Tiz Giordano says they were concerned about UNC’s fall semester when students near their residence in the Northside neighborhood began to hold parties before even the first day of classes.
“It’s been really disheartening to see the disregard for safety,” they say.
But as the semester started and students shared their own frustration on social media about other students’ compliance, Giordano says they began to feel badly for those who came back for in-person classes.
“I realized these kids are aware of what’s going on, they’re not dumb,” Giordano says. “They understood ‘this is going to be a disaster’ when they see their fellow students partying really hard.”
“I said, ‘hey, who wants to be a surrogate parent for these kids that don’t have loving or local parents,'” they describe. “And the response was pretty big.”
Over the course of just three days since the university’s decision, Giordano gathered more than 130 responses from community members offering their assistance to UNC students. They say with the diversity of the Facebook group, members were able to connect with students of many backgrounds seeking many types of aid.
“Some [students] are looking for financial resources, some of them are looking to be connected to local resources, but I’d say a giant majority of them are looking for emotional support,” says Giordano. “And as far as adults go, some are offering emotional support, some are offering care packages, some are offering to buy plane tickets, some are offering to host students and some are offering legal services to students who want to know what’s going on with their immigration status.”
Giordano says one of the things they hope this initiative highlights is how the community can provide mutual aid, especially in a challenging time for students who may not have easy ways to return to permanent addresses within a week or are feeling distressed by ongoing schoolwork.
“UNC and, by extension, the Chapel Hill government does not have the resources to deal with the emotional upheaval this is causing these young people,” says Giordano. “Being able to connect students to these older, caring adults that can be there for them is a form of harm reduction and it’s keeping our already strained support services from being overburdened.”
Students looking to connect with such parents can fill out a Google form created by Giordano’s initiative. All that needs to be filled out is name and an email address, but more can be provided, like background information and requests for characteristics of a parent you’d like to be matched with. The form even provides relaxing background music if a student is stressed out. Similarly, the parents’ form asks to share identifying features and what measure of support is being offered so people within the initiative can make as accurate of a match as possible.
Giordano says if the effort continues to grow, they would be open to backing from either UNC or the Town of Chapel Hill. They say they think helping these students and protecting their mental health is critical.
“I really do believe that this is how we’re going to avoid a lot of pain and suffering in this town,” Giordano says, “if we can all come together with this, community members helping community members.”
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