North Carolina residents are facing unprecedented destruction and loss in the wake of Hurricane Helene. In response, students in Boston University’s Crowdfunding and Distribution class launched a crowdfunding campaign on Nov. 14 to support those impacted.
The class’ campaign, Feeding NC, is collaborating with the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, with the goal of raising $5,000 and providing 25,000 meals to affected residents.
The initial purpose of COM FT 527 was to create individual mock-crowdfunding campaigns for a fictional film. However, the impact of Hurricane Helene in September “completely changed the trajectory and our syllabus for the class,” senior Eloise Lushina said.
“It’s great because it’s actually something that’s going on. It’s a real-world issue,” said Lushina, who is in the class. “I’m just really happy that the project changed, and it’s actually a real crowdfunding campaign helping people with food disparities in North Carolina.”
In the multiple years she has taught the course, Amy Geller, assistant professor of production in the Film and Television Department, said she has never led her class through a live fundraiser.
“You can theorize about it, you could talk about it, you can plan for it,” Geller said. “But actually doing it and having to respond to what’s happening in the moment and actually do the outreach that’s required in organizing a fundraising campaign is very different from just thinking about it.”
Inspired by her students’ personal connections to Hurricane Helene, it was only fitting that the class responded.
“Living in Charleston my whole life, I have first-hand experience of how hurricanes can impact communities,” sophomore Walker Pitts said in an official press release. “There’s nothing scarier than going to bed one night with the wind screaming and then waking up and the whole city is under four feet of water. We want to show the people of North Carolina that they are not alone.”
Similarly, students in the class said they were from North Carolina or had family impacted by the hurricane in North Carolina and South Carolina.
“It just became really clear that this was not just happening in one community,” Geller said. “It’s been happening all over.”
With class only meeting Tuesday nights, the students worked together outside of class and divided into smaller groups to focus on specific aspects of the campaign — their biggest challenge being the time constraint.
“The biggest issue has just been the time constraint. We weren’t prepared to do this because it was so last minute,” said junior Zachary Erb, who is on the campaign’s media team. “We have to get all our materials together super, super fast, because the longer we wait, the less impact our help has.”
The students publicized their project across the BU campus by creating an Instagram account, posting flyers and connecting with other student organizations on campus.
“We’re learning as we go, but I kind of like it because I prefer to have the real-world experience over just doing stuff for a grade,” Erb said.
The campaign has raised about $2,600 as of Monday, just over half of their total goal. The next challenge the class faces is how to persist until the end of the fundraiser, which officially concludes on Dec. 5.
“From a teaching perspective, it’s incredible to watch the students just take their ideas and run with it and learn from that actual hands-on experience,” Geller said. “It’s just incredible to see a community of people coming together to support other people who’ve been impacted.”
