The Brown & White

The Community Service Office has launched a fundraising effort to benefit the survivors of the earthquake that destroyed much of Haiti. The disaster struck near the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince at a magnitude of 7.0 on Jan. 12.

Representatives from numerous campus organizations, from Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity to the Gryphon Society to the Neuroscience Club, came together last week to discuss options for fundraising endeavors.

Led by Haitian-American student Karl Brisseaux, '11, and Carolina Hernandez, director of the CSO, the group came up with a list of possibilities, including a fundraising goal of $50,000 and ideas for benefit events.

At the conclusion of the meeting, interested students signed up for various jobs relating to the cause from tabling shifts to joining an event-planning committee. Ideas are already in the works for a large culminating event at the end of the semester, which will act as a celebratory closing to the fundraising efforts and a final attempt to raise as much money as possible for relief.

The CSO has already launched a tallying system on its home Web site to keep track of funds. A bright red thermometer will keep a record of how much money has been raised. Efforts to collect for Haiti have already brought in $931 to the relief fund as of Sunday night. Beneath the thermometer, a message reads, "$10 per student puts us that much closer to Lehigh's goal of $50,000!"

Also available on the CSO Web site is a list of the contact information for charitable organizations already working in Haiti, including American Red Cross, Oxfam, Habitat for Humanity and Doctors Without Borders.

For more information about how to join the effort to help Haiti, Lehigh community members are encouraged to visit the CSO Web site at http://www.lehigh.edu/~inserve.