After Tropical Cyclone Pam hit the island nation of Vanuatu, senior Sierra Gustafson took it upon herself to find a way to help fund raise within the Oklahoma Christian University community for the relief effort.
On March 6, a storm equivalent to a category five hurricane struck Vanuatu, a string of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, causing mass destruction, up to 16 deaths and injuring many more people.
“Cyclone Pam came through at a direct hit, some of the islands of Vanuatu were really slammed hard,” Kent Hartman said. “A lot of the problem is — the people have gardens and…fruit trees…that they eat from — a lot of those were destroyed. It’s not like us going down to Wal-Mart to get our food — they go to their garden to get their food.”
After learning of the threat of the cyclone, Gustafson decided to do something to help the island nation.
“Several students and I were talking…we heard the cyclone was coming and one of the students commented, ‘I wish there was something we could do,’” Gustafson said. “Whenever something bothers me, I just keep thinking about it, and it kind of bothered me that she felt there was nothing that we could do…so I just kind of kept thinking about it.”
Gustafson with a group of students and the help of Bible professors Bob Carpenter and Hartman planned a fundraiser spaghetti dinner for Saturday.
Senior Angela Dyer volunteered to help Gustafson with the dinner.
“I just wanted to do something,” Dyer said. “You see something like this happen and you think, ‘it’s on the other side of the world, what can I do?’ So I just wanted to do whatever I could do to help.”
Hartman is emceeing the event because of his connection with Vanuatu missionaries Eric and Shawnda Brandell. The Brandells were visiting missionaries for Oklahoma Christian during the last school year.
According to Hartman, the Brandells with other members of the church and natives of the island took refuge in the church building, which was built to withstand high winds.
“Several people said ‘our normally very green island is now very very brown,’” Hartman said. “So they are having trouble getting food and clean water… Some of the buildings have been destroyed totally. Their buildings are not as solidly made as ours are.”
Besides Hartman, the dinner will also feature students Jessica and Zeth McNeal.
“We have Jessica and Zeth McNeal, last summer they were actually over there helping [the Brandells], that was part of their summer campaign,” Gustafson said. “We’re going to have them talk about their experience over there, and we’ll have a table set up with things that they brought back from Vanuatu and then pictures.”
Gustafson said there will also be a raffle for various prizes.
The spaghetti dinner will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Memorial Road Church of Christ’s fellowship central. Gustafson is asking for $8 donations for the meal, but said all are welcome to donate what they can. Students can receive an ethos credit for attending.
“One of the things we hope is that our visiting missionaries will have a good impact on people,” Hartman said. “They obviously had a good impact on Sierra and other people here. I was just really happy when she said ‘let’s do something, I want to organize something’ — that’s really encouraging to me.”
For more information on the dinner, donations or volunteering help, contact sierra.gustafson@eagles.oc.edu.
0
0
Be First to Comment