Three years ago, the Chapel Hill community lost the young lives of husband and wife Deah Shaddy Barakat and Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, along with Yusor’s sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, in a shooting.
Yusor was a student at the UNC School of Dentistry and Razan attended N.C. State University. Mohammad would have graduated this May and Barakat, last May.
Kaushal Gandhi, a graduate of the School of Dentistry and one of Deah’s classmates, was one of the founders of Directing Efforts And Honoring Deah And Yusor, otherwise known as DEAH DAY. The student led organization cancels all classes and clinics in an annual day of dental and non-dental related volunteer work.
“All three of them were model citizens in their communities, they were just amazing people," Gandhi said. "They did so much volunteer work and they were always doing outreach."
During the third annual DEAH DAY, students volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House and the Credit Union Family House. Other students visited local shelters and schools to educate about oral hygiene.
Jordan Sawyers, a graduate teaching assistant in the School of Dentistry, helped organize a talent show, one of the finale events of DEAH DAY. The show was meant to reflect the spirits of Barakat and Mohammad.
“Deah and Yusor were really a prime example of someone that brought out the light in everybody and really uplifted the talents and gifts that people were given," Sawyers said. "And to personify that same type of way Deah and Yusor were positive and uplifted others.”
Donations from the talent show will be given to the Student Health Action Coalition, a dental clinic that provides weekly free dental care to those in need.
Scott De Rossi, dean of the School of Dentistry, praised the students for their initiative in the creation of the event.
