4 I Tuesday, Sept. 28,2010
Book club, ribbons
By Megan Rogers
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Before this semester, many
Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority mem
bers weren’t aware a girl’s shelter
existed in State College.
But now they’re making it their
semester-long goal to raise aware
ness and funds for Stormbreak
Home.
The sorority was looking for a
philanthropy close to home, and
Stormbreak was a good fit
because it allows members to
“touch the heart of Penn State,”
sorority vice president Latricia
Whitfield said.
Stormbreak Home, which is a
part of the Centre County Youth
Service Bureau, is a group home
Farmers struggling
with dry conditions
Jennifer C. Yates
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PITTSBURGH When rain
fell recently on Rick Ebert’s dairy
farm, the less than one-quarter
inch didn’t do much to fill his
parched well. He had to have 3,000
gallons of water trucked in last
week to ensure his cows stayed
hydrated and cool.
“We really need an all-day nice
rain,” said Ebert, who runs Will-
Mar-Re Farms in New Alexandria.
The same could be said in much
of the eastern U.S., where abnor
mally dry conditions have forced
some states to issue drought
warnings and raised the risk of
brush fires. Some farmers say
they expect to harvest half of what
they normally do, cutting their
income while they’re paying more
for water and feed.
But although the weather is
causing them some pain, the
drought-like conditions haven’t
been widespread enough to affect
consumers, who are more likely to
see the difference in their brown
lawns than their grocery bills.
“For the most part, rainfall has
been below normal in most areas
across the Northeast. It stalled
probably about the middle of June,
and it wall probably continue into
the next couple weeks,” said Tom
Kines, a meteorologist at
Aceuweather.
Inland areas of Pennsylvania,
the mid-Atlantic, Ohio and parts of
V7UX
of students say they have
been motivated to take
some sort of action after:
seeing an adrertisment
in the college newspaper
for girls ages 12 to 17, Stormbreak
Home program director Theresa
Kieffer said. The house’s mission
is to help its residents reach their
highest potential, she said
whether that means returning
home, settling into a foster care
home or living on their own.
While many students volunteer
with the home, Kieffer said she
does not know how many students
are aware of Stormbreak Home’s
existence.
And that’s what Alpha Kappa
Alpha wants to change, Whitfield
said.
“They only depend on commu
nity funding and they need as
much help as they can get,”
Whitfield (senior-broadcast jour
nalism) said.
New Jersey up to Maine have
been the driest, Kines said.
Last week, Pennsylvania offi
cials put 24 counties under a
drought warning and the rest of
the state under a drought watch.
Most Pennsylvania counties get 37
to 45 inches of rain a year. This
year, they’ve had between 2 and 10
inches less.
“Fall is starting earlier, the corn
is being harvested sooner because
it’s drying out,” said Cheryl
Bjornson, a Penn State
Cooperative Extension educator
in Chester County. “Anybody who
doesn’t have irrigation is going to
be affected. If farmers are irrigat
ing then they’re ahead of the
game.”
Maryland agriculture officials
expect the state’s com production
to be off by 30 percent from last
year and soybeans to be down 16
percent. Some spots have had a
foot less rain than normal.
Eastern Shore farmer Ed
Heikes, who has about 1,400 acres
in Talbot County, said a 7 1/2-inch
deluge in July gave his corn a
fighting chance, but there’s been
scant rain since. His crop will be
30 to 35 percent below average, he
said.
Farther west in Carroll County,
com yields are ranging from a pal
try 5 bushels per acre to a modest
100, said farmer Lawrence Meeks
of Silver Run.
“It’s going to be a really tough
year for farmers,” said Meeks.
For
LOCAL & STAI
to benefit
The sorority is currently host
ing a women’s book club, and will
donate proceeds from the
entrance fee to Stormbreak
Home, Alpha Kappa Alpha mem
ber Candace Carson said. The
cost to join the book club which
is reading Zora Neale Hurston’s
“Their Eyes Were Watching God"
is $5, Carson (senior-advertis
ing) said.
About 40 independent students
along with the sorority members
are involved with the book club
this semester.
But because the book group is
already underway, Carson sug
gests those interested in donating
to the cause instead purchase $2
orange ribbons which were creat
ed by the sorority.
Sanih Finnegan/Collegian
A student walks with an umbrella on Monday evening. After continuous rain all day Monday, cloudy skies
will follow through the week with warm temperatures in the 60s and 70s.
local girls’ shelter
“They only depend on community funding and
they need as much help as they can get.”
Latricia Whitfield
senior-broadcast journalism
Alpha Kappa Alpha will be sell
ing the ribbons at all of their
events during the fall semester
and also at a table in the HUB-
Robeson Center during
Homecoming week.
Whitfield said she is looking for
ward to visiting the home at the
end of the semester and seeing
the payoff of the sorority’s
fundraising.
“We will be able to see their
faces and these young girls will be
seeing we are supporting their
The Daily Collegian
cause and them, ” she said.
Hopefully, Whitfield said, the
sorority will be able to raise at
least $5OO for the home
already, they have raised about
$2OO.
Rinding streams are always
tight, Kieffer saiid, and the dona
tions from the sorority may go to
either paying for activities, cloth
ing, school supplies or general
house expenses.
To e-mail reporter: mers2oo@psu.edu
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