OU students to help NYC heal

by Lindsey McKay
For The Post

While some Ohio University students are preparing for a night on the town, a group of 11 students will climb tonight into a van heading to New York to assist with the volunteer effort after last week's attacks.

"When I heard what happened on Tuesday, I thought, 'I have to go to New York,'" OU senior Bryan Randolph said.

Randolph turned that thought into reality last Friday when he made the nine-hour trek to Manhattan by car. The sight of people singing, crying and praying in New York's Union Square affected him profoundly, he said.

"After being there and seeing what's happening, I would bleed my veins dry to help them," he said.

This weekend, he will return to New York with 10 fellow students.

The group will leave tonight and be back in time for class Monday, Randolph said. They will work from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. sorting donations for the American Red Cross this weekend, he said.

The trip is part of an effort by Randolph to start an organization called Ohio Students United for New York Relief, which will be open to students from universities across the state.

OU's Center for Community Service is co-sponsoring this weekend's trip by paying the 30-cent-per-mile fee for the 15-person OU van the group is renting. Group members will cover gas and lodging, which costs about $400 total for two motel rooms.

Additional trips to New York will take place every second or third week, Randolph said.

OU senior Christy Camden plans to take a future trip to New York with OSUNY Relief.

"Weeks and months from now, when things have died down, they're still going to need the help," she said.

OU senior Kate Huter will miss work at Baker University Center on Sunday to take this weekend's trip.

"It's something I'll be able to remember for the rest of my life," she said. "This monster tragedy happened, and I can say that I was there, helping out."

To draw support for the fledgling organization, OSUNY Relief is holding a candlelight vigil at 8 p.m. today at the west portico of the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium.

Although the students traveling to New York will not be at the vigil, other group members will give away tea lights in exchange for donations from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Howard Hall site across from Baker Center. Students can find candles in the Baker lobby if it rains.

The vigil will be a memorial to those who died, those who are missing and the soldiers being sent overseas, Randolph said.