Helping Haiti Heal

Eight days after the devastating earthquake in Haiti on Jan. 12, freshman Kirsten Patterson, vice president of the Rotaract Club, gave a presentation to the community Rotary Club about a project aimed at sending portable water filtration systems called "LifeStraws" to Africa.

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.

As of last night, the relief week has brought in $358. It will continue today and Friday, including being set up at Fireside Friday's tomorrow afternoon in the SUB.

Another campus organization developing ways to send aid to Haiti is GlobeMed. GlobeMed's partner, grassroots birthing clinic Maison de Naissance, is located in Haiti but was unharmed by the earthquake. However, the organization hosted a poetry slam, "Slam for Haiti," Jan. 28 at Il Spazio. The event raised more than $800.

Additionally, they are collaborating with the French Wing and three other campus organizations to host a benefit concert Feb. 19 at the Journal Printing Building. Proceeds will go to the Partners in Health "Stand with Haiti" fund.

French professor Jordi Teillard is the faculty adviser for the French Wing and has helped plan the concert. He said he has a personal interest in providing relief for earthquake victims because his two best friends from graduate school were Haitian.

Teillard said the organizations involved with the event are looking to bring together the campus community with the rest of Kirksville.

"We thought that maybe we should do a concert because that was one way to involve students from the high school and also people from the community," Teillard said. "We have this feeling that most of the time you should do something that won't only involve students on campus."

Teillard said they have high hopes for the turnout from both the University and the Kirksville community.

"We are going to print 500 tickets," Teillard said. "We hope to sell all of them."