Although no Duke athletic teams were forced to cancel or postpone games in the wake of Hurricane Katrina's devastation last month, several Blue Devils felt obligated to provide relief to those who were affected.
Members of every varsity team participated in fund raising efforts at each of Duke's home games between Sept. 10 and Oct. 1 and collected close to $20,000 to donate to the American Red Cross' relief effort. But some teams decided to do more, engaging in their own projects to help victims of the tragedy.
After learning about a field hospital that had been erected in Waveland, Miss., members of Duke's men's and women's cross country teams wanted to make some tangible impact to assist the patients that were being treated there on a daily basis.
The teams gathered at an off-campus house Sept. 24 and began sorting over $1,000 worth of first-aid supplies into kits that could be sent to the hospital, which was being staffed by North Carolina medical personnel, including several doctors and nurses from Duke. In two hours, the teams made nearly 500 kits containing items such as band-aids, gauze, antibiotics, latex gloves and other items used to treat minor injuries.
The packages were transported to Mississippi Sept. 29 by a new wave of medical volunteers who were heading to the site.
"We felt like, as a team, we wanted to make a contribution," said Chas Salmen, a cross country co-captain who helped to organize the project. "We go into the training room all the time to be treated for minor injuries. As a team we saw a parallel that we could help some people affected by the hurricane with their minor injuries.
"We felt like it was a way to make a concrete difference because we realized that a lot of these injuries would probably go untreated. To give a needy child a band-aid to cover a wound or some antibiotic cream to treat a minor cut felt like a way to make a small impact in such a big tragedy."
Members of the teams contributed money to buy the first-aid supplies from the Henry-Schein Company, which provides similar items to Duke's athletic teams. In addition, Head Athletic Trainer Dave Engelhardt and other members of the training department donated a significant number of supplies to the effort.
"We felt like it was a time when people were in need, and we needed to give something back," junior Alex Romero said. "We were all fortunate enough not to be affected, but we wanted to help the people that were."
Offering a different type of assistance, the field hockey team collected money from family and friends and supplemented those donations by contributing their Duke meal allowance during their trip to Delaware, Sept. 3-4. In total, the team donated $1,000 to the Red Cross.
"I brought the idea to the team and they jumped right on board," field hockey head coach Beth Bozman said of paying for their own meals during the weekend trip. "After seeing the devastation, everyone collectively wanted to help. People's lives will be changed forever by this tragedy, and if every team here followed our example and gave $1,000, it would be very significant."
At the Duke adidas classic, hosted by the women's soccer team Sept. 16-18, T-shirts were given away to anyone that donated at least $10 to assist victims of the hurricane. Adidas donated the 200 free T-shirts and the event raised $1,570 for the Red Cross.
"As a team, everybody felt good about trying to get involved," women's soccer head coach Robbie Church said. "It was a huge success, and we were glad to do our part to help the victims of this tragedy."
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