Helping Haiti Heal
Shawn Shinneman
Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: TruLife
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But the Rotary Club had something else in mind.
"The Rotary Club expressed an interest in being able to do something to help Haiti, so it shifted from 'We are going to send them to Zimbabwe,' to 'We are going to send these to Haiti,'" Patterson said.
The Rotaract Club is one of many campus organizations that have turned their attention toward relief efforts for a tragedy that killed more than 150,000 people, according to the Haitian Health Ministry. The LifeStraws filter out bacteria and viruses, cutting down on diseases contracted drinking unsafe water that kill nearly 6,000 people daily, according to Vestergaard-frandsen.com - the company that makes the LifeStraws.
Patterson said the Rotaract Club will be fundraising through events and tables set up across campus this semester, so they can make the largest possible donation to Haiti. They have not yet decided a timetable for the project but are developing one soon.
Another campus relief effort is called "Save Haiti Relief Week." It is a collaborative effort involving nine organizations on campus volunteering members to man tables in McClain Hall (Monday and Tuesday) and the Student Union Building (Wednesday to Friday). The volunteers will collect donations from students and faculty throughout the week.
Senior Kristyn Potter said she created the idea for the relief week because she hadn't heard of any other relief efforts happening on campus. She said she was watching CNN on Jan. 13 and decided to pick up the phone and call World Vision, which gave her the idea to put together a relief week.
"I think that overall, students just need an arena to do things," Potter said. "Somebody may not be capable of putting on the stuff, contacting all these organizations, but because I have experience in that, I sought after this opportunity."
Potter said that once she started notifying campus organizations of her idea, many showed immediate interest in getting involved. She said students have a responsibility to help with the situation in Haiti, and she thinks most will do so if given the opportunity.
"I think that they have the initiative, they have the motivation, they just need an additional push in the right direction," Potter said.
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HR alum
posted 2/04/10 @ 8:05 AM CST
Good job to all of you! Student involvement is key on many levels -you're helping a worthy cause, you're learning to work in groups and accomplish tasks, and you serve as a good example for campus and the community. (Continued…)
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