BY: CATHERINE DURAND

Students of Franciscan University were called to serve the suffering in a fundraiser for the family of Lee West during the week of February 13 to February 17.

West, a freshman student of Steubenville High School, was killed in a house fire on January 31. Students for a Fair Society initiated a fundraiser to collect money for West's funeral costs and to support the West family in rebuilding their lives.

Keith Michael Estrada, a graduate student at Franciscan University, originally came up with the idea to hold a fundraiser to support the West family. Although he is now an advisor, he began the fundraiser while he was president of Students for a Fair Society.

According to the fliers announcing the fundraiser, the average funeral cost is $7,500, and the average housing cost is $74,000-124,000. Estrada expects the campus fundraiser to raise around $500.

In addition, Estrada said that there have been several fundraisers in the town of Steubenville, including collections at local schools and small business raffles. There were also at least a couple thousand dollars raised at the first basketball game played after West's death.

Estrada explained that, in his decision to help the West family, "Awareness was a great factor." He added, "I saw that this had happened in the local paper...There was a great need for support, not only financially, but spiritually. It's the Christ in us, and the Christ in them, that compels us to provide for one another." He added that the fundraiser allows people to "become aware of the community, their desperate needs, and their humanity."

Encouraging the students of Franciscan University to become involved in the plight of the West family, Estrada said, "It comes down to solidarity among our human brothers and sisters."