Students have rallied behind Au Bon Pain employee Crystal Langston, who lost her household in a fire.
As part of a fundraiser hosted by Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, half of the proceeds from Devine’s Sports Bar and Grill entrance fees Thursday went to Langston, whose home caught fire on Sept. 14. The fundraiser raised $650 to help Langston and her three-year-old son recover from the destruction of their house.
“The fire took a big emotional toll on me because I worked so hard for all my belongings and it was all gone in the snap your fingers,” Langston said.
Langston said she did not know what resources were available to help her after the fire.
At that point, ABP manager Laura Delahunt contacted sophomore Sam Waters and junior Nandini Srinivasan, two students she met earlier in the year, who both said they were eager to gather support and come up with a plan to help Langston.
Srinivasan and Waters met with Langston early last week to find out what would provide the best support for her.
“Hearing her explain her situation was heartbreaking,” Srinivasan said. “She has come to the terms with the fact that all of her stuff is gone, but her son can’t comprehend it. He can’t figure out where his toys went and Crystal doesn’t know what to tell him.”
After hearing her story, Waters said he immediately shared the story with his fraternity brothers who decided to act fast, knowing that Langston needed funds to recover as soon as possible.
“She didn’t have insurance or the resources to get assistance,” Waters said. “My immediate reaction was that my fraternity could help out.”
Waters and ATO Social Chair Wes Koorbusch, a sophomore, began planning a fundraising event at Devine’s, which they promoted with flyers and through Facebook.
“[The management] went out of their way to make this event a huge success,” Koorbusch said.
Owner Gene Devine, Trinity ’75, donated a raffle prize for a 3-day, 2-night trip to Las Vegas including hotel and half-off air fare. This brought in $250 of the $650 made that evening.
Srinivasan noted that efforts to aid Langston and her son will continue at Duke.
Srinivasan, a member of the First-Year Advisory Counselor board and Duke Student Government’s director of arts advancement, said she is currently working with the Council for Collaborative Action, the FAC board and DuArts to plan future fundraising events to raise $2,500 or more.
The current plan includes creating a fundraising website as a consistent way to raise money, in addition to on-campus programming, Srinivasan said, adding that she expects more awareness of Langston’s story on campus in upcoming months.
“As a student at the university, we have the responsibility to assist those who help make this school what it is,” Srinivasan said. “We especially want to welcome a place like ABP and its employees, which I think we can all agree we’re grateful for.”
Langston received her first check from Devine’s yesterday and plans to buy some new household and clothing items for her and her son, she said.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Langston said. “Put it three times. I didn’t even know there were people out there that were so nice and the help was amazing.”
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