Una Offers Tornado Relief Through 'caring For The Pride' Campaign

May. 06, 2011

Michelle Eubanks, UNA, at media@una.edu, 256.765.4392 or 256.606.2033

FLORENCE, Ala. - The University of North Alabama has launched a campaign, Caring for the Pride, to offer disaster relief in a variety of forms for current and prospective students as well as faculty and staff who are victims of the recent tornadoes that ripped through parts of Alabama.

"UNA was fortunate last week to have been spared by the storms that have devastated so many lives," said Dr. William G. Cale Jr., UNA president. "However, not everyone among our university family was so lucky. Several students, faculty and staff - and even more among those who were planning to attend UNA this fall - suffered great devastation. UNA, through the Caring for the Pride campaign, is prepared to assist these individuals with physical and financial resources to ensure that their education and their experience at UNA is not ended by these violent storms." Caring for the Pride will provide assistance through a newly established fund that will provide scholarships as well as provisions for needs such as books, technology, room and board, and other essentials students have lost. The university is also offering special services through offices such as admissions, housing, financial aid, athletics and the Student Wellness Center to ensure each incoming student who was affected by the tornadoes is able to make a smooth transition into UNA. "Several groups from UNA have gone into these devastated communities to assist in clean-up efforts, and that's vital to meeting the immediate needs of the tornado victims, but Caring for the Pride is taking a more long-term look at the situation," Cale said. "Even after the clean-up is over, serious problems will remain. The losses suffered will take a lot of time to overcome. We are doing whatever we can to ensure that the opportunity for a college education is not among their losses." A complete list of Caring for the Pride relief efforts is detailed at www.una.edu/disaster-relief. The Web page also includes links and contact information for current or prospective students affected by the recent storms. Anyone who is aware of a current or prospective student of UNA affected by the storms is also encouraged to contact the university so that the university is able to reach out to them. "Most of us at UNA and in the Shoals community were unaffected by these tornadoes, and I know we're all looking for ways to offer assistance. The Caring for the Pride campaign is an excellent way to help. This relief effort becomes more effective and more powerful with every single gift," said Dr. Alan Medders, UNA vice president for advancement. Goodman Sports in Florence has donated to the campaign Caring for the Pride T-shirts at cost. Each shirt is available for a minimum donation of $25. T-shirt and donation links are available at www.una.edu/disaster-relief.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: una.edu and una.edu/unaworks/.