BY MOLLY FELDMAN

Staff Writer

Two weeks after
Super Storm Sandy ravaged the East Coast, relief efforts are still hard at work
trying to help those affected by the storm. Crisfield and Ocean City were two of the hardest hit cities on the Eastern Shore. Salisbury University and its surrounding community have come together to help the victims who suffered through Sandy.

Salisbury University’s Volunteer Center has been helping to promote the Red Cross’s efforts to raise money for those in need. The Red Cross has a cellphone text option to donate money. By texting the number the organization has provided, $10 will be given to relief efforts.

The Volunteer Center also organized a trip for students on
Nov. 3 in Crisfield to help clean up the town. Lubi Manova, graduate assistant for the Volunteer Center, said that the proximity to the effected towns was a huge reason the center wanted to help.

“I want to thank the students for caring and really stepping up,” Manova said. “Their own families were affected and they still helped.” The Volunteer Center’s next step is to contact other individual efforts to see what they need and help them out.

TRIO Achieve is
another University organization that has leant their time to help the storm
victims. The group, which helps students achieve their academic potential, said
the students came to them first directly after the storm hit.

“Personally I’ve
been where they are,” Vivian Shannon-Ramsey said.  “We want to be supportive of the students who
initiated it.”

TRIO has put
together a drive to collect non-perishable foods, clothing and toiletries for
the victims. Shannon-Ramsey, who is acting project director at TRIO, said she
wants students to step up and contribute. She believes it is important to teach
by example, so Shannon-Ramsey along with other TRIO employees have all donated
items to the drive.

The Salisbury
chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is also putting together a
canned food drive for the victims.

“We want to do
anything we can to benefit them and help them,” Vice President Emily Reda said.

The organization
will be collecting food for the next couple of weeks in Fulton Hall 279.

“It’s about
pulling the community together to help those in need,” Manova said.