Touching Lives Through Service — Ways UA Helps

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Student Greek Relief

Institutional Efforts

  • Acts of Kindness Fund to benefit current UA employees and students was created and payroll deduction gifts made possible for employees. Intercollegiate Athletics donated $1 million to the AoK Fund.
  • Bryant Denny Stadium provided housing to first responders, utility crews, National Guardsmen and Red Cross volunteers. Joint Information Center was also housed in the stadium
  • Former and current coaches, players and administrators from the Athletics Department worked in many areas as part of the relief and recovery efforts.
  • Human Resources called all employees in affected ZIP codes; employees received a follow-up phone call offering help with benefits-related issues.
    • Extended time to submit leave reports and submit/approve time records so employees could be paid promptly.
  • The Emergency Operations Center in Bryant-Denny Stadium was made available to the Tuscaloosa County EMA when its building was destroyed.
  • UAPD worked side-by-side with the Tuscaloosa Police Department, taking primary responsibility in Cedar Crest and Forest Lake, and also working in Alberta City.
    • Besides manpower, UAPD provided marked vehicles.  
    • UAPD also assisted in locating missing persons, especially UA students and employees.
  • Public Safety activated UA Emergency Operation Center for 17 days to provide 24-hour logistical support to city, county, and state emergency management agencies and other entities.
    • Permitted Urban Search and Rescue communications tower to be erected behind Old Capstone Medical.
    • Provided power to the communication equipment.
  • The Student Recreation Center provided shelter to students and employees whose dwellings were damaged, and later sheltered first responders.
  • Parking and Transportation Services provided buses to transport first responders.  Buses were also provided to transport refugees between centers and to various services.  Vehicles were provided to the city to assist in the delivery of supplies to affected areas.   
  • Facilities provided logistical support to other departments. Worked extended shifts to prevent flooding and damage to buildings.  Provided support to the city’s mobile command post.  Installed generators on critical research facilities and dining facilities.  Provided support to the relief operations volunteers housed at Moundville. Facilities employees volunteered their professional services to various relief organizations and the local community.
  • Construction Administration provided logistical and professional services to the affected units of the Alabama Department of Mental Health.  Volunteered their professional services in the local community.
  • Athletics donated drinks and ice to UAPD and others working immediately after the storm.
  • The Campus Drive parking lot was used as a staging area for heavy equipment.
  • Coleman Coliseum served as the location for storm survivors to apply for food assistance and identification cards, including driver’s licenses.
  • Financial Affairs IT department created for the city of Tuscaloosa the website seekandfind.ua.edu, to streamline and consolidate efforts to report missing persons. The website was hosted on the Financial Affairs server.
  • The Division of Student Affairs instituted Operation: REACH OUT to call all students in affected ZIP codes to check on their welfare.
  • The UA Emergency Call Center answered 1,800 phone calls and distributed accurate information to concerned parents and students.
  • The Counseling Center offered a free support group for students affected by the storm.
  • The Community Service Center continues to match students, faculty and staff with the appropriate volunteer opportunities in the community, and will continue to do so as the new school year commences.
  • The Rec Center gave faculty and staff a free month to go workout to release stress.
  • Housing and Residential Life is providing a residence hall for short term housing to students and employees who lost their residence.
  • UA Recycling has partnered with the city to provide a recycling center for city.  The city’s recycling center was destroyed in the storm.  That activity is ongoing.
  • UA Logistics has provided storage for FEMA supplies    
  • UA provided tents for City of Tuscaloosa Incident Command and for first responders.
  • Counseling services offered by collaboratively by the College of Community Health Sciences (Department of Psychiatry), College of Arts and Sciences (Department of Psychology), School of Social Work, Capstone College of Nursing, Student Health, College of Education (Play Therapy), College of Human Environmental Sciences (Marriage and Family Therapy), and the Counseling Center are offering to the community and to the faculty / staff and students at UA.

UA Partners

BAMA Dining provided a total of 22,230 free meals to:

  • UA students, employees and community members at lakeside dining
  • first responders housed on the UA campus
  • offices around campus dealing with the aftermath of the storm

Blue Cross/Blue Shield waived the preadmission certification for hospital admissions.  They also waived the early refill rule on prescriptions.

United Health Care provided a link to UA Acts of Kindness on their webpage for donations.

First Transit provided free service during the candelight ceremony. 

Buffalo Rock provided free drinks for the relief effort.

SupeStore Vendors

  • Provided packing supplies for families needing to relocate due to the storm
  • Forgiving the non-return of textbooks under the rental program.
  • One firm donated $10,000 to Acts of Kindness
  • One vendor is replacing the graduation regalia lost during the storm.

Morgan Keegan made a donation to the Acts of Kindness Fund.

Mississippi State University provided several large generators at no cost to assist in keeping power to mission critical buildings. 

College and School Efforts

College of Arts and Sciences

  • Anthropology department formed a volunteer team to help faculty and students in department who had storm damage, then volunteered in larger community.
  • Art and Art History department formed a chainsaw team that removed 10-15 tons of debris throughout Tuscaloosa.
  • Faculty and students from the Modern Languages and Classics department volunteered in many areas of the city doing language translation; some were assigned through the Community Service Center.
  • Psychology department worked with numerous other departments and entities across campus and off-campus offering counseling services.
  • Modern Languages provided translators to shelters as needed.

College of Commerce and Business Administration

  • Kelsey Brasel, PhD student, organized the cleanup in Glendale Gardens for the PhD student group.
  • Students used their MIS skills to track missing people and to help churches and other groups organize through the use of IT.  
  • Work is under way on developing a database/website platform to facilitate communication between the different organizations and churches that are operating in and around the Tuscaloosa area. The system would allow representatives from the different organizations to upload needs to a central location and alert other organizations that have the resources or capabilities to meet that particular need.
  • The staff of the Alabama Center for Real Estate is coordinating efforts with Certified Commercial Investment Member Institute and the Institute of Real Estate Management, both commercial real estate organizations, and will volunteer at Samaritan’s Purse outreach headquartered to First Baptist Church.
  • Numerous faculty, staff and students from C&BA served through their churches or through the Red Cross doing the following: collecting and sorting donations, clearing debris, searching for survivors, inputting data, working the volunteer reception tables at St. Matthias, delivering meals, transporting the injured to the doctor, rescuing animals, working in animal shelters, and offering their homes to coworkers and students who lost housing in the storm.

College of Community Health Sciences

  • Provided medical professionals to work at DCH Regional Medical Center immediately after the tornado
  • Provided medical volunteers and distributed supplies throughout the city and at shelters in days following the storm

College of Communication and Information Sciences

  • Worked with The Tuscaloosa News to manage an effort to coordinate the
    Alabama Recovery Information site (http://alabamastorm.crowdmap.com/), a map-based project that matches needs to solutions across the state in
    the wake of the storm.
  • Departments within CIS assisted storm victims within those departments with clean up and salvaging of belongings.

School of Library and Information Studies

  • Employees and students helped clean debris and pack up belongings in the damaged homes of fellow faculty, staff and students
  • Collected books for school and private libraries that were destroyed
  • Multiple staff, faculty and students volunteered through their churches or in their neighborhoods to do the following: pull survivors from rubble, clear debris, distribute supplies, volunteer at Red Cross shelters

College of Continuing Studies

  • Using distance-learning technology to enable UA students choosing to take final exams to do so from wherever they may be located. CCS has the infrastructure in place to manage proctored exams via distance should it be required.
  • Environmental Division has distributed health and safety advice statewide and is taking calls about longer-term health risks, such as asbestos, lead-based paint and mold, which may be an issue due to the storms.
  • Senior support staff has compiled a list of specific needs of staff members and their families affected by the tornado.  These items are being collected and distributed by the senior support staff on an ongoing basis.  
  • Quality Improvement Team is putting together plans and assembling teams of CCS employees to begin working on longer term projects in the community.

College of Education

  • Counseling Services in both area schools and to faculty, staff and students who felt increasing stress as the days went on
  • Collecting donations for school supplies and other needs, an effort coordinated by the Alabama Consortium for Education Renewal and the Office of Clinical Experiences.
  • Books for Bama (on Facebook), a drive for school supplies for those students affected by the storms.  The long-term goal is to restock all impacted students' and families' personal libraries. School supplies, being the immediate need, were also collected.
  • Holt High School and Central High School Free Stores – College of Education students managed these stores made of donations to the Tuscaloosa community; any community member affected by the storm can get supplies.
  • Psychological First Aid for School: Natural Disaster Materials DVD, provided by the Program in School Counseling.
  • Resource letter to school counselors offered list of available resources to help children cope
  • Crisis materials available from School Psychology Program. Also, school psychology students will be helping in the field.
  • College of Education Faculty and Adjunct Professors assisted in classrooms and helping teach for/with teachers who had damage or loss of homes.
  • College of Education Students (100+) assisted with relocation in classrooms in Tuscaloosa City and County schools and helped in the classrooms during the transition in city and county schools

College of Engineering

  • Dr. Robert Pitt is offering expertise in ground water systems to the city of Tuscaloosa.
  • Drs. Andrew Graettinger and John van de Lindt participating in NSF rapid response study about tornado damage (Tuscaloosa and Joplin).
  • Team of engineering faculty helped relocate supplies from Holt High School.
  • Drs. Andrew Graettinger, John van de Lindt and Jim Richardson are building a portable safe shelter for FEMA.
  • Team of engineering and computer science faculty helped with chain saw crews.

Honors College

  • Computer-Based Honors Program students and University Fellows designed and implemented the Volunteer Registration Center, in conjunction with the city of Tuscaloosa.
  • University Fellows collected clothing, household items, diapers, etc., for UA employees impacted by the storm.

College of Human Environmental Sciences’ Child Development Resources

  • Surveyed child care providers in 9 of our 12 counties to assess damage, functionality and to determine where care is being provided for children
  • Worked with Save the Children, International organization to provide resources, play kits, training, etc, to disaster areas
  • Worked with Save the Children to match needs and resources for children throughout Alabama
  • Worked with Project Joy/Life is Good to bring a play specialist in to work with groups of children to restore normal play activities
  • Worked with Project Joy/Life is Good to bring a workshop to Tuscaloosa in August as part of their nation-wide tour
  • Provided training to staff re talking to parents and children about how to best cope with natural disasters
  • Provided hand-outs to child care community on talking with children about the tornado and helping staff know what to look for in children’s behavior
  • Worked with Housing Authority to provide resources such as toys and diapers as well as developing play opportunities and settings for children to provide respite and to re-establish normalcy for children
  • PAL fielded calls re tornado and Valerie Thorington has conducted an interview on Clear Channel radio about PAL support for families
  • Worked with CJ’s Bus to provide mobile unit for on-site play setting for children
  • Worked with Project K.I.D. to distribute activity bags to preschool children
  • Provided information kits and play activities for Hargrove Memorial United Methodist Church
  • Developed an outdoor Play Day in late May/early June, similar to their April Backyard Bash
  • An Athletic Training (HES) student collected a semitruck full of goods from her hometown of Boston (Zach took photos of AT students unloading it 5/6) and I believe she started a relief fund at a Boston-are bank (I don’t know how much or what they did with it, let me know if you want me to try to find out).
  • Many Athletic Training students and faculty volunteered immediately after the tornado. They actually inadvertently helped Mrs. Goosetree, the widow of longtime former UA head athletic trainer Coach Goosetree.

Law School

  • The Legal Assistance Project provides free legal services both on-site at local area aid centers and at the law clinic programs office at The University of Alabama School of Law. Advice provided includes public benefits and programs, insurance claims and processes, housing rights, and other civil matters related to the storm and the displacement that resulted from it.

Capstone College of Nursing

  • Provided medical professionals to work at DCH Regional Medical Center immediately after the tornado
  • Provided medical volunteers and distributed supplies throughout the city and at shelters in days following the storm
  • Offered mental health support to Holt schoolchildren.
  • Joined with the Psychology Department, Counseling Center and the School of Social Work to offer free emergency counseling services during May.

School of Social Work

  • Students, faculty and staff are working with local churches to provide stress relief counseling to their congregations and the surrounding communities.
  • The University of Alabama Emergency Mental Health Coalition, formed in response to the tornado, offered free counseling services at the following locations: Temporary Emergency Services, Tuscaloosa’s One Place,  Holt Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa City Schools, Tuscaloosa Community Soup Bowl, FOCUS on Senior Citizens,  University of Alabama Psychology Clinic, University of Alabama Betty Shirley Clinic

Student/Organizational Efforts

  • Greek Relief collected toiletries, clothes, bottled water and other supplies, and cooked thousands of hot meals for the displaced and for volunteers. Members of Greek Relief also cleared debris and delivered supplies to shelters.
  • Coaches and athletes from numerous sports went into damaged neighborhoods distributing water and supplies.
  • Students at Tutwiler collected bottled water and collected and sorted clothing donations.
  • The Million Dollar Band held a clothing drive.
  • Many individual students went into their neighborhoods the night of the storm checking on residents and assisting those who were hurt or homeless.
  • ZBT and HES are coordinating Dressing Up! Tuscaloosa, an initiative to donate Alfred Dunner clothing to women in the impacted areas.

Individual Efforts

Due to the fact that many individual members of the UA family do not wish to be named or have attention drawn to their efforts, it is impossible to know how many UA employees and students have volunteered, or how many hours and resources have been given to our community.

We do know the efforts made include the following: translation; counseling; collecting and distributing resources; putting tarps on houses; opening homes to affected students, faculty and staff; cooking and delivering meals; cleaning debris; salvaging belongings; using professional expertise to streamline logistics and set up databases; communicating with people who were frightened or confused; checking on those in the storm’s path; pulling people from the rubble; helping fill out FEMA paperwork; giving blood; and meeting needs in a myriad of other ways.