Southern Legacy has created Eagles for Eagles, a program designed to help students in need of financial assistance for emergencies or educational purposes.

The program was created when Southern Legacy realized that Georgia Southern University is under no legal obligation to assist students in need of financial assistance.

“We have been planning to launch Eagles for Eagles since November, and then when that fire happened to the student in ROTC, we were like, ‘Yes.’ This is what Eagles for Eagles is for — helping students like him in ways that the school can’t,” Cordero Curry, a senior political science and geography major and president of Southern Legacy, said.

Eagles for Eagles has two parts — one designed to help students dealing with hardship and one designed to help students gain more opportunities in their education, Curry said.

“There are two parts to Eagles for Eagles and I really love them both. The first is designed to help students in hardships, like the student in ROTC whose house burnt down recently, it is called the Eagle Care Award. And the second is Eagle Opportunity, which is designed to help students who want to do unpaid internships, or study abroad, or alternative spring break or something like that,” Curry said.

Eagles for Eagles is designed to help students graduate, no matter what the financial need, Curry said.

“Our main goal is to help students graduate with their degree. So if that means that we have to help them financially just so they can stay in school, then we’ll do it. And if that means we help a student expand on their degree by helping them do an unpaid internship or study abroad then we’ll do that too,” Curry said.

Eagles for Eagles was simply started by the members of Southern Legacy, Curry said.

“Anyone can create a fund. You just need five hundred dollars. So our members each contributed fifty dollars to create the Eagles for Eagles fund,” Curry said.

Southern Legacy has created funds in the past designed to allow students to see their efforts at work, however students have been confused by the purpose of these funds, Curry said.

“Southern Legacy created ‘A Day for Southern’ so students would have the opportunity to help Georgia Southern in whatever way they wanted. But what happened was, students were getting confused by ‘A Day for Southern’ since they couldn’t see where their funds were going directly. So we created Eagles for Eagles because it’s easier for us and easier for students to understand,” Curry said.

Thus far, Southern Legacy has been raising money solely through friends and acquaintances, Curry said.

“So far, to raise money, our members have been targeting people they know for larger gifts, on a personal level. But on a student organization level, we’ve been trying to get other student leaders to make large gifts, like SGA, Southern Ambassadors, the Leadership Program and CL’s,” Curry said.

Southern Legacy will be taking public donations on campus within the next few weeks, Curry said.

“At the end of February and beginning of March, we’ll have a site on campus where we’ll be collecting smaller gifts, like one dollar or five dollars,” Curry said.

Southern Legacy is looking for volunteers to join and help them raise money for this cause, Curry said.

“We are currently looking for volunteers to help raise money. We meet Tuesday’s at five-thirty in the Williams Center,” Curry said.

Southern Legacy will be raising funds for Eagles for Eagles every spring. Curry is confident that students will accept Eagles for Eagles easier than “A Day for Southern.”

Curry encourages students to donate, because Southern Legacy cannot award its funds until it reaches its goal of $14,000.

Southern Legacy will be accepting donations online and in person, Curry said.

“To make a donation, contact Southern Legacy members, or you can go online or you can give on campus during those weeks that we’ll be set up,” Curry said.