Midd raises over $3,500 for Haiti

In the past week, a small group of Middlebury students has raised approximately $4,900 in donations for Haiti following the earthquake that left the country devastated on Jan. 12.

The earthquake, with an estimated magnitude of 7.0, was the largest to strike the region in more than 200 years, and government officials fear the death toll may reach 200,000, according to BBC News.

Middlebury’s successful fundraising campaign began when Mori Rothman ’11 and Jacob Udell ’12 saw an e-mail sent to the Middlebury Climate Campaign mailing list from Associate Professor of Economics Jon Isham. The e-mail urged interested parties to donate to Partners in Health (PIH), a global health organization founded by Paul Farmer, who spoke in Mead Chapel last spring.

“That e-mail centered my mass of confused feelings, channeled it in a way,” said Rothman.

Rothman and Udell e-mailed their friends on Jan. 13 and began tabling for donations to PIH in Proctor and Ross Dining Halls the following day. They were amazed at how much money they collected in that one day.

“I literally decided to send out one e-mail to a few friends,” said Udell, “and the next thing I knew, we had fundraising schedules through Monday. It’s also been amazing to see the willingness to give of the college community — all you have to say is ‘Haiti relief,’ and most students we encountered were immediately generous.”

“It was unbelievable,” said Rhiya Trivedi ’12.5, who has also played a large role in the fundraising.

“In the lunch rush at Proctor at 12:30, we just could not keep up. Money was exchanging hands everywhere and twenties were being dropped in and we were trying to not have our eyes pop out of our head.”

The generosity was not limited to students — the fundraisers noted that $20-dollar bills and other donations large and small were given by dining hall staff, faculty and other members of the College community.

“I think it’s incredible,” wrote Peggy Burns, associate director of the Alliance for Civic Engagement in an e-mail.

“To have raised more than $3,000 in just a few days really speaks to [students’] commitment to helping — and to students wanting to help.”

Udell and Rothman were also quick to say that they owed Burns “a big thank you” for allowing them to fundraise as well as planning larger fundraisers on campus.

This group of students, while the first to commence fundraising on campus, was joined this week by other organizations and events trying to lend Haiti much-needed aid.

Approximately $1,600 in donations was collected at a Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration concert on Monday, the Pan Caribbean Student Organization has a panel planned for Jan. 26 and Distinguished Men of Color has a poker and pool tournament planned for Jan. 23, with funds raised being donated to the rescue effort.

A meeting was held on Tuesday for the entire College community in McCullough to bring the campus together in an opportunity to reflect and inform about future fundraising opportunities.

The small group that has been fundraising since last Thursday credits their success to the organic nature in which the campaign formed, and the fact that they are fundraising simply as compassionate human beings, unaffiliated with any organization. Also, their placement outside of dining halls make it possibly the easiest way for Middlebury students to give aid to Haiti.

“That’s the brilliance of any successful, well-organized campaign,” said Rothman.

“The easier it is, the more people are going to do it … the ease of it is that you see a box, lots of money, seemingly nice people, and you say ‘yeah, sure, I can spare $5.’”

The cheery demeanor of those stationed outside of the dining halls is also considered a crucial component of their fundraising strategy.

“This kind of campaign is not sustainable if you are wallowing in the misery that the issue itself deserves the entire time you are doing it,” said Rothman.

“Allowing myself to try to feel what I would be feeling if I were there, I don’t think I could get out of bed. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t talk to anyone, let alone fundraise.”

Relying on the tactics they have at their disposal as students with large networks of friends and a considerable quantity of tempered optimism has proved much more beneficial. They write ‘Haiti’ in purple ink on those students who want to give but have no wallets and attract passersby with improvised songs urging donations.

They have also found that simply addressing someone by name almost ensures they will donate.

“Some of us are more aggressive than others,” said Rothman.

“Some people say, ‘can you give, if not, that’s OK.’ Rhiya and I say, ‘can you give? If not, give.’”

For these fundraisers, the stories they can share about the donors paints an even more poignant picture of the situation than the amount of money they have raised. Nial Rele ’12, a first-year counselor in Stewart Hall, said that his entire hall of first-years had donated to Haiti. Trivedi told of the people who volunteered to take a shift, people she had never met before. There were the numerous people who dropped $100 bills in their cardboard box, those who ran back to their room to grab their wallets and one girl who felt compelled to add another $20 to the box the three times she passed by.

“I wish we could give some people superhero capes,” said Trivedi.

However, Rele said that not everyone has been sympathetic and willing to give to the cause.

“On one hand, its comforting to see that so many people are willing to give and are interested in where the money is going,” said Rele.

“On the other hand there are, unfortunately, a whole bunch of people on this campus who won’t even look at you. You try to make eye contact, you try to get their attention, try to get some form of compassion out of them. It has happened to all of us who are tabling, they just walk right by.”

The worst, according to Rele, are the texters — “If you can text and drive, you can text and donate.”

Despite the resistant few who pass the donation box, the fundraisers believe that the overall interest in Haiti on campus has resulted in a boon for the cause and the College community.

Isham, whose e-mail inspired the students to act, said he was “really impressed by what they have done, though not surprised. In my 11 years at Middlebury, I have seen time and time again how our students understand the gravity of 21st-century challenges, and then how they boldly and creatively act in the face of such challenges. What has happened in Haiti is beyond understanding: we each must do as much as we can.”

It makes you proud of our community,” said Rothman. “Everyone says Middlebury is this community of un-activism, and this proves that it is not due to apathy — it’s not because people don’t care about the world.”

“We might not be activists, but this has proved that we are at least active,” said Trivedi.

“And that might even be better because the danger of activism is that you get pigeonholed into your own issue and you don’t care about anything else. Being broadly active, when you are in college, might be a greater contribution to the planet than caring about your own pet issue … I would take active over activism for the community today.”

Udell reiterated this sentiment, and also expressed hope that support for Haiti would be able to continue even when the media fervor ends.

“It’s important for me to believe that Middlebury is not just an ivory tower, and so many people around here are truly moving beyond their individual concerns to focus on alleviating the suffering of others,” wrote Udell in an e-mail.

“My sense is that the Middlebury community has only begun fundraising and figuring out ways to continue to help, and I think all of us involved in tabling were just grateful to be a part of it. If we were able to raise this much money sitting in chairs in front of Proctor and Ross, I’m excited to see what the Middlebury community can do once we are equipped with more formal strategies.”