The effort to raise funds for the earthquake relief effort in Haiti has been prominent among the Eastern community.

Roy Lanham, director of the Newman Catholic Center and the Haiti Connection, reported that in the days following the tragedy, members of the Eastern and Charleston community have raised $60,642.68 as of Thursday.

“The largest gift was a $3,700 gift, the smallest gift was a handful of pennies,” Lanham said. “All of it is adding up together to make a difference.”

He said all the money raised will go to one of three local Haiti organizations that the Haiti Connection has supported for years.

Deep Springs International is a group that provides sanitary water for Haitians.

“We have 800 families who have access to clean drinking water thanks to our efforts with DSI,” Lanham said.

He said the goal is to get 10,000 water purifying systems on the ground and that as a result of the $5,000 already sent by the Charleston community, they are a 10th of the way there.

Fonkoze is a Haitian microcredit bank for the poor. Eastern students raised $60,000 last year to open a branch of the bank with the poor in the mountains where the Haiti Connection works.

“(Fonkoze) works with the little women to get them on a pathway to a better life, a pathway out of poverty,” Lanham said.

Matthew 25 is a Haitian relief group that received international attention in the days following the earthquake because it was forced to turn its guest house into a field hospital. Lanham said seeing his friends with Matthew 25 perform surgery on their dining room table was a graphic sight, but it was beautiful because it meant they were safe.

In addition to accepting any and all donations made toward Haiti at its offices across from Andrew Hall, the Haiti Connection is also hosting a medical supplies drive. Bins have been set up across campus in each residence hall, the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union and Greek Court. Donations of aspirin, vitamins, Neosporin, hydrogen peroxide, Tylenol, Tums, band-aids, gloves, AA and AAA batteries and other medical supplies can be donated.

The Haiti Connection will be hosting its annual fundraiser called “Haiti Night at the Jack” on Feb. 16, with proceeds going toward the relief effort.

Another large event geared toward raising funds for earthquake relief is “A Day for Haiti,” which will be held starting at noon on Jan. 30 in the McAfee Gym.

The event was created in response to the earthquake by Otis Seawood, special events coordinator for the University Board and the Black Student Union, Demarlon Brown, president of the Black Student Union, and Ebony Frazier of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

The event is broken up between athletics in the day and music at night. The athletics consist of a three-on-three basketball tournament, a double-dutch jump rope tournament and a dodge ball tournament. At 8 p.m. there will be a concert.

Students can get registration forms to pre-register teams at the Student Activity Center until Thursday. There will also be a late registration in McAfee Gym before activities start. The fee for registration is $5 and all the money raised will go to Haiti Connection.

Seawood said the choice to donate the money to the Haiti Connection was made to support Eastern’s strong community.

“Everyone talks about Red Cross and (large organizations) like them and that’s wonderful,” Seawood said. “But the staff believes in giving to our community because our community is very dedicated for different causes, and the Haiti Connection has been around for years now and they’ve been doing great work with sending help to Haiti so we thought it would be ideal to help them do what they do best.”

In what director of Student Life Ceci Brinker called a “campuswide relief initiative,” several Eastern student organizations are sponsoring “A Day For Haiti” including University Board, the Black Student Union, Delta Sigma Theta, Alpha Phi Alpha and the Office of Community Service.

If students cannot participate in the events to provide relief to Haiti or be a part of Haiti Connection’s next mission trip to Haiti on May 10, they are still urged to help in any way.

“There are so many good organizations out there,” Lanham said. “I don’t care where it goes, so long as it goes to Haiti. If you like the Red Cross, then give to the Red Cross. What’s important to me is that if your heart is moved to give, then you give it down there.”

Doug T. Graham can be reached at 581-7942 or dtgraham@eiu.edu.

The setting sun shines into Ray Padovan pool as coach Matt Bos watches the team practice Wednesday afternoon. The Panthers are getting ready for two meets Friday and Saturday this week. (Amir Prellberg / The Daily Eastern News)

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