CSUN Students Begin Relief Drive for Peers

Hoping to raise more than $25,000 to assist their peers left homeless, jobless or financially strapped by the Jan. 17 earthquake, Cal State Northridge public relations students are launching a grass-roots, fund-raising campaign.

At the center of the campaign are about 1,000 clear, plastic donation canisters, which will begin appearing in businesses around the Northridge campus this week.

“We are targeting people who want to help but are not in a position to write a big check,” said Cyndy Perry Rodgers, student coordinator for the project. “If they want to help, they can drop a couple of dollars in the canister.”

About 16 students designed the project, called “A University is a Terrible Thing to Quake,” as part of an advanced public relations class to practice community and media relations techniques.

Unlike the federal funds being used to rebuild the campus, the scholarship funds raised through the effort will directly assist students who are struggling to stay in school after losing belongings, apartments or jobs.

The public relations students decided to launch the campaign after reviewing results of a survey they distributed randomly to about 400 students in the aftermath of the quake. According to the survey, 60% of the students questioned suffered damage to their homes or belongings because of the quake and about 30% lost their jobs.

“There was nothing really addressing the students,” Perry Rodgers said. “Since we were students, we could empathize how hard it was.”

The canisters will remain in the restaurants and retail businesses through the end of May. Students also hope to enlist corporate sponsors in the project.