Throughout this devastating tragedy which has stricken our Los Angeles community, our student body has remained at the frontline of both the wildfires themselves, and the incomprehensible consequences which have settled from them. Many within our community, including some of our own faculty and student body, have lost possessions that may never be replaced, homes which have stood in families for generations, and loved ones, who have been stricken from us far too soon. Nonetheless, throughout this immensely difficult period, a palpable desire from our student body to become involved and provide genuine and lasting relief for those most directly affected has become undeniably present. 

The following is a proposal for how the student body, as a collective, can provide relief and resources to those especially affected by this recent tragedy.

As a result of the campus closures which have taken place over the past two weeks, few students, if any, will be able to utilize their pre-paid ‘meal swipes’. To fairly mitigate this circumstance, as well as to create an avenue for students to be able to contribute to relief efforts locally for wildfire victims, the University of California, Los Angeles should allow for its students to donate their unused ‘meal swipes’ for the purpose of fundraising for wildfire relief efforts. Through mechanisms similar to those utilized by the incredible ‘Swipe Out Hunger’, students should be able to donate their excess ‘meal swipes’ throughout the remainder of the year to a collective fund, which will be eventually exchanged by the University of California, Los Angeles for financial capital. This financial capital raised will be responsibly distributed by on-campus organizations, such as USAC, to support relief funds and organizations aimed at financially supporting victims of the recent Los Angeles wildfires.

By signing this petition, you declare your support for such an initiative to be implemented by the University of California, Los Angeles, and would be likely to participate in such an initiative if it were to be available to the student population. 

For further information regarding this initiative, contact Nicholas Reese at nicreese@g.ucla.edu.