After Thursday’s storms flooded at least five buildings at the Atlanta University Center, Clark Atlanta University has received an overflow of donations to support the students who have been relocated. Many campus organizations and students from Morehouse College and Spelman College have committed to support the students in need with donations of money, toiletries, food, clothing and more.
“One organization raised over $400 in like an hour, so we have too much stuff,” said Clark Atlanta senior Anthony Mitchell, who is helping to collect resources. “It was amazing to see how fast the AUC and HBCU world came together.”
Mitchell said with all the items donated, those who were relocated have enough to last a few months. Many of the items were allocated in under five hours.
“(Clark Atlanta) also stepped in to give them supplies; they took them over to Target to get whatever they need to carry them over,” he said.
Clark Atlanta senior Rahmani Cobb, who also has been helping collect donations, said Student Government Association President Lamin Secka and Miss CAU Shekinah Burden have joined the effort along with student organizations including Lifting Our Voices and the National Council of Negro Women.
“The students immediately jumped to help each other out before the university got the chance to,” Cobb said.
Student leaders from Fort Valley State University reached out to Clark Atlanta and Morehouse to send more than 500 donations.
Spelman senior Nadia Scott was involved in a car accident on I-20 West near campus as a result of the storm. She and her passenger suffered no major injuries, but she was transported to urgent care at Peachtree Immediate Care shortly afterward. A plethora of classmates offered to bring food and wait with her for police to arrive. One classmate stayed on the phone with her for 30 minutes as she waited in the rain.
“One of the best parts of the community is this notion that, ‘even if I can’t make it better in a tangible way, I can make you feel better emotionally and mentally,’” Scott said.
Spelman’s SGA planned a clothing a food drive in collaboration with the Morehouse Business Association and several other student organizations at Morehouse.
“It was one of those instances that showed at the end of the day, we’re all family,” Scott said.
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