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Barry students participate in vigil, rally and campout during Haiti Relief Rally
Jan 23, 2010
In the days following Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake last week, Danae Brierre, felt helpless. Brierre, a junior at Barry University, was one of hundreds of Haitian students at Barry who struggled with how to help their devastated home country and loved ones more than 700 miles away. A week later, those students found their answer.
On Friday, Barry’s Haitian students put their heads and hearts together and hosted the Haiti Relief Rally at Barry’s Landon Student Union. About 100 people attended the event, organized by Barry University’s 35-member Haitian Inter-Cultural Association (HICA) and Office of Student Activities. The event, also supported by Barry’s Alternative Spring Break (ASB), All Greek Council, Campus Activities Board (CAB), Student Government Association (SGA) and the Student Organization Council (SOC), featured a candlelight prayer vigil, rally and campout to gather university support for Haiti relief efforts at Barry.
“This is why we’re here tonight,” said Providencia Gousse, vice president of HICA at Barry. “We’re uniting to help Haiti.”
At 7 p.m., students, faculty and staff gathered at the Landon Student Union courtyard to pray for the people of Haiti and those who have been affected by the tragedy. Following the vigil, a student rally took place in Grill 155, featuring presentations on Haiti's history and culture and performances by local Haitian artists Elie Lapointe and Mecca and Barry’s Art in Motion (AIM) Productions dance team.
The rally concluded with a student campout, also taking place at the Landon Student Union, where about 40 Barry students spent the night on campus to raise awareness and generate support for the university’s unified collection of food, medical supplies and monetary donations.
Barry University is home to hundreds of students of Haitian descent, including more than a 100 with Haitian citizenship. For more information about Barry University’s Haiti relief efforts, please visit www.barry.edu/haitirelief.
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