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Photo by Aubrey Kelley

The Virgin Islands were hit very hard in the tropical storms. Any donations aid in getting supplies and the rebuilding following massive amounts of devastation.

Senior Lauren Rogers took initiative to help raise money for the Virgin Islands after Hurricane Irma hit the northern US and Puerto Rico at the end of August. She used the organization All Hands Volunteers in order to wire money to the US Virgin Islands to go towards building the islands back up again.

Rogers used the helping hands of Spanish teacher Kristen Carter and senior Katie Schuenke in order to create this fundraiser and make it happen. The three made a “team” for the school on www.hands.org where people could add a donation of their choice. Two weeks prior to the actual raising of the money went to planning and making the project known school-wide. Posters were put up around school to notify teachers and students of how they can donate to the team online and how they could get involved. Oct. 6-Oct. 13 was the main week of raising money for the cause.

“They were hit first… people are complaining like, ‘oh Puerto Rico isn’t part of the US and nobody is showing anything’ and I’m like, ‘well this is just as bad!’ Like, these people, they’re not as good as Puerto Rico in the first place, they were hit just as hard, or harder, because they were hit first. And, they’re smaller, barely any government, any money, still part of the US, they’re a territory,” Rogers said.

According to CNN.com, many of the 100,000 residents of the Virgin Islands had no place to stay after the hurricanes hit. For multiple weeks after the disaster the islands were still left with no power and slim amounts of running water. Rogers wanted to get involved by sending money down to help pay for the expenses of the damage.

“We decided we were gonna raise money for the Virgin Islands and then we were searching everywhere around on the internet and found All Hands Volunteers and found that we could make a fundraiser and start our own team page,” Schuenke stated.

“I am really proud to see Stillwater students stepping up any time that they get the chance. It’s important for all of us to remember that we’re part of the world as citizens and not just living isolated.”

All Hands Volunteers is a non-profit organization founded in 2005 that helps bring volunteers and money into places in the US that have been struck by natural disaster. People are able to create “teams” on their website to generate money for a natural disaster of their choice, and the money is then directly wired to their headquarters.

“Lauren often is thinking about other people so I was not surprised at all by how much it upset her to see what was happening in the Caribbean. She was absolutely passionate about taking action and doing whatever she could to make sure people could receive support in such a difficult time,” Carter added.

To get involved with this project, Google search “All Hands Volunteers Stillwater Area High School team.” Click on the first link that shows up and there is a big blue “DONATE” button on the left hand side of the webpage.

“I am really proud to see Stillwater students stepping up any time that they get the chance. It’s important for all of us to remember that we’re part of the world as citizens and not just living isolated,” Carter said.