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Fundraising efforts for Haiti recovery net more than $6,300

Ten of the 13 orphans taken in by the IAAC, which <br>the College is supporting with fundraising efforts
Ten of the 13 orphans taken in by the IAAC, which
the College is supporting with fundraising efforts

The College has raised more than $6,300 for the International Alliance for the Advancement of Children (IAAC), a nonprofit organization that provides education, vocational training, health care and nutrition to children in Les Cayes, Haiti.

After the January earthquake that killed more than 230,000 people in Haiti, the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based charity took in 13 orphaned children from Port-au-Prince. The College’s donation will help raise and educate these children and support the organization’s mission.

“We are thrilled that this is the beginning of what we hope will be a long relationship with this organization,” said Mary Devins, associate director of the Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts and a member of the College’s Haiti Response Committee.

Devins added that Penney Jade Beaubrun ’11, a certificate student in the Toor Cummings Center, will travel to Haiti this summer to intern for the IAAC in Les Cayes.

The committee, comprised of staff, faculty and students, organized two days of fundraising and educational events earlier this month to benefit the IAAC. Money was raised through the sale of “Hope for Haiti” bracelets; ticket sales to fundraising events, which included a talent show and a performance by Haitian singer Erol Josue; and an Oxfam-style dinner, at which students registered to donate the cost of their meals.

In addition, the Bookshop donated 10 percent of all sales on April 5, Founders Day, to the effort. The organizers of two annual student events, Eclipse and Spotlight on Human Rights, also plan to donate their profits to the College’s Haiti fundraising efforts, Devins said.

“Hope for Haiti” bracelets can still be purchased in Fanning 111 and at the Bookshop.

-Phoebe Hall



April 26, 2010