Hurricane relief gifts go to former V.C. Nunez
October 13, 2005
KOKOMO, Ind.—To help hurricane evacuees in southwestern Louisiana, students and staff of Indiana University Kokomo recently sent a truckload of items, plus $1,000 in purchasing power, to that state, in care of former vice chancellor William Nunez. Now the Chancellor of Louisiana State University Eunice, Nunez will distribute the gifts through a Eunice shelter serving some 3,000 displaced New Orleanians.
The IU Kokomo Staff Council, which represents clerical, technical, and maintenance employees, sent Nunez a $1,000 Wal-Mart gift card. Staff Council President Cathy Bausom Archer said Nunez planned to exchange the donation for cards in $25 and $50 increments, and then distribute them to evacuees trying to reestablish households.
Council members who knew and used to work with Nunez “had talked to him about how bad the devastation was in Louisiana,” Archer said. “Because his university was trying to do their part for those left homeless by Hurricane Katrina, we thought how neat it would be to help out in partnership with another university. All of Staff Council was happy to help in this cause.”
Students in freshmen learning communities collected non-perishable foods to send to Eunice, and members of the education students' organizations EdSAC and meshED gathered books, school supplies, and stuffed animals to donate. Learning Community instructor Karla Farmer Stouse recruited her friends Jerald and Becky Jones of Evansville to transported the goods to Louisiana by truck. As retired teachers, Jerald Jones said, he and his wife were glad to bring the tools of recovery and education to hurricane evacuees.
In an e-mail to Archer, William Nunez thanked the IU Kokomo community. “The charity and caring that 'you all' have exhibited is exemplary,” he wrote. “I am humbled that you thought of me as your contact for this generous, self-initiated, humanitarian project!"
Students Amber Taylor, Paul Dorisse, and Chelsea Conrad load donations being sent to Eunice, La.
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