The Grenada Disaster Relief Effort, instituted and supported by the Humboldt State Uuniversity community, so far has raised $17,000 for the people of Grenada to help them reconstruct their lives in the wake of Hurricane Ivan. Those interested still can donate before the fund closes on May 10. After intensive fund-raising efforts last fall, including a benefit concert, garage sales, donations of funds and supplies and the help of more than 150 volunteers, anthropology professor Mary Glenn and HSU anthropology alumna Alisha Clompus flew to Grenada with $16,000. Once there, they checked on old friends, cooked for people, and gave money and supplies to families, schools, churches, orphanages and individuals. A student’s donation of $20 in the hands of a Grenadian family of four enables them to purchase enough fruit, vegetables and rice for a month. With no food production on the island, produce like coconuts, okra, cabbage, tomatoes and onions must be shipped in from other islands like St. Vincent. Sociology graduate student Mark Blackhurst traveled to Grenada two years ago. After hearing of the relief effort he bought a barbeque and peddled hotdogs outside Safeway to raise funds. Safeway donated the food, Blackhurst cooked it and within a few hours he raised $164 dollars for the fund. “I would like to think some of the money went to people I met there,” he said. Since 2000 Glenn has headed an overseas summer program in Grenada. For six weeks each summer about 20 students studied culture and archaeology on the island. Glenn lived on the island for several years in the early 1990s studying the local population of mona monkeys. Glenn believes most of the 6,000 monkeys living on the island before the hurricane have died, but the monkey population will recover with the rejuvenation of the forest. For the moment, she is more worried about the humans. For example, the Queen Elizabeth Home for Children cared for 15 children on the island, ranging from infants to teenagers, before the hurricane struck. In the wake of the disaster, the orphanage was entrusted with seven new toddlers from families unable to cope and care for them. A donation of $3,000 from the HSU relief effort fund made it possible to purchase cribs, clothes and diapers for these toddlers. Older children like 7-year-old Derek received new books and toys, since the hurricane destroyed the their old playthings. Mary Nicholas, a mother of four, worked as a cook at a restaurant that was destroyed. The restaurant is too expensive to rebuild, and she is likely permanently out of work. Her husband worked as a taxi driver and is out off work as well since the tourism industry has been wiped out. The experience of the Nicholas family, who lost their jobs and their home, is not atypical. The Nicholas’ simple house sat on four stilts, like most buildings in Grenada. The hurricane blew their uphill neighbor’s house off its platform, causing it to slide down the slope and shave off the walls and roof of the Nicholas’ house. When Glenn and Clompus met up with the Nicholas family in January, mother, father and four kids—aged 1 1/2 to 16—were living under their former house, using the floor as a roof and the dirt below as a floor. With the money from the relief effort, the Nicholas bought sand to make concrete. “I just heard from her that she now has walls but no roof,” Glenn said. “But she was very upbeat, and they’re still working on it.” Additional funds could help the Nicholas put a roof on their new house. People can call 826-4943 to donate or send funds to the HSU Gift Processing Center at 1 Harpst St., Arcata, CA 95521. Reprinted from www2.humboldt.edu