November 2001 University Reporter

Left to right: Mike Forcier, general manager of Sodexho Services at UMass Boston; Stephanie Leydon, “Boston’s WB in the Morning” co-anchor ; Jo Ann Gora, chancellor for UMass Boston; Heather Dawood, president of UMass Boston student senate; and Linda Smith-Mooney, assistant director of student life. (Photo by Harry Brett)

One month after the September 11 terrorist attacks, UMass Boston student senate president Heather Dawood presented a donation of over $7,000 to the WB56 Disaster Relief Fund, the station’s largest single contribution to date. More than eighty students had rallied to organize a four-day collection drive on campus for monetary and food contributions, collecting over $6,300 from university students, faculty, and staff. The Department of Athletics and the campus’s food service organization, Sodexho Services, joined their efforts and donated an additional $350 and $500 respectively. Students chose to contribute to WB 56’s fund because the station and its parent company, the McCormack Tribune Foundation, committed to absorbing administrative costs and passing on 100 percent of their donations to agencies that are responding to the tragedy.

Collectively, WB 56 has raised more than $5 million dollars, which the Foundation has pledged to match with $2.5 million.

Students Give Single Largest Donation to WB 56’s Disaster Relief Fund