Sept. 13 2:45 p.m.

The Vanderbilt Red Cross Club will be hosting the "Vandy 'Stache Bash." Gentlemen across campus will be competing to see who can grow the sweetest mustache and who can raise the most money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The "Clean Shaven Kick Off Party" will be held Wednesday Sept. 14 from 11:30 to 1:00 on the Wall outside Rand, and the event will last four weeks.

For more information on how to get involved in "Mustache Relief," visit www.vanderbilt.edu/mustacherelief.

Sept. 6 10 a.m.

-- The Office of Active Citizenship and Service within the Division of Student Life has been in touch with relief agencies to determine the needs of the survivors--immediate, short-term, and long-term. The results of the OACS communications were used in building an online form where members of the Vanderbilt community may indicate their areas of interest in participating in the on-going relief and reconstruction efforts. Some of these efforts need participants immediately. Others are being planned for the weeks and months ahead. If you would like to express your interest in helping, please complete the online form at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/studentlife/katrina/.

-- The Middle Tennessee Medical Reserve Corps (MTMRC) has opened a warehouse within the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, located on James Robertson Parkway in downtown Nashville, to receive personal items as well as medical supplies to assist hurricane disaster relief efforts. Warehouse hours will be 7 a.m.-7 p.m. each day.

By opening a collection center within Municipal Auditorium the MTMRC now has an established location to receive donated medical and personal items necessary for deployment into the Gulf region to establish mobile health care services to effectively treat injury and illness among hurricane victims.

The MTMRC is seeking donations of nonperishable food items, durable and non-durable medical supplies, as well as personal equipment suitable for urban search and rescue activities.

In addition to donated items, the Middle Tennessee Medical Reserve Corps is seeking volunteers to travel to the Gulf region to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina. The MTMRC needs a large group of volunteer health care professionals and other skilled professionals with diverse backgrounds such as military logistics, military command and control, certified electricians, food services and other qualified individuals who can help support a mobile health care infrastructure.

Citizens of Middle Tennessee, wholesale and retail medical equipment supply vendors, pharmaceutical vendors, and area retail merchants who wish to make donations to the MTMRC, please bring your items to the MTMRC's warehouse from 7 a.m.- 7 p.m. each day located at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, or please call (615) 322-4400 for further information about items needed for donation.

Qualified individuals who wish to volunteer for the MTMRC need to apply online at www.mtmrc.org. Only those individuals who apply online will receive consideration.

-- Several shelters have been opened in the Nashville and surrounding areas. Medical Reserve Corps and Vanderbilt nurses are presently staffing the Crievewood Baptist Church Shelter in Nashville around the clock. Volunteers interested in working at this particular shelter should call 322-1553. This shelter is expected to be open through the month of October.

-- The Red Cross in Nashville is hoping to recruit 1,000 volunteers who can commit 15 to 20 hours a week for about a month to assist with Hurricane Katrina victims who are now in Tennessee, said Amy Hall, a spokeswoman the Nashville Red Cross chapter.

Volunteers may be needed to assist at phone banks, to sort food donations, do counseling, assist in finding housing, read to children in shelters, or provide so-called comfort services to evacuees struggling with what the future holds.

Volunteers, who will be trained by the Red Cross, can enlist online at www.nashvilleredcross.org.

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Sept. 2, 9:15 a.m.

-- Vanderbilt University is partnering with Second Harvest Food Bank to help provide relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The food bank is in need of food and personal care items for the effort, specifically canned fruit, diapers, baby formula, baby wipes, peanut butter, crackers, and individual-sized food products such as individually wrapped granola bars, small boxes of cereal and pop-top cans (pork and beans, soup, etc.).

Items may be dropped off at:

• Sarratt Student Center's West Promenade Lobby (2nd Floor) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily Friday, Sept. 2, through Friday, Sept. 9. (For questions about this location, call 2-6400)
• Peabody Administration Building, first floor main entrance, from 7:15 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily Friday, Sept. 2, through Friday, Sept. 9. (For questions about this location, call 3-1827 or 3-2706.)
• MCN Vanderbilt Valet office from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sept. 2, through Friday, Sept. 9
• VCH Vanderbilt Valet office from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sept. 2, through Friday, Sept. 9
• Employee Celebration Kick-Off Event on Library Lawn from 7:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6th.

Volunteers will be needed to help transport donations to Second Harvest and to sort items at the food bank in preparation for distribution.

Financial donations can be mailed to the agency at 331 Great Circle Road Nashville, TN 37228. Please write "disaster relief funds" in the memo section of your check. You may also donate online at www.secondharvestnashville.org.

-- American Red Cross Nashville Chapter. Mail donations to American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, 2201 Charlotte Avenue Nashville, TN 37203 and write "disaster relief funds" in the memo section of your check. You can donate online at www.redcross.org. They are also building a database of people who want to train as emergency response volunteers or who have specific skills or tools to donate. Their immediate volunteers needs are for blood donations and people to assist in the Red Cross office and answer phones. Call 250-4300 extension 8 to sign up. They are not accepting food or clothing donations at this time.

-- Tennessee Emergency Management Association (TEMA) is building a database of volunteers who wish to be trained with storm credentials in order to assist the storm victims. Call 741-0343 or 741-1496 to volunteer or visit their website at www.tnema.org.

-- Salvation Army is accepting financial donations. Please send your donation to the attention of Terri at Salvation Army, 631 Dickerson Road, Nashville, TN 37207 and write "disaster relief funds" in the memo section of your check.

-- The Community Foundation, NewsChannel 5, and The Tennessean have set-up a link for online donations for relief efforts. Company matching donations are available through this site. www.cfmt.org

-- The National Trust for Historic Preservation is looking for volunteers for its assessment teams, to help ascertain what can be saved in the affected areas and what will have to go once more immediate neeeds are met. Contact www.nationaltrust.org.

-- United Way 211/Crisis Center is forming a database of volunteers for future engagement. Contact www.tn211.org or call 269-4357. The Crisis Center has an immediate need for volunteers willing to be trained to answer phone calls. Contact www.crisiscntr.org or call 298-3359.

-- Displaced students can contact Janet Routon, Director of Homeless Education with the TN Department of Education for K-12 at (615) 532-6314 or www.tennessee.gov/education.

-- Hands On Network, a national organization, is supporting the Red Cross in Montgomery, Alabama, where an operation center is being established. Volunteers must meet certain eligibility requirements and will be trained on site in Montgomery. If a group of 25-100 from your community, company or organizations wants to serve, email takeaction@handsonnetwork.org or call (404) 979-2933.

-- The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation has been established to help provide immediate assistance to Louisana citizens in need through a network of Louisiana charities, non-profit and governmental agencies. The Foundation is also designed to support long-term family restoration and recovery by focusing on education, housing, health care, legal assistance and jobs for Louisiana families whose lives have been altered by Hurricane Katrina. For additional information visit www.louisianahelp.org.

Sept. 1, 11 a.m.

The Vanderbilt community is eager to begin assisting immediately those affected by Hurricane Katrina. For the next several weeks, the situation in all affected states rests most appropriately with well-trained first responders.

A call for a focused, general volunteer response is coming soon, though. As we await that call, Vanderbilt continues to assess the needs of area agencies and to determine how best Vanderbilt faculty, staff, and students can help. On-campus food and clothing drives are already being planned.

Vanderbilt is also working closely with Hands On Nashville. HON's relationship with Middle Tennessee's first responders -- the Red Cross, Second Harvest, TEMA and the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management -- allow it to determine appropriate local volunteer roles that we -- and all of Nashville -- can fill in the coming days.

As Vanderbilt becomes aware of volunteer needs and roles, this site will reflect the most current information.

In the meantime, monetary contributions to professional relief organizations are currently the best way to help. According to www.FEMA.gov, "Monetary contributions allow the professional relief organizations to purchase exactly what is most urgently needed by disaster victims and to pay for the transportation necessary to distribute the supplies."

Also consider a donation of blood during an on-campus blood drive or with Nashville's American Red Cross.

The Office of Active Citizenship and Service lists a number of ways individuals can help disaster relief organizations in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

As part of a coordinated response through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Vanderbilt University Medical Center is working with the Nashville Office of Emergency Management and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency to determine if it will receive any patients from the affected areas. At this point VUMC has not received such a request, though should such a request be made, university volunteers may be sought to help with additional staffing needs.

More immediately, VUMC is working through the Middle Tennessee Medical Reserve Corp (MTMRC), which is housed at Vanderbilt as part of the National Center for Emergency Preparedness, to send medical teams into the Gulf Coast area. These teams will be deployed for two week periods and trained medical personal are being sought to volunteer for these teams. Participation requires approval from a Vanderbilt supervisor as well as an executive oversight team which will be monitoring the situation and assessing the university's overall labor force requirements.

Members of the Vanderbilt community interested in volunteering at our own Medical Center or as part of a MTMRC medical team should contact Lisa Ponton in human resources (by phone at 6-6060 or email). Please provide her with the following information: name, a contact number, supervisor's name, credentials and the volunteer option you are interested in (internal VUMC or external MTMRC). A list will be compiled and individuals will be contacted as needed.