In the wake of Morton Hall fire on Oct. 1, groups on campus, as well as those in the surrounding Upper Valley, have come together to provide support for the 67 displaced students through initiatives such as fundraising and donations.
The residents were forced to relocate to new rooms. Students in six rooms likely lost everything, according to a College press release.
Theta Delta Chi, Gamma Delta Chi and Chi Heorot fraternities teamed up to organize a fundraiser for victims through GoFundMe, an online crowdsourcing website. In eight days, the campaign has raised $4,224 from 97 unique contributors.
Cameron Lee ’16, the organizer of the GoFundMe campaign and a member of TDX, said he has been in touch with College President Phil Hanlon about allocating the funds after the campaign concludes. Lee said the funds will be distributed according to “who lost the most and what those students need to get through the term, especially during midterms season.”
Heorot service chair Scott Hammond ’17 said that each of the three fraternities behind the campaign donated some of their own house funds and encouraged individual members to donate as well. Hammond added that TDX, GDX and Heorot fraternities are “pretty close” and thus decided to work together in this endeavor.
Lee said that GDX president Paul Gudmudsson ’17, Heorot president Devon Birch ’17 and TDX president Jesse Brown ’17 each pledged $1,000 of house money to the campaign. As of press time, only Heorot has already made the donation.
The vast majority of the GoFundMe contributions came within the first week of the campaign, which Lee plans to end on Friday. He will then begin to plan the fund’s apportionment.
Shortly after the fire was extinguished, residential life director Mike Wooten informed Morton residents that they had 10 minutes to retrieve their most important belongings from their rooms. Residential life staff said that students would eventually be able to fully retrieve their belongings, but in the meantime, other forms of community support have attempted to offset the losses.
Alpha Xi Delta sorority is holding a clothing drive. Rachel DeChiara ’17, the clothing drive organizer,said that when she learned about the fire, “all [she] could think of was what [she] could do to help.”
By the Monday after the fire, the house already had hundreds of items. Donations ranged from basic clothing to necessities such as shoes and backpacks. AXiD extended an open invitation to Morton residents to come by the house at any time and take what they needed from the drive.
Campus groups and local businesses also donated items to the drive. Indigo — a clothing store on Main Street — donated shopping bags so that Morton residents could carry what they took. The DEN Innovation Center also donated a large amount of clothing, DeChiara said.
E&R Laundry Services, which provides a regular service to about 400 Dartmouth students, volunteered to launder affected victims’ belongings for free. The laundry services are still ongoing but will likely finish by the end of this week, sales director Patrick Caveny said.
Caveny said that on top of managing E&R’s busiest time of the year, he and his colleagues worked extra hours this past weekend. Much of the victims’ laundry requires extra attention, as a large amount of it is wet or smells of smoke.
“It’s a big job but one that we’re tackling,” he said.
The College’s Information Technology Services department handed out laptops to victims who lost their computers.
The American Red Cross New Hampshire and Vermont Region offices continue to accept donations for those affected by the Morton fire.
Rachel DeChiara is the publisher of The Dartmouth.
