Students in Gerald Waite's introduction to peace studies class exceeded their goal of raising $2,000 for Haiti last week after taking donations at the Scramble Light and the Ball State University Village.
According to a press release, Waite had the students split into two groups. One group was assigned to donate their funds to Doctors Without Borders, while the other group donated the money they raised to Mercy Corps. Both organizations are helping with the relief aid for displaced and injured Haitians.
'We wanted to be as creative as possible to get people to contribute,' said Tatevik Avetisyan, graduate student and one of the teachers assistants of the class.
The Doctors Without Borders group accepted donations by placing donation cups at various locations throughout the Village.
Throughout the week, the two teams raised a total of $2,011.34, exceeding their $2,000 goal.
Graduate student Jason Bannon said he attributes the quick organization to the amount of contributions the Mercy Corps group gained.
'We had members of our group with good connections,' Bannon said. 'He had it announced at basketball games, people were donating at Late Nite and Friday Night Filmworks. Without that support, we wouldn't have gotten as much.'
Avetisyan said his class wasn't the only group of students taking donations for Haiti relief. Social Justice League, Caribbean Student Association and the BSU Greek community all helped out through various fundraisers.
Although the fundraiser ended on Thursday, Bannon and Avetisyan said the students hope to continue donating to the relief effort.
'The impact of the earthquake is going to continue, so it would be good to for us to continue donations,' Bannon said.
Most of the team was pleased and eager to cooperate, Avetisyan said. But he said there is still more work to be done.
Bannon said the overall student response was positive.
'We had one or two people directly affected by the earthquake - whether it was a family member or a friend '- come up and tell us what a great job we were doing,' he said.
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