Joey’s Place and Haiti Connection collaborated in a Tuesday event to raise $855 for the volunteer group’s efforts in Haiti.

Haiti is the third poorest country in the world and the poorest in the Western hemisphere.

Haiti Connection Member Molly Malec, a sophomore business management major, said various paintings, baskets and two paintings made by Eastern students were auctioned off. Malec said all items, with the exception of a sculpture, were auctioned off.

Malec also said the group hoped to find sponsors for children in pre-school to elementary school in Barasa, a rural Haitian village.

Amanda Korduck, a junior Spanish major, said she also sponsors a child through the Haiti Connection program.

Malec said the children write letters and send pictures to their sponsors, and sponsors sometimes send letters and gifts to their “children.”

Malec said the cost of sponsoring a child for one year is $30.

Korduck said she could not think of a better way to spend Fat Tuesday than by eating greasy food and supporting a good cause.

Patti Bychowski, a senior family and consumer sciences major, said she came out to Joey’s to support the Haiti Connection.

Bychowski said she attends the Newman Catholic Center and also sponsors a child through the Haiti Connection program.

“Giving back is just something I would obviously want to do,” Bychowski said.

Malec said by sponsoring the children of Haiti, people are allowing them to continue their education.

Other items that were available at the Haiti Connection event were hand-woven baskets, which were made of dried palm leaves, made by a Haitian man named Jacques-who is paralyzed from the waist down.

Catholic missionaries who taught Jacques to weave the baskets, Malec said.

Malec said all the proceeds from the event are going toward a new program called Espwa Pou Demen, which is a Creole saying meaning “hope for tomorrow.”

Hanna McHugh, a senior health studies major, is the person in charge of the new project.

“I think the best part about Espwa Pou Demen is it’s a mixture of all our other programs,” Malec said.

McHugh said the new program offers water purification systems, providing education and literacy for mothers, new houses where the floors won’t turn to mud during the rainy season, as well as providing three different sources of possible income for the family.

McHugh also said the different forms of income usually is established through small animals such as roosters or chickens, crops, and learning a trade, such as basket making.

The program also includes a caseworker that will guide the family through the process and at least one meal a day, McHugh said

McHugh said that the money provided to the family will decrease over time so when the family graduates from the program, the family will be completely financial independent and self-sustained.

Malec said she estimated about 250 people attend the event.

“We feel great,” Malec said. “We’re really glad it was a successful night.”

Kathryn Richter can be reached at 581-2812 or kjrichter@eiu.edu.