The emotional aftershocks of the massive earthquake in Haiti have been felt all over the world. They have reached even as far as the UW-Oshokosh.
Born and raised in Haiti, employee of UW-Oshkosh Administrative Services Kir¬wins Charles, felt an emotional connection to the disaster. In the earthquake, Charles expe¬rienced the loss of his cousin’s wife and his cousin’s 7-year-old daughter, and the destruc¬tion of his family’s home. To help out with his home coun¬try, Charles set up an online fundraiser through Mercy¬Corps.
The funds will provide food, water and basic shelter to Hai¬tian victims of the earthquake. So far the fund has raised more than $2,500.
“We have to remember that this is not something that will be fixed overnight,” Charles said. “It’s going to take years.”
Charles wanted to thank the people in Oshkosh and the Fox Cities for their generosity. Do¬nations ranged anywhere from $10 to $100.
Third-year nursing student Maggie Lemieux was the only Oshkosh student to attend the trip to Haiti with the Ventures in People Foundation to work with 4-H groups. She was in Port-Au-Prince the day of the earthquake. Her group left in the morning, before the earth¬quake struck, to another area of the country. This area was only slightly affected by the earthquake. The group’s trip was meant to last four days longer, but was cut short due to the circumstances.
“A lot of the groups couldn’t meet with us because sons, friends, parents and daughters were either dead or missing,” Lemieux said.
Haitians seemed to remain positive even under such ter¬rible conditions.
“The Haitian people I was with still had the mentality of ‘We can overcome this’ after the earthquake, and it was ex¬tremely inspiring,” Lemieux said. “It’s a wonderful thing to get involved in, and also very fulfilling. I am so happy that I went and I do plan on going again, hopefully next year. It’s a beautiful country, they just need the resources and knowl¬edge to maintain and grow it to its full capability.”
Among Lemieux’s group was UW Oshkosh Assistant Director in the Admissions Of¬fice Laurie Stevens’ 85-year-old mother. Stevens’ mother has been travelling to Haiti for the past 30 years with Ventures in People Foundation.
Janet Zerbe and Stevens were inspired to start their own fundraising. The Oshkosh Ad¬missions office sported a casu¬al look all of last week to show their support for Haiti.
Anyone working in the Admissions of¬fice that donated to the “Hearts with Haiti” fund would be al¬lowed to wear jeans for the day.
“We don’t get to wear jeans in here very often because we’re working with prospec¬tive students and the public so it was kind of a treat for us,” Stevens said.
The jean fundraiser raised $375 that will go directly to Haiti.
Other areas of campus are also starting to get involved in helping out.
The Advising Center and Registrar’s Office hosted a bake sale and donated the prof¬its directly to Charles online fund.
“I will say that I am very impressed with the success of this event. We had people from throughout Dempsey Hall stop by to donate and buy baked goods – it was a group event,” Director of Academic Advis¬ing Lynn Freeman said.
If any students or faculty are interested in getting involved in the support for Haiti, make sure to check out the informa¬tional meeting for the Haiti Response Steering Committee.
According to a campus-wide e-mail his committee’s focus will be to provide guidance, support, and assistance with promotion to student groups and offices planning fund¬raisers and awareness-raising events. The committee will meet this Friday at 1 p.m. in Reeve 215.
