Fun Fundraising for Haiti Relief

The Albright College Student Government Association and the Reading community have made some efforts for our students at local Colleges and Universities to reach out and help with the Haiti Relief efforts. According to several of the S.G.A. members Albright has done at least two fundraisers to help those people in Haiti.

The picture from above is from this website.

One of the fundraisers that Albright College has put on was called “Berks Got Talent”. This organization involved not only Albright but, many other Colleges and Universities such as; Kutztown University, Penn State Berks, Reading Area Community College, Alvernia University, and Penn State Schuylkill who were the ones to orchestrate the event.

“This event allowed students to show off their hidden talents in a talent show,” said Bradley Smith, S.G.A. director of student activities.

“Berks Got Talent” raised $1,200 for the Haitian people. All the money went towards the American Red Cross Disaster Relief fund for Haiti.

Another event that the local community of Reading and Albright students was involved in was “Haiti Relief Night.”

“In an effort to help the earthquake victims in Haiti, Ifodige Productions, Inc., an entertainment company started by current Albright College students, had decided to present a "Haiti Relief" event on Friday, Feb. 5, 2010,” said Andre Forbes.

This was not an Albright orchestrated event. Ifodige Productions Inc. was the organization who ran this event.

“Ifodige Productions Inc. is a Music and Stage Production Company that was started in June 2009, by me, the founder and C.E.O.,” said Forbes. “The goal of Ifodige Productions is to provide exceptional service in entertainment with its own spin on the industry as a whole.”

However, Albright did provide transportation for their students so they could remain safe.

Ifodige Productions, Inc., through its nonprofit charity, Just Heart Help Inc., had decided to host an event in the Reading Area that will raise awareness for the Haiti Relief Efforts. This event was held at a local club called 1402 located on 1402 N. 9th St. in Reading, Pa. Students had paid a five dollar cover charge. You had to be 18 years old to get in and 21 to drink.

"This was a good idea for the students to have some fun and do something good at the same time," said Albright College senior Shawn Clark. "I had a fun time at the Haiti Relief Night."

This event brought in a large crowd of students and the Reading community who wanted to help support Haiti. Also the event was sponsored by WIRED 96.5 who donated commercials free of charge.

"Ifodige Productions had set a goal to raise $1,000 to be donated to the Samuel Dalembert Foundation through Ifodige Production’s philanthropy, Just Heart Help Inc., a nonprofit organization that aids in the development of countries in need,” said Forbes.

However, along with Albright College the rest of the country is making tremendous efforts to help the people of Haiti as well.

First, from the New York Times there is an article called “Raising money for Haiti is Child’s Play”. A couple students from Louis F. Simone School organized a playathon in Queens to raise money for the people of Haiti. The Kids Care Club is the organization that ran the playathon.

The students were instructed to get sponsors, families and friends for donations. The amount of money that was collected would determine how much time the children would get to spend for play. Through the organization all of the $2,006 proceeds which were matched by the Hasbro Children’s Fund were given to help the Haiti citizens.

Furthermore, a Governor Mifflin freshman, Marisa Lombardo, started her own idea of selling something like those “Live strong” bracelets during their lunch periods. The only difference is that her bracelets said “Haiti” and “Band Together”. Marisa’s idea spread to the local elementary school. There were children involved in the elementary school who sold the bracelets. Each bracelet was sold at a dollar each. They had set a goal to raise $8,000 and all the proceeds were sent to the children’s foundation.

Fundraising in the Harrisburg area newspaper, the Patriot news, there were two articles I had found on fundraisers for Haiti. The article involved the Greater Harrisburg Interim Chapter of the National Black MBA Association Inc. and the African American Affinity Group of Hershey Co., all hosted a social fundraiser for the Haiti Relief Fund.

Another article from the Harrisburg area involved none other than Governor Rendell. Governor Rendell was accompanied by a few doctors so the children who were chosen to come back would be checked out first. They were brought back to Pittsburgh, Pa. Rendell brought them back because he wanted to keep the children out of harms way.

Lastly, Philadelphia did their part as well with one article titled “Billions for Haiti, a criticism for every dollar.” This article told what organizations were involved in fundraising for Haiti relief. Catholic Relief services, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and the U.S. Wing of the Doctors without Borders were all the ones involved.

Another article from the Philadelphia area is about Washington Township in Philadelphia which orchestrated their fundraiser. This fundraiser was started by Evan Winokur. The organization is called “A Little Helping Hand.” In this organization the people who donated the money to benefit the Haiti people did help them. Evan and a couple other people went over there to take care of the citizen’s bruises and cuts.

As you can see Albright College’s fundraisers are just a fraction of what’s going on around the world for the Haitian people and their country.