Concert raises $7,000 for Haiti

As the UniteD Students for Haiti benefit concert came to a close Thursday night, students swayed side to side and sang along to "We Are the World" performed by several of the university's a cappella groups.

"We wanted to show that this fundraising campaign, UniteD Students for Haiti, isn't just the result of one or two people working hard," concert coordinator Rita Chang said. "The last act was a conglomeration of all the a cappella groups to show that the University of Delaware is united to help Haiti."

UniteD Students for Haiti, a group of registered student organizations, banded together to put on the benefit concert. The group's mission is to raise money to rebuild the Villa Hospital in Haiti, which was destroyed by the Jan. 12 earthquake. 

The concert raised a total of $7,000 from ticket, raffle ticket, T-shirt and Haiti memorabilia sales, Chang said. Approximately 600 people attended the event.

"Students were able to take the Haiti crisis into their own hands and make a contribution," Chang said. "Even though the benefits aren't tangible to them, they know their money is going to a good cause, and it will help the people of Haiti."

The concert f eatured three hours of non-stop entertainment provided by performance groups from the university and the surrounding areas. Acts ranged from rap duos to comedy groups.

The concert opened with addresses from university President Patrick Harker and Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) who both praised the student body for its contribution to the Haiti relief effort.

Harker stressed the importance of individual contributions and encouraged students to do what they could to support the relief effort.

"Tonight, dig deep. You don't need that Latte, you can spend that money here," Harker said.

Student concert organizer, Matt Watters, said the UniteD Students for Haiti's campaign goal is to raise $50,000, the amount needed to rebuild the Villa Hospital.

Watters said a group he started in the fall, Students for Haiti, has already raised $20,000, which it intended on using to build a new hospital in the Haitian countryside.

"When the earthquake hit everything changed," Watters said. "Students for Haiti then committed to rebuilding a hospital that had collapsed during the earthquake."

Freshman Jessica Kradjel said she knows there are  Haitians  still in need and she has the ability to help.

"The earthquake in Haiti shocked me into realizing how fortunate we are here," Kradjel said. "At Delaware we are just chilling and doing our thing."

Senior Edens Duphresne was personally affected by the tragedy. Duphresne is a Haiti native and still has family living there.

His family lives in an area that was not hit by the earthquake, but they are now feeling the repercussions because of the mass movement of people to towns untouched by the quake.

"Hundreds to thousands of people are moving at one time, and that is taking resources from people who were already in the areas they are moving to," Duphresne said. "Plus, the capital is shut down, so the resources being imported aren't coming as swiftly as they used to."

This, he said, has resulted in an extra strain on the country's ability to provide healthcare and is why he is so supportive of UniteD Students for Haiti's efforts to raise money to rebuild the Villa Hospital.

"A lot of times most people don't have access to any type of medical care whatsoever," Duphresne said.

Watters said the concert is one of many things UniteD Students for Haiti is doing to raise money to aid relief efforts. He said he has been applying for several grants, including the Clinton Global Initiative, to raise the needed $50,000 as soon as possible.

He said his fear is that after the concert is over, students will lose interest in the group's campaign. Within coming weeks, the group plans to have its Web site updated with all of the upcoming events, he said.

"We are planning an intramural Olympic day, with dodgeball and volleyball tournaments, for later in the semester," Watters said.