurricane Irma became the most powerful hurricane to form in the Atlantic Ocean since satellite observation began.

Life-threatening conditions have hit Barbuda and Antigua, Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, St. Kitts and Nevis, U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Haiti, Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas and Cuba.

Hurricane Maria made landfall on Dominica during the evening of Sept. 18 as a Category 5 hurricane. With winds of over 150 miles per hour, Dominica saw mass destruction of resources.

Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico on Sept. 19, with heavy storms and flooding that continue to have a massive humanitarian impact. Many parts of the island are still without electricity and water.

González is encouraging fans and members of the campus community to “support our students, faculty and staff in this relief effort for Puerto Rico and the Eastern Caribbean.”

Kickoff for Saturday’s football game is set for 3 p.m. Students will be stationed outside the Dome starting at 1:30. Saturday is also Military Appreciation Day at the dome, as Syracuse University continues its celebration of the men and women who served.