Huskies 4 Haiti formed at UWT

100 percent of proceeds will benefit the American Red Cross and Aimer Haiti.

Olivia Aikala

Issue date: 2/2/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Abby Williamson

Diana Lopez and Brooke Brouillet host a Huskies 4 Haiti table in the oUWTpost last week during the lunch hour.

In the wake of the 7.0 Richter scale earthquake that hit Haiti on Jan. 12, many organizations came to the rescue. Organizations such as the American Red Cross, Americares, Catholic Relief Services, Habitat for Humanity and multiple others worked to pull Haiti out of the gutter. Now that UWT has its own program, Huskies 4 Haiti, students and faculty can make donations locally.
"Because of the constant coverage on the news and feeling hopeless, I knew that I wanted to do something for Haiti," Student Activities Board Chair, Diana Lopez, said.
Huskies 4 Haiti started at the UW Tacoma campus. In order to get the program up and running, Lopez had to get permission to be at multiple events, the materials for t-shirts, hats and buttons, as well as an organization to donate the money that they raise. All the proceeds that are donated are given to the American Red Cross, and Aimer Haiti.
"We've set our goal at $5,000 and we have a live feed on our Web site that notifies the public as to how much we've made," Lopez said. As of press time, Huskies 4 Haiti has made $1,957. To check the Web site yourself, visit http://huskies4haiti.yolasite.com.
Yet, they don't plan to stop even after they've met their goal. "My goal is to keep going throughout the year. I want it to be more than just a quarterly event," Lopez said.
Lopez' advisor, Student Program Specialist Shanna Kinzel, seemed to agree. "When a huge disaster happens like this, people are quick to help in the beginning, but it doesn't last for very long. Take Hurricane Katrina for example," Kinzel said.
When Student Involvement came together, Kinzel had wanted to do something for Haiti. "We were talking at our staff meeting about it, but I always feel that it's more effective if a student comes up. When Diana came up to me, I was thrilled," Kinzel said.
Now Huskies 4 Haiti is selling hats, t-shirts and greeting cards. All the materials have been donated by Classic Impressions, The Compleat Company and Northwest Embroidery. The buttons that they are also selling were put together by UWT's Student Activities Board. Additionally, Michael Johnson, Coordinator of New Student Programs, created the logo for the t-shirts.

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