Colorado State University sophomore biology major and resident advisor Althea Weeks will be presenting Althea4Althea Against Ebola in Laurel Village’s Pavilion Thursday at 7 p.m. Anyone is welcome to attend at no cost.
The event will feature an interview between Weeks and a Liberian student, also named Althea Weeks, whom Weeks met through unlikely means: the “miracle of Facebook.”
“A few years ago, she was just, ‘Hey, you’re Althea Weeks and I’m Althea Weeks — we should be friends,'” Weeks said. “She friended me and she found me and we just started chatting. We’ve been good friends ever since.”
Before the Ebola outbreak, the Liberian Weeks attended the University of Liberia as a civil engineering major. Over the last six months, however, her school has been closed and her scholarship might be revoked as a result of the Ebola outbreaks.
“Student to student, I know if I couldn’t go to school, I would be really upset and hurt and feel like I can’t do anything with my life,” Weeks said. “Here’s an individual who’s in that exact situation, on top of having the life threatened by just leaving her house.”
Donations can be made to Althea4Althea’s Community Funded campaign, which has a goal of 800 dollars. The funds will be used to pay for items and financial aid to support Liberian Weeks’ education.
“Basically, it’s an opportunity to connect with someone worldwide … and to help someone who really needs it.”
Collegian Business and Technology Beat Reporter Nicholas LeVack can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @NicholasLeVack.