On Tuesday (May 25), UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman sent a campus-wide e-mail asking UNL employees to help with clean-up efforts in towns south of Lincoln that were devastated by tornadoess last Saturday night.

In cooperation with the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, work will begin in the areas of devastation on Wednesday (May 26) and Thursday (May 27th); additional dates may be identified later. Employees may work up to three days in this effort.

The University will pay regular employees their normal wage/salary for the time they are helping. Transportation will be provided for the UNL employees, leaving at approximately 8am and returning at approximately 5pm, each day. In addition, a second shift will leave on those two days at noon, returning at 9pm. The buses will leave from the east side of the 17th and R Sts. parking garage. The capacity of the two buses leaving at 8am is sixty people - the bus leaving at noon has a capacity of thirty. Participation will be on a first-come-first-served basis.

If you have any health-related problems such as lifting restrictions or allergy problems, it would be best if you do not help, as doing so might jeopardize your health.

If you decide to volunteer, please dress appropriately (long sleeve shirt and pants, hard-soled shoes, gloves, protective eyewear and sunscreen). Also, please bring bottled water and a brown-bag lunch.

This is a strictly optional effort and no one is required to help. You must have your supervisor's permission to leave your work site to participate in this effort.

Additionally, a community call-to-action is requesting donations of items to help with the relief effort. UNL is helping to collect donated items. For employees who wish to drop off items on their way to work on Wednesday (May 26), a UNL truck will be located in the parking lot just north of the 17th and R parking garage on City Campus from 7:30 to 9:30am. UNL will then deliver these items to the Red Cross.

Needed items include: baby clothes, formula, food and disposable diapers, canned goods, bottled water and juices, can openers, paper plates, cups and plastic ware; personal care items such as toothpaste, shampoo, soap deodorant; cleaning supplies; new blankets and linens; flashlights and batteries; work gloves, new packaged underwear and socks; pet supplies. A complete list of items needed can be found in today's (May 25) Lincoln Journal Star on page 6A.