While the most recent batch of hurricanes largely avoided New Orleans, the city is still in need of massive amounts of aid after hurricanes Rita and Katrina ravaged it in the recent years past.
This is the message that BUF2NO, an organization started by UB students, is looking to spread. The group was recently formed to raise awareness about Katrina and Rita hurricane victims through a trip to New Orleans.
BUF2NO is planning to visit the New Orleans residents over winter break in partnership with the People's Organizing Committee and the New Orleans Survivors Council (NOSC), according to Mark Russo, a junior technology and theater design major and co-founder of BUF2NO.
The first trip is set to begin Jan. 3 and last one week. Once there, the students plan on staying in the church that serves as headquarters for NOSC, located in the lower 9th Ward of the city.
From there, the volunteers will gut houses, construct new buildings, fundraise, do yard work and canvass door to door in poor neighborhoods to get the word out about the work being done and help being offered.
The group will hold an informational meeting for the trip on Sept. 22 at 12 p.m. in the atrium of the Center for the Arts.
Russo decided to establish the organization based upon his previous experience with another group, NY2NO ("New York to New Orleans").
"The first seed of the idea was planted the summer that I went down [to New Orleans] with them," said Russo.
NY2NO is a non-profit group based in New York City. Students make trips to New Orleans and organize fundraisers to aid residents who were affected by the hurricanes. The group quickly grew to become a large network of students and teenagers from across the city.
Carlos Acosta, a freshman engineering major, was also a participant with NY2NO on its inaugural trip during the summer of 2007 and traveled down to New Orleans twice more with the group in 2008.
Acosta met Russo on the last trip. After realizing they were both UB students, they decided to team up to form a Buffalo chapter of NY2NO.
"I figured we could spread the word and get more people involved," Acosta said.
Besides being youth-led, NY2NO is strongly based on consensus. Decisions are made through discussion, which provides a good deal of input for projects. The group does not go forward with a decision unless all members agree on an issue.
"Overall, the system works really well because when you get to a solution, you then move forward," said Russo. "But if there are problems that people have with what you're doing, you continue to talk until you reach something that everyone is comfortable with."
BUF2NO will be working to create a network of people who are interested in organizing and mobilizing from UB and the greater Buffalo region, continuing the consensus-based system devised by NY2NO.
Russo hopes that the group's efforts will bring light to the dark problems still facing New Orleans citizens. He believes that problems like economic separation and a lack of education amongst the lower classes, which further traumatized the victims of the storm, are present all across the nation.
"The only thing that separates the people of New Orleans with us here is geography," said Russo, "This is happening everywhere, but in New Orleans you can see it. It's important for people to understand that."
BUF2NO is currently trying to get more people involved on campus through ways other than the trip. The group needs students to help with fundraising and spreading awareness around UB.
The next major goal is to fully establish the organization around campus and in the Buffalo area.
"[We] will be dedicated to working in solidarity with those most affected by social, racial and economic inequalities in both Buffalo and New Orleans," Russo said.
Russo hopes that students at UB will become inspired by the BUF2NO's actions, just as he was by NY2NO.
"I hate to use hippie terms, but it's all about the love. These groups are all about getting everybody happy and having everyone work together," said Russo.
Acosta agrees that student compassion is the center of the cause.
"Students play a big part," Acosta said. "They're the heart and soul. They have all this energy, and the desire."
For more information on joining and the January trip, the group can be contacted by e-mail at buf2no@gmail.com, or through their Facebook group, BUF2NO.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
