By Letters
To the Northwestern Community:
On January 12, 2010, the world watched as a massive earthquake struck the island nation of Haiti, resulting in unimaginable destruction. As a community of Northwestern students, we felt an urgent duty to respond.
Drawn together by this sense of responsibility, representatives from over forty student groups met and organized a school-wide campaign to support the relief efforts. NU STANDS WITH HAITI was formed, with a modest goal of $8,000 — $1 for each undergraduate student.
Performing arts groups and professors, students and social action groups, religious groups and residence halls united, planning fundraisers overnight and dedicating their annual events to the cause. The result was staggering: over $18,500 were raised, more than twice our initial goal.
Our efforts were greatly strengthened together by the Evanston community. With the Evanston-based Haitian Congress, students arranged to send more than twenty boxes of supplies; our partnership with them continues. In recognition of this partnership, the Lewis-Sebring Family Foundation generously pledged their support for NU STANDS WITH HAITI by providing a matching grant of $10,000 toward our fundraising efforts, bringing the present total to $28,500.
We are pleased to direct these funds to Partners In Health and the American Red Cross — two reputable organizations who were among the first to respond in Port-au-Prince and have continued to provide vital services. This campaign could not have been successful without the students, faculty, and staff who organized and participated in the many events, and we thank them greatly.
While Northwestern’s contribution is remarkable, we hope that this is the beginning of an ongoing conversation about the conditions that preceded this catastrophe and on the long, arduous rebuilding ahead. It is up to us as a community to sustain our energy and passion to ensure that we continue to stand with Haiti.
In solidarity,
NU STANDS WITH HAITI
Megha Agrawal, SESP senior, is the Co Director of the Global Engagement Summit
Source: North by Northwestern
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