“Swipe” for Haiti raises over $6,000 in donations

News — By Heather Hodder on January 22, 2010 at 11:04 pm

Gworld card holders swiped their cards on Friday to donate to Haiti disaster relief, as part of GW and the Caribbean Student Assoication’s university-wide initiative “GW Hands For Haiti.” At the end of the day, $6,324.70 was raised to be donated equally between The American Red Cross and Project Medishare, an independent non-profit organization that is providing health care to the Haitian people.

The donation day coincided with a telethon to be held Friday evening, hosted by George Clooney and MTV Networks.

Project Medishare was chosen as one of the organizations to raise funds for because of GW’s longstanding relationship with the organization. Since 2004, GW Medical Center’s International Medicine Program (IMP) has partnered with Project Medishare to send Medical teams to Haiti and collected funds for providing the organization and its local clinics with medicine.

The American Red Cross was chosen as the other charity to raise funds for because it is currently the recommended charity for contributions by the U.S. State Department, according to Candace Smith, executive director of  GW Media Relations.

Members of GW’s community were able to donate at multiple locations in the Marvin Center, including Columbian Square and Colonial Central, and at both the Mount Vernon and Virginia Science and Technology Campus.

At the Columbian Square location alone, after three hours of accepting donations, only half way through the event, over 50 people had donated and approximately $1,000 had been raised.

While this was a one-day only event, the administration said GW’s involvement in the Haiti relief effort is not over.

” This is one of many steps,” said GW President Steven Knapp,who came to donate at the Columbian Square location. ” What we’re doing here is responding financially, there is a need for cash support [in Haiti],” he added.

President Knapp also said he has been in e-mail correspondence with Haitian First Lady Elisabeth Delatour Préval. Mrs.Préval is a GW alumna, having received her M.B.A from GW in 1988.

Many members of the GW faculty are in Haiti currently, including GW emergency physicians who are a part of Fairfax Urban Search and Rescue.

While GW is not aware of any relatives of students to have been killed from the disaster, many GW students have relatives still trapped in Haiti.

Emma Thelusme, President of the Caribbean Students’ Association, has a large family in Haiti, with an aunt and two cousins in Port-au-Prince, and other family members in other parts of Haiti. Thelusme reported that her family is safe.

” We [the Caribbean Students' Association] received an influx of outreach from several student organizations,” said Thelusme.

After meeting last Sunday, the CSA has organized a variety of events, including the Candlelight Vigil for victims of the earthquake held on Tuesday, a benefit “Party 4 Haiti” held on Friday night in the Marvin Center, and an upcoming benefit concert on February 3, in collaboration with “The Link” a music group whose members include GW students.

Hundreds of students came out to donate throughout the day, a task made simple by Friday’s “swipe” initiative.

Tags: GW Hands for Haiti