Almost four months have passed since an earthquake ravaged Haiti, but Brittany Hommerding said she hopes people will still be motivated to give.
The English Education Club is having a benefit reading for Haiti at 7 p.m. in Bracken Library Room 104.
"Our logic is that, because it's been awhile, it will rejuvenate people to get more involved," the senior English education major said. "There was the initial help, but we hope the time doesn't diminish the importance."
Students, faculty, staff and community members are encouraged to volunteer to read either Haitian literature or their own original works with the theme of hope, survival or multiculturalism for five minutes.
The English Education Club will collect suggested donations of $5 at the door, and readers are encouraged to find sponsors. All proceeds collected will go to the American Red Cross to help the relief effort in Haiti.
The idea for the benefit reading came from Melissa Adams-Campbell, assistant professor of English. Having knowledge of Haitian literature, she approached the club with the idea of presenting works native to the country to raise money.
"I started hearing news reports and felt like I needed to do something and bring an awareness about Haiti and its literature to people," she said.
Hommerding, the president of the English Education Club, said she has a strong passion to help.
"I donated a few dollars, but I wasn't in a position to really help from this distance," she said. "Then we had this opportunity to get more involved locally."
Adams-Campbell prepared a packet of different Haitian works that people can present. She acknowledged that a language barrier created a bit of a problem.
"The interesting thing is quite a lot of it is written in French, so we needed to find translations, which made things more complicated," she said.
She said that many more modern Haitian works have been written in English.
The relative youth of the English Education Club also presented a challenge in organizing this event.
The club is an organization for English education majors to work together to navigate their way through the major. Hommerding said they have only been around for a year or two. While English education is a popular major at Ball State University, the club only has 20 to 25 consistent members, which made organizing an event more difficult.
Readers can sign up to participate in the English department office — Robert Bell Building Room 297. They also can find the packet of Haitian literature to select from there.
Adams-Campbell said the packet includes short stories, plays, children's books, poems and selections from novels, all mostly from the 20th century.
The event's goal is to raise about $600, Adams-Campbell said, but she doesn't want to settle on a specific number. She said the top priority is collecting money to help those in need.
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