When some students learned there was no Boston University group dedicated to addressing students’ eating disorders last fall, they acted quickly.

The students formed Helping Hands in an effort to provide the BU community with more information on the dangers of eating disorders and offer other resources to affected students. Members aim to increase the group’s influence in coming months.

“Students who need help don’t know where to find it,” said founder Melissa Stone, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, in an email. “Eating disorders are growing more prevalent on college campuses, and much of the community is unaware of the problem, much less the solution.”

The group works to refer patients to regional eating-disorder-treatment providers, said Student Health Services Director Dr. David McBride. “Less-severe cases” may be directed to SHS, he said.

“We will be working very hard over the next several years to make our approach to eating-disorder care more robust,” he said in an email.

Helping Hands sold bracelets and distributed literature from the Massachusetts Eating Disorders Association, a nonprofit organization that helps with prevention and treatment of the disorders, during Eating Disorders Awareness Week from Feb. 25 to March 3.

The group added 21 new members through the week and raised almost $200 to donate to the National Eating Disorders Association with the help of BU sororities Alpha Delta Pi and Alpha Phi, as well as BU fraternity Kappa Sigma.

“Things will change and shift [as the group grows], but first you need a knowledge base,” said Helping Hands secretary Robin Bershader, a Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences junior. “We hope to create a more comforting environment and to de-stigmatize eating disorders. There are so many resources in Boston. The word needs to get out.”

Group members receive general information, training and techniques on how to help people with eating disorders through the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, a BU center in Kenmore Square that offers anxiety assessment and treatment, Bershader said. Although they have met once with CARD, they have plans to hold further training sessions.

College students commonly have eating disorders, said McBride, the group’s adviser. This reality is one of the main reasons it is important for people to present correct information about the disorders, he said.

“I think that the group fills a niche among the student groups that hasn’t been adequately addressed in the past,” he said. “Sometimes, students lose track of what ‘normal’ eating behavior is when friends are engaging in unhealthy practices.”

While Helping Hands spreads awareness about eating disorders, students can receive professional help through SHS, McBride said.

“Helping Hands is not intended to be a referral source for people with eating disorders, just to share information with BU students,” he said. “[SHS] work[s] with students with eating disorders in assessing the physical and mental health status.”

Stone said she was first inspired to start Helping Hands after she attended a National Student Leadership Conference and said she realized she had never heard of any workshops that help students with eating disorders.

“A student was struggling with an eating disorder, and her adviser told her that I would be a good reference, as I have had many friends who have struggled to recover from eating disorders,” she said.

CAS sophomore Barney Soskin, one of the treasurers for Helping Hands, said the group is vital because no organizations solely dedicated to addressing eating disorders on campus previously existed.

“Eating disorders are most devastating and tend to affect younger adults more than others,” he said in an email, “which is why I thought the new student group was an excellent idea and was definitely a cause that I was going to support.”

Stone said the group is receiving more positive feedback from its participants because it connects students to their peers instead of operating as a university-run organization.

“We want to help people help other people,” Bershader said. “We hope to be a bridge to help people who are affected by eating disorders.”