WMUnited festivities benefit Haiti relief

By Megan McDonald
Western Herald

The music and dancing heard Friday in the Bernhard Center was not the usual fundraiser for student organizations. Instead, it was for the people recovering from one of the largest natural disasters of the decade.

Jo Wei Looi/Western Herald | Western Michigan University Malaysian Student Association performed during the WMUnited for Haiti Friday night in the East Ballroom of the WMU Bernhard Center.

Western Michigan University students, teachers, staff, community members and leaders attended the WMUnited for Haiti fundraiser Friday in the East Ballroom at the Bernhard Center to show support for the millions of people affected by the earthquake that hit Haiti two months ago.

“We talk on this campus a lot about the fact that we are a family, and we come together to help each other. But because we are a family we reach out to other families,” Western Michigan University Provost Tim Greene told the audience.

As a result of the quake, some 200,000 Haitians died and millions are without homes, food, or clean drinking water.

With a $3 admission donation, other monetary donations, a silent auction, and T-shirt sales, the event raised approximately $2,600 in three hours. The money will be donated to the American Red Cross for Haitian relief.

Darius Machado, president of WMU’s International Programs Council, and volunteer Chair of IPC Bas Blankenstijn, coordinated the event and thought that something needed to be done and WMU should get involved.

With no other big fundraiser supporting Haiti scheduled, Machado, and Blankenstijn went around talking and meeting with various Registered Student Organizations to see if they were interested in participating – they were.

Over 30 groups registered to take part in the night’s event, uniting together for one cause. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship-Crossroads was one of them.

“Despite all the people without food and shelter in Haiti, we feel that education is so important and needs to still keep going,” InterVarsity member Erin Gignac said.

InterVarsity has teamed up with World Vision, a Christian organization dedicated to helping children and families in poverty, to make Promise Packs for children in Haiti.

Promise packs are backpacks with a promise, filled with basic essentials and school supplies and a personal note from whoever packed the backpack. InterVarsity’s minimum goal is to make 50 that cost about $25 to make.

“We live in a connected world,” InterVarsity member Jared Siangani said. “And when you know what is going on in the world, such as now in Haiti and Chile, we have to do something about it.

“In America, we are very privileged and we have the opportunity to share those privileges with the world,” he added.

Joining the student groups, Clean Water for the World, a local nonprofit that provides water purification systems to communities without access to clean drinking water, came out to show their support.

Executive Director Paul Flickinger was one of the featured speakers at the event and spoke about the importance of clean drinking water for people in nations such as Haiti.

Kalamazoo Mayor Bobby Hopewell, WMU Provost Timothy Greene and a representative from the Kalamazoo chapter of the American Red Cross also spoke.

Following the speakers, there was live entertainment from various students and RSOs.

The WMU theatre department performed a scene from William Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” Mark Barki and Hariz Shazalli from the Malaysian Student Association performed John Lennon’s Imagine and Ben E. King’s Stand by Me, joined by several other renditions of inspiring songs. The Merchandising Opportunities and Design Association put together a fashion show of student work for the event, the Dominican Student Organization performed a Dominican dance.

“The coming together of the group, like the coming together of everyone here tonight, represents unity,” IPC Secretary and MC Tithi Mukherjee said. She was also a part of some of the dance performances.

“The songs I picked are modern songs from different cultures that represents a united culture,” she said.

IPC coordinated the event with the support from the Campus Activities Board, Graduate Student Advisory Council and Western Student Association.

“Everyone should get involved,” Mukherjee said. “We are all human, and we all have to do our bit to help out.”

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Posted by heraldstaff on Mar 14 2010. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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