Proceeds from book benefit hurricane victims

From government officials to professional football players, everyone around the world is getting involved in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Now an IU administrator is doing his part to help.\nCharlie Nelms, vice president of institutional advancement and academic affairs, is now donating one-third of the profits from his book of inspirational quotes, "Start Where You Find Yourself," to the American Red Cross to aid the relief efforts. Nelms has mainly been distributing his book to "young people as a means to motivate them to excel" since its publication in 2004, but it's now on sale for $12 at the IU Bookstore, Borders, Howard's and Book Corner.\nThe other two-thirds of the profits go to the United Nations World Food Program and to a local food bank. Nelms will not receive any money from his book's sales.\n"It's my way to reach out to people who were affected by the hurricane and who live with poverty every day," Nelms said.\nNelms was particularly inspired to help victims of the hurricane because most of the people who did not escape simply could not afford to leave. He has witnessed poverty all of his life since he grew up in an area of Arkansas where poverty was "rampant." Nelms also spent time in Niger to help direct an agricultural program, but because of a government coup he was never able to complete his duties. This is also why he chose to donate some of his profits to the other organizations.\n"Poverty and hunger are all around us," he said. "Poverty is local and global. We cannot ignore people in Bloomington, people in Africa or people in Louisiana."\nNelms is hopeful his efforts will help and others will help contribute to the cause in some way and "be enlightened."\n"It took Hurricane Katrina to bring to our consciousness poverty and deprivation," he said. "Citizens of the world can do something to relieve suffering ... to make the world a little more gentle and comfortable. That's what being human is."\nThe success of Nelms' aid is still uncertain. The books were first displayed in the front of Borders Friday, said Marika Oukidis, the sales manager.\n"It doesn't look like they've moved that much, but word isn't really out yet," she said.\nAs far as she knows, no other author is contributing profits from book sales to the relief effort.\n"I think it's good for anyone to do something like this," she said. "It gives people a chance to make a difference."\nPeople who were affected by the hurricane in any way are glad people like Nelms are willing to help those in need.\nLaura Wieland, a sophomore at the University of South Carolina and a native of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, receives news of the overflowing Reunion Dome and convention centers near her home from her parents every day. The situation in her hometown is so bad that people are offering rooms in their private houses to accommodate victims, and she is excited to hear of the new relief contributions.\n"It's wonderful that someone is willing to give up money that would normally go to them to help people who have lost everything," she said.\nThough Nelms' project may seem small compared to others, "every bit helps," Wieland said.\n"(Victims) need lots more resources than the government can provide," she said. "At the very least it can provide basic living supplies for people who have lost everything"