Students help those affected by Hurricane Harvey
Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Houston and neighboring towns on Aug. 25, 2017, destroying thousands of homes and shocking the United States. It is estimated that up to 70 deaths are attributed to the hurricane.
Harvey was the most powerful storm to hit Texas in years and resulted in over 40 inches of rainfall. With all of this destruction and devastation, Americans all throughout the United States have wondered how they can help.
On Aug. 30, 2017, as the effects from Harvey seemed extremely clear, leaders in the Greek community at Saint Joseph’s University decided they wanted to help. The St. Joe’s Greek community saw successful fundraisers from organizations at other universities and felt called to act.
Presidents from all social chapters, the Greek council, Order of Omega and Stacy Suttong, M.Ed., associate director of student leadership and activities, strongly believed that their community and St. Joe’s could help the residents of Houston.
“We decided as a group, as a Greek community, to start a GoFundMe page,” President of Lambda Chi Alpha Thomas Murphy ’18, said.
The Greek community has a goal of raising $18,000 by Sept. 24. They chose this number because if each sister or brother of the chapters could raise around $12 each, they could successfully reach the goal.
The Greek community, made up of 800 St. Joe’s students, felt connected to the individuals affected by Hurricane Harvey. Many of the St. Joe’s sororities and fraternities have chapters in Texas.
Julia Steiner ’17, a sister of Phi Sigma Sigma is from Houston. She knows first-hand how deadly the hurricane was.
Steiner had to leave Houston several days before she originally planned to leave for the start of the semester because Hurricane Harvey was on its way. Although her house, which is newly built to be three feet above the ground, wasn’t affected, many of her friends felt the power of Harvey.
“My parents had friends whose house got destroyed in the hurricane,” said Steiner. “They had to move in with [my parents].”
Steiner acknowledged how grateful she is for the Greek community raising money for her home city, one that is thousands of miles from St. Joe’s.
Greek Life presidents Tom Murphy ’18, Daniella Attanasio ’18, Lauren Kasinski ’18, Colleen Boris ’18 and Alex
Ronky ’18 (Photo Courtesy of Lauren Kasinksi ’18).
The St. Joe’s Greek community isn’t the only organization trying to help though. Campus Ministry raised money at the Sunday masses on Aug. 3, 2017. The Campus Ministry fund will be sent to Catholic Charities, which is the charitable agency of the Catholic Church.
“What we want to encourage and promote among our students is when there are certain things that come up, we want people to be attentive to that and respond,” said Tom Sheibley, director of Campus Ministry.
Sheibley and many other Campus Ministry officials encourage students to learn as much as possible about who was affected during Hurricane Harvey and why.
“In addition, I would encourage [students] to let this be an occasion where we look at where the suffering is that people are enduring,” said Sheibley
