Appeared in The Chronicle Herald
By MONICA GRAHAM
Monday Mar 1
St. Francis Xavier University students scrounged for beer bottles, gave up their party money and emptied their pockets in a grassroots drive that raised $12,500 for the Haiti earthquake relief effort.
When matched by the federal government, that means the 5,000 campus students raised a total of $25,000 for the Caribbean country.
Information technology students Sarah Furey and Mitchell Ogilvie started the campaign.
"As an individual, it’s difficult to make a difference, but as a student body (working) together, we were able to tap into all the diversity," Ogilvie said in an interview.
The university’s Haiti effort aimed to raise a loonie from every student to donate to the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, Furey said.
But the huge response saw fundraising events happening every day, a website and Facebook site established, collection boxes set up at numerous campus venues and students from every department and discipline coming together for the same cause, Furey said.
"Everyone wanted to pitch in."
Those without spare cash donated their time for such tedious tasks as rolling mountains of pennies to meet the cut-off date for Ottawa’s contribution-matching promise.
"It was really almost magical," Furey said, noting that the effort attracted people who don’t normally get involved in such campaigns.
Alumni groups donated funds set aside for class programs, parents made donations and students operated a hotdog stand to raise money.
But most of the funds came directly from students, Ogilvie said.
"I don’t know where students came up with $12,500."
Ogilvie said students were galvanized by the poverty-stricken nation’s emergency.
"We far exceeded our initial goal."
The Antigonish campaign is the latest in a number of Haiti relief fundraising efforts across Nova Scotia.
A group of Kentville-area musicians raised $9,300 at a concert, Annapolis Valley soccer players raised $10,600, a Halifax concert raised $3,500 and the Halifax for Haiti event raised $135,000.