Packing supplies to be delivered to the Bowery Mission and the Humane Society are (from left) Adriane Scola, research technician at Weill Cornell; Rachel Darken, 5th-year MD-PhD student; and Marianna Ruzinova, 4th-year MD-PhD student.
Following the World Trade Center disaster on Sept. 11, many students at Weill Cornell, The Rockefeller University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center felt a need to do something to help. They decided on a project to collect donated supplies for the search and rescue effort and for people and pets who were displaced by the tragedy.
The students placed collection boxes in public areas of their campuses and sent out broadcast e-mails to staff and faculty to publicize the collection effort. Over three days, a large amount of supplies was collected, including food, bottled water, clothes, toiletries, medical supplies and pet food.
The students collected, sorted and packed the supplies and loaded them in vans to be taken to the Bowery Mission and the Humane Society of New York. The Bowery Mission is working with a number of New York City organizations to distribute supplies as needed, and the Humane Society is helping pets that were injured or displaced.
Both organizations are still collecting donations. For more information, log on to the Bowery Mission's Web site at www.bowery.org or the Humane Society's Web site at www.humanesocietyny.org.