A week after a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the island country of Haiti, several on-campus groups have their fundraising machines up and running. Coordinating these efforts, the ASSU Executives, in conjunction with Partners in Health (PIH), unveiled a nationwide college fundraising challenge on Sunday night in an e-mail to the student body.
With the announcement, the ASSU is joining the ranks of the nonprofit FACE AIDS, Stanford’s School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital and Clinics and Dance Marathon in raising funds for relief efforts.
“We thought the best way to get the most people involved is through a competition across the country,” said ASSU President David Gobaud. “We thought if we set up a dashboard to track donations between universities, it would motivate more people.”
So far, seven schools, including UC-Berkeley and Caltech, have signed onto the ASSU-led challenge, which will run through Wednesday. The ASSU is also running another challenge between dorms and residences on Stanford’s campus.
In total, participating universities have raised over $40,000, including around $10,000 from Stanford and $27,000 from Dartmouth, who began their challenge a day earlier, on Saturday.
Temporarily, the money donated to Stanford’s campaign is being redirected to FACE AIDS, who announced Saturday that they will match dollar-for-dollar any funds raised by chapters nationwide, up to $50,000. The FACE AIDS amount is being matched through a donation from Sterling Stamos, a private investment firm.
As of press time, FACE AIDS has raised $22,220, much of the funds coming from Stanford University, according to FACE AIDS Executive Director Julie Veroff ‘07.
Founded by Stanford students in 2005 and based in Palo Alto, FACE AIDS has chapters in more than 200 universities and high schools across the nation. Though their primary focus is to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Rwanda, Veroff said the magnitude of the crisis in Haiti demanded action.
“We felt that as a group of young people passionate about global health and social issues, [the Haiti earthquake] was something we could not ignore,” she said.
Veroff hoped that this challenge would also be a way for more young people to become involved in global issues. High school chapter leaders will be holding awareness events, such as movie screenings, in the coming weeks.
Both the money donated to FACE AIDS and the ASSU will go toward PIH’s Haiti earthquake relief and reconstruction efforts.
Founded in 1987, PIH is a health care nonprofit that operates in ten countries and provides medical care to poor communities. With over 20 years of experience in Haiti, PIH operates nine hospitals in the country, along with a triage center recently set up for earthquake victims.
Also working with the ASSU is Dance Marathon, the annual Stanford fundraiser that donates the majority of its proceeds to PIH’s efforts in Rwanda. In light of the earthquake, the Dance Marathon coordinators have removed earmarks from the event this year, allowing PIH to utilize funds wherever needs are most pressing.
“We spoke with Partners In Health and our first reaction was, ‘Let’s change beneficiaries completely’ and give 100 percent of what we get to Haiti, but PIH asked us specifically not to do that,” said Dance Marathon Campus Director Bill Loundy ‘10. Dance Marathon gives a reliable sum of money every year to Rwanda, and PIH wanted to maintain that, according to Loundy.
In an e-mail to Dance Marathon participants, however, he said PIH will most likely still use the Dance Marathon donations in Rwanda.
“We’ve encouraged those who want to give directly to Haiti in a time sensitive way to go through the ASSU,” he said.
Other groups helping the ASSU with outreach efforts include the Caribbean Students Association (CSA) and the Student Red Cross.
Stanford School of Medicine, Department of Medicine and Stanford Hospital and Clinics is running a separate fundraising effort, announced Thursday, Jan. 14. The Hospital will match up to $25,000, with funds going to the Hopital Albert Schweitzer (HAS) in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.
Individuals have also been motivated to raise funds on their own.
Timothy Tam ’12, a member of the Stanford cycling team, is also offering to fix students’ bikes for $5 to $10, with proceeds going to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.
Donating money remains the best way for people to provide assistance to Haiti earthquake victims, said Patricia Arty ’10, who has family in Haiti. Arty is the development director for FACE AIDS and the public relations executive for Dance Marathon.
“What I’ve heard from my relatives is if people could just donate one to two dollars <\p>–<\p>anything you have<\p>–<\p>it is a huge help, especially in Haiti,” she said. “A hot meal in Haiti costs 25 cents U.S.
“It’s still a stressful situation. Our country has to think about rebuilding all over again,” she added.
Donations through the ASSU Web site can be made at assu.stanford.edu/haiti. Funds for HAS should be donated through hashaiti.org/C1a_w1.html, marking ‘Stanford University School of Medicine’ as the matching organization. Contact Tam for bike repairs at
[email protected].
A week after a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the island country of Haiti, several on-campus groups have their fundraising machines up and running. Coordinating these efforts, the ASSU Executives, in conjunction with Partners in Health (PIH), unveiled a nationwide college fundraising challenge on Sunday night in an e-mail to the student body.
With the announcement, the ASSU is joining the ranks of the nonprofit FACE AIDS, Stanford’s School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital and Clinics and Dance Marathon in raising funds for relief efforts.
“We thought the best way to get the most people involved is through a competition across the country,” said ASSU President David Gobaud. “We thought if we set up a dashboard to track donations between universities, it would motivate more people.”
So far, seven schools, including UC-Berkeley and Caltech, have signed onto the ASSU-led challenge, which will run through Wednesday. The ASSU is also running another challenge between dorms and residences on Stanford’s campus.
In total, participating universities have raised over $40,000, including around $10,000 from Stanford and $27,000 from Dartmouth, who began their challenge a day earlier, on Saturday.
Temporarily, the money donated to Stanford’s campaign is being redirected to FACE AIDS, who announced Saturday that they will match dollar-for-dollar any funds raised by chapters nationwide, up to $50,000. The FACE AIDS amount is being matched through a donation from Sterling Stamos, a private investment firm.
As of press time, FACE AIDS has raised $22,220, much of the funds coming from Stanford University, according to FACE AIDS Executive Director Julie Veroff ‘07.
Founded by Stanford students in 2005 and based in Palo Alto, FACE AIDS has chapters in more than 200 universities and high schools across the nation. Though their primary focus is to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Rwanda, Veroff said the magnitude of the crisis in Haiti demanded action.
“We felt that as a group of young people passionate about global health and social issues, [the Haiti earthquake] was something we could not ignore,” she said.
Veroff hoped that this challenge would also be a way for more young people to become involved in global issues. High school chapter leaders will be holding awareness events, such as movie screenings, in the coming weeks.
Both the money donated to FACE AIDS and the ASSU will go toward PIH’s Haiti earthquake relief and reconstruction efforts.
Founded in 1987, PIH is a health care nonprofit that operates in ten countries and provides medical care to poor communities. With over 20 years of experience in Haiti, PIH operates nine hospitals in the country, along with a triage center recently set up for earthquake victims.
Also working with the ASSU is Dance Marathon, the annual Stanford fundraiser that donates the majority of its proceeds to PIH’s efforts in Rwanda. In light of the earthquake, the Dance Marathon coordinators have removed earmarks from the event this year, allowing PIH to utilize funds wherever needs are most pressing.
“We spoke with Partners In Health and our first reaction was, ‘Let’s change beneficiaries completely’ and give 100 percent of what we get to Haiti, but PIH asked us specifically not to do that,” said Dance Marathon Campus Director Bill Loundy ‘10. Dance Marathon gives a reliable sum of money every year to Rwanda, and PIH wanted to maintain that, according to Loundy.
In an e-mail to Dance Marathon participants, however, he said PIH will most likely still use the Dance Marathon donations in Rwanda.
“We’ve encouraged those who want to give directly to Haiti in a time sensitive way to go through the ASSU,” he said.
Other groups helping the ASSU with outreach efforts include the Caribbean Students Association (CSA) and the Student Red Cross.
Stanford School of Medicine, Department of Medicine and Stanford Hospital and Clinics is running a separate fundraising effort, announced Thursday, Jan. 14. The Hospital will match up to $25,000, with funds going to the Hopital Albert Schweitzer (HAS) in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.
Individuals have also been motivated to raise funds on their own.
Timothy Tam ’12, a member of the Stanford cycling team, is also offering to fix students’ bikes for $5 to $10, with proceeds going to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.
Donating money remains the best way for people to provide assistance to Haiti earthquake victims, said Patricia Arty ’10, who has family in Haiti. Arty is the development director for FACE AIDS and the public relations executive for Dance Marathon.
“What I’ve heard from my relatives is if people could just donate one to two dollars –anything you have–it is a huge help, especially in Haiti,” she said. “A hot meal in Haiti costs 25 cents U.S.
It’s still a stressful situation. Our country has to think about rebuilding all over again,” she added.
Donations through the ASSU Web site can be made at assu.stanford.edu/haiti. Funds for HAS should be donated through hashaiti.org/C1a_w1.html, marking ‘Stanford University School of Medicine’ as the matching organization. Contact Tam for bike repairs at [email protected].
