Students concerned with safety now can have an outlet for their interests with the LSU Red Cross Club.
The club, which meets every other Thursday, began meeting in fall 2003 with the help of Candace Carlisle, the Manager of Volunteers and Youth Services for the Baton Rouge Red Cross.
Ben Trappe, a biochemistry senior and president of the club, said after helping raise funds for the Measles Initiative, he realized it was easier to raise money when representing an organization.
“To the campus community, the club gives students a chance to get involved in the Red Cross,” Trappe said. “For the community, the Red Cross does a countless number of good things.”
With the help of Carlisle and Andrew Tabor, the faculty adviser, Trappe and vice president Andrew Baier, a biological sciences junior, are continuing work on the Measles Initiative by planning an on-campus race to raise money for the cause. The race will take place May 1.
According to Trappe, the goal of the Measles Initiative is to provide every child in Africa with the measles vaccination. Trappe said currently one of every two children in Africa will contract measles and one of every 10 will die. The goal of the National Red Cross is to raise $500 million for the cause.
As part of another service project, the club of about 20 members is divided into teams that are on-call one weekend every two months. This is part of the NRC’s Disaster Action Team. Baier said if there is a natural disaster, the teams and their assigned captain will go to one of the 14 covered parishes to provide relief.
The club also is working on AIDS Awareness. Trappe said they want peer trainers with knowledge of HIV to give seminars around the Baton Rouge area. Trappe said Baton Rouge has the fifth-highest per capita HIV rate in the country.
Tabor will help the club organize Project Home Safe, which helps the elderly make sure their homes are safe. If an individual does not own a fire alarm, the local Red Cross will give them one, using federal grant money.
“We will be doing emergency response training and house inspections for emergency equipment such as smoke alarms and fire extinguishers,” Tabor said.
The LSU club hopes to pair with the new club at Baton Rouge Magnet High School.