NC State community rallies to help those impacted by Hurricane Florence

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PAGE 3 • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

NC State community rallies to help those impacted by Hurricane Florence

DAVID TRACEY/TECHNICIAN NC State Facilities Division employees remove damaged tree branches on Dan Allen Drive on Wednesday, Sept. 12. All classes beginning from noon Wednesday through the following Monday were canceled.

Alicia Thomas

Assistant News Editor

NC State student organizations and campus partners have been working since the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in a variety of ways to help not only students who were affected by the hurricane, but also communities in North Carolina that are still dealing with the impacts of the storm.

Pack Essentials, an initiative designed by Student Ombuds Services in the Division of Academics and Student Affairs, was created for students who are struggling with finding food, housing and financial insecurity.

“Since the hurricane, most of what’s coming through is hurricane related,” said Mike Giancola, assistant vice provost and Student Ombudsperson. “As I’ve worked to connect with those students and understand those needs, many of them do have financial needs that because of the hurricane, they don’t have access to food, or their parents were supporting them and now their parents can’t support them.”

According to Giancola, Pack Essentials was created to help connect students to resources in a centralized and individualized way. The resources are shared through the Pack Essentials website and cater to the personal needs of students, whether it is their access to resources for food or other career services.

Student Body President Jess Errico, a fifth-year studying aerospace and mechanical engineering, said that Student Government will support student organizations and departments in their efforts to help the larger North Carolina community by being a platform for organizations to communicate their hurricane relief efforts.

“Student Government has primarily operated in a supporting role to other campus partners who are looking to support those affected,” Errico said. “It is important to us that we are looking to help not only those who are affected but specifically, in particular focus and help NC State students who were affected.”

Since Hurricane Florence, Pack Essentials has been a resource for many students to get the assistance they need because of the impact the storm has had on their lives. Giancola described the process.

“It used to be that a student would fill out a form for the student emergency fund, and then if they needed other supports, they would fill out other applications,” Giancola said. “Over the summer, we really worked to try to streamline that process. We wanted students to fill out one application and that one application, the Pack Essentials application, would come to me and also Financial Aid and then we work together to determine what the student might be eligible for.”

The Student Emergency Fund is a large tool for Student Ombuds, as it gives students who need financial assistance, due to emergency situations, up to $500, depending on the need, from individuals that donate to DASA. Giancola said that students are free to reach out to Student Ombuds even if they are uncertain if they will need the resources.

“In some cases, the students just need someone to connect to, to understand their situation,” Giancola said. “So as I go through and find out that they’re not currently experiencing food, housing or financial insecurity, but help them

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PAGE 4 • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

Accessibility Excursion to help locate problem areas on campus

GLENN WAGSTAFF/ARCHIVE An accessibility sign stands in front of Talley Student Union on Wednesday, Feb. 28. These signs are important for showing people an alternative path to take to access major campus buildings.

Freja Carlson

Staff Writer

A variety of campus partners are working together to make sure that no one at NC State, whether they are visiting or attending the university, faces any physical obstacles as they navigate through campus.

These campus partners, including the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity, Student Government and University Housing, are working together through the NC State Accessibility Excursion: a walk throughout the main campus to find any issues in accessibility that may be present.

Crystal Tenan, the IT Accessibility Coordinator at NC State, addressed how these walks have been done in the past but need to be done more than once, because the Facilities Division does not have time to regularly go through and check every part of campus.

“The whole point of this is to teach all participants about physical accessibility barriers and for them to have that in mind when they are going places, because their actions impact others,” Tenan said.

According to Tenan, participants will learn how to report problem spots on campus, which help individuals feel like they are making a difference.

“It is also to empower them,” Tenan said. “Because we do have an access request form we are going to teach participants about. That way if they see something on campus, they can let us know and get it fixed.”

Sam Chan, a third-year studying political science and communication and one of the leaders of the Student Government Diversity Outreach Department, said Student Government will be involved in the event.

“We were excited because accessibility is something we have wanted to work on for awhile, and the Diversity Outreach Department is looking into this year, so this is a great first step,” Chan said.

Chan also said that Student Government is hoping to work more this year with various organizations and departments to make sure that all of campus is accessible to its students.

“We met with the Disability Resource Office recently, and right now our first goal is to talk with students enrolled with the Disability Office to see what their needs are in terms of accessibility around campus,” Chan said.

According to Tenan, a future goal is to have a map that will not only have accessible doors, ramps and other items marked, but also accessible routes. For now, participants will be marking down where accessibility points are located, and making note of items that are broken or a hindrance, so that facilities knows where problem places are on campus.

“I think everyone has a misconception that Facilities goes around and checks all of these things,” Tenan said. “But we don’t actually have enough facilities to go around campus and do that all of the time.”

The walk is open to all and is set to take place at 5 p.m. on Oct. 15. The excursion will begin at room 4101 in Talley.

Those interested in participating are encouraged to fill out a Google Form so they can be notified of any event changes.

The form is not required for participation. The form and additional information can be found on the IT Accessibility webpage.

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PAGE 5 • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

COMMUNITY

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know that they can stay connected to me through the Ombuds because it may be in a month from now when they get a better sense what their family situation is and what they won’t be able to help them with financially.”

Not only are several campus departments working to help students and faculty that were impacted by the hurricane, but student organizations as well as NC State colleges are coming together to support communities that are still undergoing the aftermath of Florence.

The College of Veterinary Medicine has been collecting donations for a Disaster Relief Fund for animals that have been rescued. NC State Athletics will be collecting donations at the football game against Virginia on Saturday. NC State men’s basketball coach Kevin Keatts has pledged to make Primetime with the Pack on Oct. 19 a hurricane relief effort.

Poole College of Management has invited UNC-Wilmington students specifically to come to their Career Fair on Thursday. Brian Newton, director of the Career Development Center for the Poole College of Management, said that the idea of inviting UNC-W students came up when he realized how long students would be off campus.

“I was thinking about post-hurricane and recovery and thinking about how the UNC-W students have been affected by this storm,” Newton said. “No classes. They had to evacuate campus and if you’re graduating in December or May, the storm impacted your job search. It impacted your career decisions.”

While students from local universities, such as Shaw University and Meredith College, do attend NC State career events, a career event of this magnitude has never been broadcast to any other specific university.

“Our career events typically are for NC State and Poole students and alumni, but we’ve never invited students [from] another university for our event specifically,” Newton said.

Newton said that he hopes that this is

the beginning for UNC-W students to start coming back together as a community.

Student organizations have also been working on their own relief efforts to help the impacted areas in North Carolina. Sadie Gupton, a fourth-year studying construction engineering and vice president of new member education in Delta Zeta, said that after seeing the effects of Hurricane Florence, they decided to have their service project focus on helping victims. So far, the sorority has raised over $1,800 on Facebook for supplies for those impacted.

“We originally were thinking it would be something like Habitat for Humanity, something local,” Gupton said. “But then,

sitting there watching the hurricane on day one, seeing how it ravaged Wilmington and knowing how many both here at State and in our sorority call that home or vacation there, we decided that it would be a great cause.”

According to Gupton, NC State Delta Zeta has also been working with organizations at UNC-W to help get supplies quickly and safely to eastern North Carolina communities.

“We have also worked with an organization called ‘We Will Rebuild’,” Gupton said. “It’s a student driven organization of UNC-W students who, using their time off from school, have started a drive across the state to get all the [supplies] shipped to Wilmington.”

NC State students and alumni who are interested in learning more about how to help those affected by Hurricane Florence at the university can visit the NC State website. Students who are experiencing challenges due to the storm can also fill out a Pack Essentials application to get in contact with Student Ombuds or view a list of available resources on their website.

“As I’ve worked to connect with those students and understand those needs, many of them do have financial needs that, because of the hurricane, they don’t have access to food, or their parents were supporting them and now their parents can’t support them.”