Fire Relief Effort Nets More than $3,000 and Food Donations

MELBOURNE, FLA. — An effort led by Florida Tech doctoral students to help Palm Bay and Malabar victims of the Mother’s Day fires resulted in monetary
donations of $3,041 for the Space Coast Chapter of the American Red Cross. The group also gathered a few hundred pounds of non-perishable food and
delivered it to St. Vincent De Paul of Our Lady of Grace Roman Catholic Church in Palm Bay.

Psychology doctoral student Christine Salinas, incoming psychology doctoral student and 2001 Melbourne Central Catholic High School graduate Lauren Lawler
and local engineer Ashley Phillips led the effort assisted by friends Gregory Hyland, Brady Allen, Karyn Miller, D.J. Foglia, Lindsey Moore, Hailey Clark,
and Julie Hadricky, who is another Florida Tech psychology doctoral student. They called the effort “Stop, Drop and Support.”

The team enlisted local businesses such as CVS and Winn-Dixie stores in Indialantic, and Winn-Dixie at Route 192 in West Melbourne. The stores were
drop-off locations for the non-perishable items. Salinas, Lawler, and Phillips organized the fund drive.

“I want to say ‘thank-you’ to these great volunteers,” said Salinas. “I also thank the art students at Melbourne’s Roy Allen Elementary School for all
their hard work and beautifully painted banners.”