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UPDATE 3:30 p.m. Tuesday: The New Mexico softball team announced it will stop accepting clothing Wednesday as part of its Lobos4OKC donation drive. Bottled water, non-perishable food and toiletries are still needed, UNM assistant director of communications Chelsea Einerwold said.
“National reports indicate the Moore, Okla., community has been overwhelmed with donations and groups in the area have posted signs, ‘Please, no more clothes,’” Einerwold said in an e-mail.
The team also needs volunteers today, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
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One week into a donation drive to benefit tornado victims in Oklahoma, New Mexico softball coach Erica Beach said the support and the volume of products provided have come as a surprise.
The Lobo softball program kicked off the drive May 21, one day after a massive tornado tore through Moore, Okla., destroyed homes and killed 24 residents. Donations will be collected through Thursday night and will depart for Oklahoma Friday morning.
Beach did not have a full tally of donations received on Monday morning, but stacks of bottled water, boxes filled with clothing, stuffed toys, non-perishable food and other disaster relief items fill the team’s indoor hitting facility at the Lobo Softball Field, located next to The Pit.
“We knew four hours after just starting, before we even had our press conference and halfway filled out locker room, we were in for a surprise,” Beach said. “Once the story broke the entire community — not just the city of Albuquerque but the whole state of New Mexico — has come out. People are giving anything they can.”
Donations may be dropped off at the softball facility until Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. There cannot be enough bottled water donated, Beach said, but the drive could use baby-related items such as bottles, diapers and formula. Non-perishable food, blankets, toiletries, work gloves, boxes and pet food are also being accepted.
An online donation page was created at www.GoFundMe.com/lobos4okc. As of Monday afternoon, the site has generated $1,050 in cash donations. The goal is to reach $5,000, but Beach said she would like to receive at least $1,000 more to cover fuel costs to Oklahoma.
Donations have arrived from various New Mexico cities, Beach said, including Truth or Consequences, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, Santa Rosa, Edgewood and Albuquerque. Other universities, like New Mexico State, have even reached out, she said.
“We’ve had everything from trucks full of water to a little 8-year-old girl bring a case of water in,” Beach said. “We’ve had so many different types of people reaching out.”
Volunteers are needed, Beach said, to help prepare the donated items for shipment and load them onto trucks Thursday night after 7 p.m. Beach, assistant coach Lyndsey Angus and former Lobo football player Derek Watson have been preparing the goods for transport, but more help is appreciated, Beach said.
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Watson said during the May 21 press conference that one of his former teammates, Kyle Coulter, a volunteer firefighter in the area, will help coordinate the donation efforts once they arrive in Moore.
“He (Coulter) said so many people had less than 60 seconds to get into a shelter,” Watson said. “Everything they had was just gone. The shirts on their back were all they had, so we’re going right directly to those areas to disperse the donations.”
While in Oklahoma, Beach and those making the trip plan to document their journey and provide updates online, but those details are still being hashed out as of press time.
What: Lobo Softball, the Lobo Athletics Department and the University are accepting donations for victims of the May 20 tornado that struck central Oklahoma.
Where: Donations should be brought to the Lobo Softball Field (south of The Pit. accessed via Sunshine Terrace Southeast off University Boulevard).
When: Continues today, Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Items needed: Bottled/sealed water, non-perishable food items, individually wrapped snacks, toiletries, blankets, wipes, diapers, work gloves, boxes (for hauling donations), dog and cat food; any items that can assist victims. Cash donations also will be accepted and used to purchase water.
Online donation: www.GoFundMe.com/lobos4okc
Contact information: Chelsea Einerwold, (218) 296-2845
