The earthquake that hit Haiti two weeks ago sent shockwaves not just on the island of Haiti, but also all over the world. These shockwaves brought the whole globe to action, including right here at NC A&T.  Project Haiti is an ad hoc initiative led by Malcolm Eustache, President of The National Association of Black Journalists and Student Government Association President Syene Jasmin.

The main purpose of Project Haiti is to help the people of Haiti through a variety of community outreach programs. Crisis relief is their primary mission. “What is definite about this relief effort is it will last as long as it needs to,” says Eustache, a senior Journalism major.

Project Haiti is a joint effort between students, faculty and staff.  Along with Professor Ryan Maltese and Shana Irwin, Jasmin and Eustache have met several times to establish Project Haiti. The initiative held it’s first open interest meeting last Friday. During the meeting, students got a chance to share there ideas and get a better understanding of what Project Haiti was about.

Some of the ideas shared were the merging of different organizations so that the school could focus on one relief effort at a time instead of a bunch of different ones. For example, there is a Haitian Awareness Program, similar to the Darfur Awareness Program at A&T.  Other proposals were to use outlets such as A&T’s channel, The A&T Register, and/or the radio station to raise awareness and donations.

A campus wide collection of clothing, canned food, bottled water, and non-perishable personal items, started January 20th.

Drop boxes have been placed all over campus for students to place their donations into.

The athletic department donated a trailer for all the items to be placed in. Donations can also be dropped off at the trailer in the Aggie Stadium parking lot between 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. Students can donate their time by manning the trailer, checking expiration dates on cans, and more. CASE hours will be given out for students who help.

Another major idea in the works is working with Sodexo for a Skip-A-Meal for Haiti Day in which students with meal plans would skip a specific meal and Sodexo would donate that money to Haiti.

Project Haiti can’t raise money due to legality issues.  That is why none of their community outreach programs included raising money.

Raising awareness about Haiti is just as important to Project Haiti as collecting items to send over.

“We want to keep this issue at the forefront of peoples minds. We haven’t figured out exactly how we plan to do it, everything is moving so fast, and we’re still for the most part, in the planning stages,” said Eustache.

The Project Haiti Facebook page already has 99 members.  Freshman Sabaza Varid is one of the many students wanting to take part in this initiative.

“I decided to join Project Haiti because I wanted to show as much support to the Haitians as possible. Also, I personally try to take part in any type of activism that comes my way.I want to encourage students to find it in their hearts to keep this initiative moving. Don’t become desensitized to it, don’t allow it to leave your moral thought cycle, and don’t forget,” urges Eustache.

• Sylvia Obell