Students rally for Haitians

By Jocelyn Wright     1/21/10 6:00pm

After a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck the southern part of Haiti on Jan. 12, the Rice community is pulling together its resources to support the victims and aid in rebuilding the country. This disaster struck particularly close to home for many Rice students, current and former. Diane Caves (Baker '00) was working for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Haiti, where she was on temporary assignment. She is still missing after the earthquake destroyed the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince, where Caves was staying, her husband Jeffrey Caves (Will Rice '00) said.

In a statement to the university, President David Leebron expressed his sympathies for Diane Caves, her family and the countless other victims of the earthquake.

"It is especially heartbreaking to learn that alumna Diane . has been reported missing since the earthquake hit," Leebron said. "I know that Ping and I join the entire Rice community in expressing our sincere hope that Diane will soon be found safe and unharmed."

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Diane Caves also has a brother, David Berry, who graduated from Rice in 2005.

Oher alumni have also been impacted by the quake. In 2003, a group of Rice students worked for two weeks in Port-au-Prince at a center for homeless boys, which was destroyed by the earthquake last week, Community Involvement Center Director Mac Griswold said.

"[Haiti is] close to the Rice family," Griswold said.

In response to the devastation wrought by the earthquake - which the Pan American Health Organization estimates left 200,000 dead - the Rice community has begun helping raise money to repair the immense damage to the nation, which is the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.

Two student-run fundraising campaigns took place this week. Duncan College organized a bake sale during lunch in the Ley Student Center on Tuesday and Wednesday, raising over $1,000 for the Red Cross Relief Fund. Duncan freshman Kelvin Pho estimated about 30 students were involved in baking and selling for the fundraiser. Duncan Master Luis Duno-Gottberg said the baking efforts began Monday, but had to continue Tuesday evening because the group had sold everything they baked on Monday.

"It was a lot of fun," Duncan Master Marnie Hylton said. "Some people brought books and studied while the food was in the oven, while others talked about how much things should cost."

Wiess College senior Jocelyn Brown organized another fundraiser Thursday called Chikin for Haiti, set in collaboration with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Along with Wiess seniors Judy Huang and Erin Waller and Jones College senior Sherry Wang, Brown sold Chik-fil-A sandwiches during lunch to raise money for Project Medishare, an organization based in Haiti that is providing medical aid to earthquake victims. Brown said she got the idea for the fundraiser because she went to Haiti last summer to work with Project Medishare in Thomonde.

"Even though it's been a pretty small fundraising event, I think if enough college students - and Americans in general - organize these kinds of events, that can really make an impact," Brown said. "When enough people take action and raise money and do what they can, that can really make a difference."

The Student Association is also organizing a two-part fundraiser for Haiti, SA President Patrick McAnaney said. The first part will be an online donation drive through Partners in Health, which is a grouping of several governments and universities such as Stanford University, Duke University and Dartmouth University.

"It's arguably the biggest natural disaster ever, so we felt it was pretty important that the Rice student body come together to help the people of Haiti," McAnaney, a Brown College senior, said.

The second part of the fundraiser will be done in collaboration with the Office of International Students and Scholars and Rice Student Volunteer Program in a campaign to raise money for the American Red Cross. An anonymous donor will give one dollar for every person who donates, Executive Director of OISS Adria Baker said. In the first two days of their campaign, Baker said they had already raised over $800. The drive will continue through Jan. 28, and people who make a donation are also asked to write a message to the people of Haiti on large poster board cards, which will be in the residential colleges next week. Baker said the cards will be sent to the Haitian embassy in Houston.

"We're considering them like condolence cards," Baker said. "There's just something about being able to write something down. It helps the consulate to see all these donations, but also to see something physical of prayers and concerns."

McAnaney said the SA senators at each college will work with the Rice Program Council college representatives to go door-to-door and collect money.

"We're going to be collecting all that money and then present that as one big check on behalf of the Rice Student Association," McAnaney said.

Griswold said he was impressed by students' quick response to the disaster in Haiti, and stressed that giving money was the best way to help.

"The best way people can help is monetary donations, but it's toughest for college students who want to help," Griswold said. "[But] a one dollar donation does make a difference, and money adds up."

Duno-Gottberg said Haiti was a particularly important country to help in this time of crisis.

"Without Haiti, there wouldn't be independence in Latin America," Duno-Gottberg said, citing Haiti's independence movement in the early 19th century that preceded other regional movements. "We ... see Haiti as a poor country full of violence, but really what we are now in the Americas owes a lot to Haiti. I think they deserve the attention and help, but also the way of coming together as a community for that cause is important.

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