From pushup competitions to donation drives, Duke student organizations and offices have been actively involved with relief efforts for western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
Hurricane Helene made landfall in the western part of the state Sept. 26 as a Category 4, causing “biblical devastation” in the region and putting entire communities underwater. According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, there are 101 hurricane-related deaths as of Wednesday.
Duke Remote Area Medical — which typically holds pop-up medical clinics in rural or remote areas — organized hurricane relief initiatives on campus. Sophomore Lara Kendall, Duke RAM co-president, and senior Lia Sprouse, who is on the community partnerships team, were primarily responsible for the hurricane relief initiatives.
“We have both been affected by the hurricane in our own hometown[s],” Kendall said. “… We know that a lot of other members of our club and a lot of members of the Duke community have been affected as well. It was really important to us to do something to help the communities.”
Duke RAM tabled on the Bryan Center Plaza, where they asked students to donate through cash or food points to purchase canned goods from the Duke Store. The group then brought the donated goods to affected areas, including Asheville and Hendersonville.
One of Duke RAM’s volunteers created a sign that read: “Beat me in pushups or donate,” which — according to Kendall — drew in a large crowd of students.
Another one of the group’s initiatives was to raise money for All Hands and Hearts, an organization that works to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by Helene.
Duke Climate Coalition, another student group, delivered supplies to the Triangle Mutual Aid’s Durham drop-off station to be delivered to western part of the state.
DCC Octopus, Felicia Wang, a senior, said that she made nine trips in her car to the exchange, with around six to seven gallons of water and 200 cans of food each time.
According to first-year Chase Locascio, DCC energy market reform manager, the group’s hurricane relief tabling efforts were “spontaneous[ly]” organized in DCC’s group chat but became an organization-wide effort.
Many other Duke student organizations also tabled on BC Plaza to support relief efforts, including Project Earth, Duke Campus Farms and Duke Mi Gente.
In addition to student groups, other Duke organizations including Duke Athletics, the Divinity School and Duke Health contributed to hurricane relief efforts.
According to Chris Alston, Duke Athletics executive director of marketing, conversations within the office about relief efforts began early in the morning of Sept. 30. By noon, its corporate partner, Two Men and a Truck, joined the efforts to manage transporting donations from campus to western North Carolina.
Alston added that in over two weeks, Duke Athletics was able to collect over 85,000 pounds of supplies. The office also created an Amazon wishlist to allow fans to order items to send to the affected areas, which culminated in over 5,000 donations.
The athletics department’s efforts were aided by several of the University’s varsity teams, who brought items to drop-off locations for delivery.
Nearly a month after Helene hit North Carolina, many Duke programs are continuing to maintain relief initiatives.
Duke’s Doing Good Employee Giving Campaign is contributing to emergency relief efforts through Dec. 31. The campaign is accepting donations made “directly or via payroll deduction through Duke@Work,” according to Michelle Benham, senior director of communications for Duke Community Affairs.
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