After days of fundraising, the Hyrate Haiti initiative has raised enough funds to be able to provide clean water to 3,000 people. The fundraising events took place last week with an ACT Card swipe, Bar Crawl and numerous other donation events.
“It went great,” Ben Ford, a senior majoring in history on the pre-law track, and one of the students behind Hydrate Haiti, said. “We did better than we were hoping for and raised so much money that thousands of people are going to get fresh water now.”
All of the funds raised are going toward making water filters that will be given to the people of Haiti. There has been a recent cholera outbreak that has claimed the lives of hundreds of citizens because of unclean water.
On Nov. 10, there were stations set up where students could swipe their ACTion cards and donate $5.
“It’s a great way for us to do something small that collectively can do something big,” Casey Rogers, a sophomore majoring in communications and restaurant hospitality management and Hydrate Haiti donator, said. “It’s a very positive thing for the campus and to come together is a good thing too.
Olivia Hanceri, another donor and a sophomore majoring in political science and public relations, said she believes it’s good to do something great for Haiti, because it’s in so much in need.
“Water filters seem like the best way to help, because you can’t live without water,” she said.
The Bar Crawl took place Thursday night at Gallette’s, Innisfree, Rounders and The Red Shed.
“We had extreme success with the Bar Crawl,” Ford said. “Along with all of the money we made with the cover, each bar made an additional donation.”
Ford also said T-shirt sales were a huge success as well.
Bart Smelley, executive of Global Effect, the company that is supplying or delivering the water filter to Haiti, also held an event this past weekend at Chuck’s Fish restaurant. There were hors d’oeuvres for anyone who wanted to visit and they showed a video of the Haiti water issue. Business owners and others who attended the event donated funds to the effort.
The next step in the process is making and delivering the water filters to Haiti.
“As money comes in and given to Global Effects, they will begin distributing as soon as possible especially quickly because of the outbreak,” Ford said. “Filters are being made and on their way.”
When Global Effects delivers the filters, they plan to hand out UA gear. There will also be video footage of when workers are distributing the filters.
The University is the first school to kick off Hydrate Haiti, which is beginning to spread to the other schools in the Southeastern Conference. The overall goal for the entire SEC is to raise $1 million. Auburn and South Carolina are the next schools that will follow Alabama and look to raise funds to send clean water filters to Haiti.
“I am extremely pleased and we would like to thank everyone who helped support us,” Ford said. “We literally saved thousands of lives through UA and I couldn’t be happier.”
