The Grand Valley community has raised more than $6,000 for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
During a daylong event at Robinson Field on September 10, students raised $4,700 for the Red Cross Disaster Relife Fund and collected clothes and other supplies for International Aid. The event was organized by the student committee Grand Valley Rescue Team.
The COT Association and AP Committee coordinated collections for faculty and staff. In addition to supplies, more than $2,000 was donated.
At least two more staff members are in the Gulf Coast region as volunteers. Kimberly Pearson Slaikeu, assistant professor of nursing, has joined the Convoy of Hope and Grand Rapids First Assembly of God in a mission trip to Mississippi in order to provide nursing care. Eric Klingensmith, counselor at the Counseling and Career Development Office, is providing crisis counseling. Mike Spofford, maintenance mechanic in Facilities Services, has been in the region since early September. He is also an EMT specialist with Emergency Medical Services in Muskegon.
Nurse practitioners and staff members at the GVSU Family Health Center, operated by the Kirkhof College of Nursing, are treating evacuees who need medical attention. Evacuees have been directed to the Sheldon Street clinic by the Red Cross.
For more information about hurricane relief efforts at Grand Valley, visit www.gvsu.edu/katrina.
