An alliance of Tuck students, faculty and alumni recently smashed their fundraising goal 20 times over by collecting over $100,000 for the victims of Hurricane Katrina last week.
The hurricane struck the Gulf Coast just as Tuck students were settling into their routines in Hanover. The idea to get Tuck students involved with a campaign to aid the victims was conceived during first-year student orientation.
"A number of people came home at the end of the day and saw the disaster unfold. I was one of those people," said Patrick Redmond Tu'07, leader of the student fundraising effort.
Redmond decided to kick off fundraising during a day of service at Tuck on Wednesday.
"We planted a seed at the Day of Service dinner, and from there the fundraising initiative just took off," Redmond said.
First-year students decided that they would each donate at least $10, then challenge their second-year classmates to do the same when they arrived on campus. The students set a combined goal $5,000.
"I certainly had no expectation it would get to the point it did," Redmond said. "One of the keys to our success was that we got 90 percent of our class to participate. We blew away our own goal."
The project quickly extended beyond Tuck's campus.
Jim Allwin Tu'76, Alan Leventhal Tu'76 and former Board of Overseers member Jack Byrne agreed to match the money raised by Tuck students. An anonymous donor also contributed matching funds.
One alumnus from the Tuck Class of 1945 who had read about the fundraising effort showed up on campus check in hand to contribute.
Overall, 75 percent of Tuck students contributed money that will be donated directly to the American Red Cross and AmeriCares, a disaster relief organization run by Curtis Welling Tu'77.
"The result of this challenge is a testament to the people here in the Tuck community," said Tuck Dean Paul Danos, a native of New Orleans. "Everyone at the school came together on very short notice and rose to the occasion in helping our Gulf Coast friends who are in need."
In addition to raising money, Tuck has opened its doors to displaced Tulane MBA students such as Courtney Risman-Jones.
Though Risman-Jones says she was surprised by Katrina's devastating impact, she is glad to be at Tuck.
"Most students ended up scattering to their home regions, and this brought me back to New England and to Tuck," she said. "Since arriving on campus, everyone has been wonderful. It's been great to meet and work with the second-year students."
