The Associated Students (A.S.) will be donating $50,500 to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.

A total of $500 was raised during last week’s “50 in 3” donation drive, with $424 from tabling on campus and $76 through PayPal contributions.

Sarah Garcia, senator for the College of Education and author of the resolution for the donation drive, said she was happy with the results of the drive despite wanting to have raised more.

“I was kind of disappointed because I was hoping to raise $100 per day both on PayPal and on campus, but it’s hard – we’re all students. But I was really happy with what we did. I think it was amazing that we were able to get any change. We had a lot of pennies. That adds up. We’re really ecstatic about our goal,” she said.

A.S. will contribute $35,000 toward the effort from the assigned contingency account, while the University Student Union gave $15,000, Garcia said.

The senate also approved the allocation of $800 to the Institute for Health Care Improvement, $1,840 for V-Day’s Vagina Monologues, and $1,000 to Alpha Phi Alpha, all from the assigned contingency account. A total of $8,300 was allocated to Academic Affairs for its Annual Student Research and Creative Works Symposium from the academically related reserves account.

Additionally, three members were appointed to the finance committee: Tatiana Orr, a journalism major; Dominick Hernandez, a kinesiology major; and Samantha Lorenzo, a biology major.

With an upcoming retreat for the senate, President Sydni Powell commended A.S. members for doing well this semester, although she said it has left her with the challenge of creating a retreat agenda that incorporates activities to further senators’ growth.

“This is the best senate I’ve ever observed. I’m very proud. You’ve exceeded every expectation I’ve ever set for you,” she said.