News Release
April 1999
Moravian College students are lining up at the Haupert
Union Building (HUB), not for lunch or dinner, but to participate in
a fund-raising effort for the refugees in Kosovo. Students are pledging
to skip dinner on Tuesday, April 27th to honor the suffering people
of Kosovo. For every person that skips dinner in the HUB, $3.00 will
be donated towards a fund which will be sent to the American Red Cross
as part of the relief effort to help the Kosovo refugees. Moravian College’s
food service provider, The Wood Company, is participating in the effort.
Student organizer at Moravian, Jessica Edris said, "In
Kosovo, people have been turned out of their homes at gunpoint, separated
from other family members, carrying only the clothes on their backs.
By skipping one dinner, we can, in some small way, help raise awareness
about the need to help others. At the same time, we will be raising
money for the American Red Cross to help the refugees." The relief
project has been well received by students. "This is really turning
into something. I just got a call from Muhlenberg College and they have
in excess of $650 to add to our Kosovo fund that is already at $830
just from Moravian students. And the names and money are still coming
in," Edris said.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, as many as 550,000 people have been displaced in Kosovo --
a quarter of the province's population. In less than a week's time,
almost 100,000 refugees have poured into Albania, Macedonia, and Montenegro;
and even more are expected as the conflict continues to escalate. The
majority of these refugees, some experiencing extreme emotional trauma,
have few or no resources for shelter or food.
