Egg-roll sale helps Red Cross meet goal

After a month of cooking, selling and delivering more than 2,500 egg rolls, Clara Hawkins donated $2,225 to the Red Cross Zia chapter Monday for the tsunami relief fund.

With her donation, the Clovis-based Red Cross Zia chapter has raised more than $10,000 as of Monday to aid victims of the tsunamis that claimed closed to 200,000 lives in Asia in December. Zia is still expecting donations from the Clovis schools that held fundraisers (The superintendent will write one check for all of the schools.)

“It was very fun,” said Hawkins, who set a goal of raising $2,000 when she started the project a month ago.

Hawkins received help with the project from her children and her boyfriend — Skip Overdier — as well as donations from local businesses and clubs for meat, egg roll skins and other ingredients.

The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies reached their goal as well.

As of Jan. 26, Red Cross has raised $1.2 billion, enough money to provide relief over the next five years, according to a press release.

Since the international organization has reached it’s goal, the Red Cross is no longer fund-raising for the tsunami relief fund, said Cecelia Baize, director of the Red Cross Zia chapter.

“We don’t want people to quit giving, but we are hoping that they will switch gears and give locally,” she said.

Baize said she hopes people will give to the local disaster fund — a fund that helps families in five surrounding counties that are displaced from their homes because of fires, floods, tornados or any disasters.

“I’ve had clients over the winter that lost everything except the clothes on their back,” Baize said.

“We try to assist in what they need to set up a household again,” she explained. “The idea is that we want less stress on them.”

The Red Cross Zia chapter is located at Main and Second streets and can be reached at 763-4129.