American Red Cross Club Decorates Cookies for Turkey and Syria

Some people believe that a little bit of sweetness can fix your issues. While a heart-shaped cookie decorated with love can’t get rid of all of your problems, it can be a good place to start.

IC student decorating a heart-shaped cookie with lots of love. Source: Lucia Coutermarsh/IthacaWeek

The American Red Cross Club at Ithaca College hosted a Brainstorm + Cookie Decorating event on Monday, Feb. 20, in IC Square to discuss ways the organization could fundraise money for people who were affected by the Turkey and Syria earthquake and to satisfy their sweet tooth. The event was held two weeks after the first earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria.

The series of high-magnitude earthquakes have devastated parts of Turkey and northern Syria, leaving buildings demolished, people trapped under collapsed homes and tens of thousands of people killed. According to the Associated Press, the death toll between Turkey and Syria exceeded 47,000. The Red Cross and Red Crescent teams have been on the ground in Turkey and Syria since the first earthquakes providing emergency aid, however, more aftershocks are expected to occur. Mel Perez, American Red Cross Club President, explained how the blood drives were the organization's main event but that they also fundraise for whatever the Red Cross needs.

“Right now they're focused on Turkey and Syria and just getting the money out and sending people out to help with disaster,” Perez said. “We are just keeping up with them and planning those events accordingly.”

While they don’t have a set goal, Perez explained how the club is trying to raise as much money as possible to help with the relief efforts and explained how they landed on cookie decorating. She didn’t want to hold the event on Valentine’s Day because she thought the holiday excitement might take away from the importance of the event.

“I didn't want to do that just because there's so much competition within all the orgs because every org is trying to make money for themselves. So I wanted to wait a little longer,” Perez said.

President Mel Perez preparing the cookie assembly section. Source: Lucia Coutermarsh/Ithacaweek

Perez acknowledged the fact that the fun aspect of fundraising events was an important factor in getting people to participate, saying that the event probably wouldn’t get as big of a showing if it was just brainstorming.

“It's like, oh, we're just brainstorming so we're just gonna sit here and talk like we sit through class and we talk all day like I really want to go to a club and just sit there and talk,”

Perez said.

Secretary Stella Win decorating while brainstorming. Source: Lucia Coutermarsh/IthacaWeek

"Who doesn't like cookie decorating?” said the club’s secretary, Stella Win. She felt she had a responsibility as the club secretary to get more people to come and participate.

Win is a first-year student at IC and is originally from the UK. Win explained how coming from a place where healthcare is free, she thinks donating to the Red Cross is simply an act of being a Good Samaritan.

“I come here and people think they can get paid to donate blood and I’m like why wouldn’t they do this for free,” Win said. “I think some people have the wrong idea about the Red Cross, they don’t realize it's going towards people's ability to afford health care and for them to receive the blood that they need.”

The American Red Cross Club is facilitating an upcoming blood drive on March 2, in Emerson Suites. They also plan to hold a bake sale and sell Red Cross merchandise to help raise funds for people in Turkey and Syria.