Local Church and Students step up for Haiti

On January 29^th, volunteers sat in restaurants and changed Haitian lives a dollar at a time. Jessy Dick, a student at UNH, sat at a table in Scorpion’s Bar and Grill. She smiled at those who entered and asked if they could donate a dollar for Haiti. She wasn’t alone. Beside her other volunteers sat as did many others did in restaurants all around Durham. A few even stood in the street asking for donations. The event was called One Less Beer For Haiti and, no matter where the volunteers were, their numbers and success were evident.

“This was an eye opener,” Dick commented, “for local students who wanted to get involved [in Haiti] but didn’t have an outlet.”

The event ran from 5:00 PM to midnight January 29^th. During the fundraiser, patrons of Scorpion’s Bar and Grill could donate a dollar to the fundraiser and the restaurant would match it up to five hundred dollars. They weren’t the only ones. Libby’s Restaurant, The Village Pizza, Billard’s, Wings Your Way, JP’s, and Pauly’s Pocket also either had tables set up or simply tins beside the cash register helping the cause. Young’s, while closed during the event, had a table with volunteers outside asking for donations as well.

Ben Sturgill, a UNH Alumni and active member of Durham Evangelical Church, ran the event. When advertised in chalk on campus, One Less Beer for Haiti was misrepresented as being ran by Intervarsity, a student organization. That was caused by “a miscommunication,” Sturgill explained, “Student organizations aren’t allowed to team up with businesses that sell liquor…which was why it became an event for the [Durham Evangelical] church.” The money was to be donated to Heartline and Partners in Development, two organizations helping Haiti by running clinics according to Sturgill. He also explained how the event came to be.

“When this happened,” he pointed out, “the students were on break, many in different places and they said ‘hey we got to do something about this.’ And so we have three people [from DEC] that are down in Haiti on the ground…[They] help out through these organizations.” And help they did.

The event raised $3,631.80, half of which went to Heartline and the other half Partners in Development. While just last week the three DEC members returned home, Pastor John Wizwell on Wednesday, and both Jeremiah Cady and Jen Froning on Saturday, Sturgill stated that the church is “currently organizing another trip back.”