Students continue storm relief efforts

A truckload of donated clothing that left Ann Arbor this past Tuesday will soon reach Honduran survivors of Hurricane Mitch, which devastated much of Central America earlier this month.

More than 3,000 cubic feet of clothing were collected in the weeks before Thanksgiving. The donated items filled one trailer and one-sixth of a second one, said Public Health graduate student Cyrus Boquin, a member of La Salud, a Latino/a public health organization.

Cintas, a Westland-based clothing company, donated boxes of uniforms as part of the clothing convoy.

The trailers, donated by Conway Central Express, will reach Gulfport, Miss., tomorrow, Boquin said.

From Mississippi, the clothes will arrive in Puerto Castilla, Honduras via a Dole fruit company ship by Dec. 13, Boquin said.

Dole, along with Chiquita banana company, was a major employer in the area before the hurricane damaged the large Honduran fruit industry.

The clothing items will be distributed with the help of the father-in-law of SNRE graduate student Shari Ortez, who works for Dole in Honduras.

The clothing drive was the first major effort put together by University students to aid those affected by Hurricane Mitch.

"Now we want to approach corporations ... for mass donations of medicine," Boquin said. "We are not about to call off our efforts anytime soon."

University students said they will continue to help in the grassroots relief effort.

The Latino fraternity Sigma Lambda Beta will start collecting clothing in residence halls this week, Boquin said.

Public Health graduate student Christina Nyhus, a former Peace Corps volunteer, left for Nicaragua this past Tuesday to deliver financial donations to rebuilding organizations, Boquin said.

Those who want to donate clothing and medicine can also leave items in boxes located at the School of Public Health at the corner of Observatory Street and Washington Heights and at the Institute for Social Research at 426 Thompson St.

Boquin and others currently are trying to coordinate their efforts with other organizations for the relief effort, including the Greek system and other undergraduate clubs.

"We only pray the impressive response we have seen so far from the U of M and Ann Arbor community will continue," Boquin said.

The Ann Arbor-Juigalpa Sister City Committee, the group that coordinates with the Nicaraguan sister city, currently is holding a fund-raiser for the relief effort. Financial donations can be sent to the Sister City Committee at P.O. Box 8198, Ann Arbor, MI 48107.

The First Baptist Church of Ann Arbor, located at 512 E. Huron St., will be holding a community bazaar for hurricane relief on Dec. 6 from 3 -7 p.m.

Central America was hit hard by Hurricane Mitch, with more than 10,000 killed mainly in Honduras and Nicaragua. With transportation and communications links severed throughout the region, news slowly continues to come in on the overall impact of the storm.

"Central America will be in a critical period of recovery and reconstruction for many years," Boquin said.

Since much of the region's farmland was damaged during the storm, Central America's agriculturally based economy is expected to take many years to recover.

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