October 26, 1998 Volume 21, No. 5

College Hosts Disaster Relief Concert

A benefit concert to raise funds for disaster relief in the wake of Hurricane Georges will be held at Ithaca College on Friday, October 30, at 8:15 p.m. in Ford Hall Auditorium.

"We are asking people to give what they can afford, whether it be one dollar or twenty dollars," says the Reverend Eileen Winter, Protestant chaplain at the College and the concert’s organizer. "We need generous donations to help the 187,000 families that were affected by the storm — which was more destructive than either Hurricane Andrew or Hurricane Hugo — leaving many victims with nothing more than the clothes on their backs."

Taking part in the benefit concert will be the Amani Gospel Choir, Ithaca College Trombone Troupe, Protestant Community Singers, Ithacapella and Sons of Pitches men’s choruses, and other individual and group performers.

The benefit is being held in conjunction with the Tompkins County chapter of the American Red Cross. Expenditures in response to Hurricane Georges will cost the Red Cross $104 million, the most expensive disaster relief effort in the organization’s 117-year history. The Red Cross has been providing families with food, shelter, comfort, counseling, and the means for people to get back on their feet in the areas devastated by the storm, which swept through Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and the Florida Keys before moving on to the Gulf Coast. More than 300 people died as Georges wove its destructive path during the last week in September.

In addition to the benefit concert, Winter says groups of students across campus are raising money and conducting clothing and food drives for hurricane disaster relief. For more information, call (607) 274-3103.