AU Students Helping Asian Relief Efforts (SHARE), a student-run group raising money for tsunami victims, is wrapping up its first three weeks of fund-raising.
With the cooperation of the Center for Peace Building Institute of Washington, the group helped raise $20,000 to rebuild a destroyed village in Sri Lanka. There is no overhead cost for this fund, and the group will make a documentary while restoring the village to be used for later fund-raising efforts.
Gunjan Koul, a senior in the School of International Service, began the group by spreading the word through thefacebook.com, a Web site popular with AU students. "The hardest time we had was to decide where the money was going," Koul said.
This way, said Koul, we "can track exactly where the money is going."
The death toll of the tsunami was recently upwardly revised to 280,000 people, and relief workers say they pull up to 1,000 corpses from the destruction each day, according to The Washington Post.
Last night, SHARE planned to present a concert co-sponsored by Eagle Nights, a branch of the Student Confederation. However, miscommunication forced the cancellation of the concert. Dime a Dozen, Matt Miller and Zia Hassan, among others, were expected to perform.
"This past week, three or four [coordinators] had family emergencies. ... Things couldn't get done on time," said Armith Fernandez-Prabhu, a coordinator of the event.
SHARE plans to rebook the concert for next Wednesday. SHARE also has other events planned for this week, including a night at Recessions lounge in Farragut North.
SHARE partnered with a number of groups on campus, including the Athletics Department. In January, the club set up tables at six major men's and women's basketball games, and every contributor at the basketball games received a bracelet. At the men's basketball game against Bucknell at Friday at 7 p.m., SHARE will sell Krispy Kreme doughnuts at tables in Bender Arena. It will also sell Krispy Kremes following the game in each residence hall lobby at 11 p.m.
SHARE coordinated a series of benefit events to span the week. On Monday, SHARE asked students to wear blue clothes and tsunami relief bracelets all day in an effort to garner attention. Tuesday featured the AU Relief Challenge, a competition between the residence halls for the largest donation.
SHARE also joined with the South Asian Student Association, Georgetown South Asian Student Association, the George Mason International Student Association and the South Asian Students of Johns Hopkins to hold a party on Friday. The benefit party will be located at the Paper Moon restaurant on 31st Street in Georgetown.
Russell Peters, a South Asian comedian and part-time DJ, will debut in Washington Friday at a program hosted by Georgetown. The Back to School Jam features a performance by DJ Fresh. Peters will sign autographs and pose for pictures.
Next week, SHARE will sell hot chocolate in front of the School of International Service building from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday. The hot chocolate will be sold for $3, money that will be funneled directly to the Center for Peace Building Institute disaster-relief fund.
Despite all of the activity, Koul said she wished that SHARE could raise more money.
"I was hoping for more of a response from the campus, but it's difficult because you can't make people care about it. Once it gets off the news, it's hard to make people realize [the tragedy] is still going on," Koul said. However, she added, "I don't think that means they don't care."
The fund intends to offer alternative-break programs for students interested in visiting the Sri Lankan village and donating their time to its assistance. Fifty homes housing five people each can be built for $10,000, and the fund will also build a school for children, among other projects.
The International Red Cross group on campus will back SHARE with funds while it works this semester to donate money to the Center for Peace Building Institute fund. The center will head to Sri Lanka for the first time this Friday, armed with a storage room full of supplies like textbooks and canned foods.
The University of Virginia has also started a SHARE group, after coordinator Dina Hardy spoke to one of her friends, a coordinator of AU SHARE, the university's Cavalier Daily reported yesterday. UVA's group raised $500 in the first three days of fund-raising.
Eagle Staff Writer Lauren Gardner contributed to this report.
