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New Rochelle, NY – Iona today announced its Katrina Relief Fund has raised more than $21,000. The College organized a committee of campus administrators that determined which organizations will receive the donations. The Christian Brothers in Mississippi will receive approximately fifty percent and Habitat for Humanity and AmeriCares will each receive approximately twenty-five percent.

Katrina Relief Day was held at Iona on Sept. 8 to remember the hurricane victims and to launch the College’s fundraising campaign for the recovery effort. “Today we are lighting one candle that joins the multi-millions of candles around the globe. It is our privilege and our responsibility to be part of this effort. The human spirit, with God and our help, will prevail,” said Brother James A. Liguori, president of Iona, at a prayer service attended by more than 200 members of the College community.

Audrey Emaus, a sophomore student minister, read a letter from Kathy Fenninger, Iona Class of 1974, of Houston, Texas who chronicled the experiences of her neighbors visiting New Orleans during the hurricane and the current circumstance in her town. “Lines of people volunteering to work at the Astro Dome were long after Sunday Mass and I have heard stories of people getting up in the night, unable to sleep and heading there to help. Sometimes, out of tragedy, comes a renewed faith in your fellow humans,” Fenninger wrote.

Kaitlyn Hicks, a junior student minister, urged those in attendance to “be there without actually being there. Be present from hours away and do what you can to help.” Students were called to action by Graham Johnson, a senior residence assistant, who explained the various ways to give to the Iona Katrina Relief Fund and told a story about a group of students on the third floor of Loftus Hall that took an unplanned collection for the Fund and raised nearly $400 in just two hours.

Donations of money and necessary toiletries were taken before and after the service, in addition to $5 raffle tickets that were sold for the opportunity to win a series of prizes generously given by the Pepsi Cola Bottling Company of NY. Iona’s North Ave. food service merchants – Avenue Deli, Mirage Diner, A No 1 Pizza, Beechmont Tavern, Cannone’s, Clint’s Pizza, Leo’s Deli and Sung Hing Restaurant - also contributed to the Katrina Relief Fund, in addition to the College’s campus vendors Barnes & Noble and Culinart.

Iona’s Katrina Relief Fund began with an initial contribution by the College equal to one half the tuition of displaced students who enroll at Iona that were set to the fall semester at colleges in the affected area.

Members of the Iona Community sign a banner the College will send to a devastated area for inspiration.

Audrey Emaus, pictured above, reads a letter from an alum in Houston, Texas.

The Iona College Gospel Choir, pictured above, sing words of inspiration during the service.

Adam Krumm, Student Government Association president, Bridget Barth, Iona in Mission coordinator, and Jordan Barnes, a junior student minister, collect donations for the Iona College Katrina Relief Fund.

Founded in 1940 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, Iona College is a private, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of American Catholic higher education. Iona offers undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science and business administration, as well as master of arts, master of science and master of business administration degrees and numerous post-graduate certificate programs.

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For questions or more information please contact:
Meghan Finn
Public Relations Office
Iona College, 715 North Avenue, New Rochelle, N.Y. 10801
tel: 914 633-2005 fax: 914 637-2711

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