On the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, Arcadians donated shoes, medical supplies, tents and sleeping bags in an effort coordinated by the Office of Community Service. “We took a facilities flatbed truck and a fully stocked 15-person passenger van of things collected to be transported by Haitian Professionals of Philadelphia,” says Cindy Rubino, Coordinator of Community Service. “They took the supplies to Miami and secured a private plane to transport directly to AMURT workers currently in Haiti.”

“After the MLK Day of Service, the Arcadia Community has expressed a continued strong desire in aiding Haiti,” adds Rubino. “We are in the process of putting together a benefit cabaret on Arcadia’s campus. Student artists and volunteers can sign up to perform and help by emailing communityservice@arcadia.edu.”

“The catastrophic earthquake that struck Haiti this month has saddened and challenged all of us,” says President Jerry Greiner. “There are people in our campus family whose lives have been directly touched by this tragedy.  They have lost family or friends, or still may be in doubt about the well being of loved ones. To them especially our hearts go out in sympathy.”

Explaining the complex decisions about what could be collected and who could make use of it, Rubino explained, “Money is number one on the list of donations, but college students rarely have extra money; but they have expressed a desire to help. So I contacted the Precious Rescue Mission after hearing of their desire to get items to Haiti. This is run by a Philadelphia Eagles player and his wife, and the school they were building was damaged. They were excited to hear about our offer of shoes (not something they had thought of) and especially tents and sleeping bags. They were just making contact with Haitian Professionals of Philadelphia to organize getting supplies to Haiti and picked up by people who work for AMURT, an organization that has been in Haiti prior to the earthquake.”

“This devastation has struck a land already beset by almost unimaginable hardships,” Greiner adds. “We can only hope that the rebuilding process now starting can help to turn around what has been a plagued history. I am certain that Arcadia University, its students, staff and faculty, will become involved in that process, much as we have played a part in the recovery in the Gulf Coast. Many humanitarian agencies and news services can point the way to help immediately.   Efforts emerging from our campus will take a while to become organized, and to be certain that our actions will indeed help as intended. I’m sure that you will all learn about what you can do as the activities become established over the next months.”