The South Asian Students Association (SASA) is working with the USG to coordinate a relief effort in response to the this week's deadly earthquake in Pakistan.
On Tuesday, the groups set up a fundraising booth in Frist Campus Center to collect donations and sell T-shirts, pins and other accessories. The organizations are promoting donations to UNICEF by posting fliers and sending emails to students. They are also in the process of organizing relief fundraisers, including a raffle for concert tickets and a benefit concert on campus.
SASA decided to donate all funds raised to UNICEF so that they would have an immediate effect.
"The money is being put towards making sure children are secure, that orphans have places to live and giving children a place to stay until their parents are located," said Anuj Nadadur '07, co-president of SASA and one of the main organizers of the earthquake relief effort.
The magnitude 7.6 earthquake — called the worst earthquake in over a century — killed more than 35,000 people.
SASA, which has little experience with fundraising, has looked to the USG for assistance. "We're trying to understand their previous fundraising strategies ... especially with bureaucratic issues," SASA Co-President Dev Chugh '06 said.
Though the University has no formal strategy for fundraising for disaster relief, USG President Leslie-Bernard Joseph '06 said that commonly used ideas, such as benefit concerts, usually work best.
"We are trying to be as helpful as we can with what we have," Joseph said.
The USG has also been raising money for Hurricane Katrina relief, which has totaled over $23,700.
The earthquake relief effort¬ ¬— which began the day after the earthquake occurred — was initiated more quickly than response for Hurricane Katrina. But because the earthquake happened so recently, organizers have not had time to finalize many events.
Nadadur said some potential events include a Bollywood-themed night at Quadrangle Club and a banquet in November.
So far, earthquake relief has attracted fewer volunteers and generated less campus awareness than the response to Hurricane Katrina.
"The scale of students involved is different," Joseph said. "We're scared that less students care."
About 30 people have volunteered so far. SASA, working with the USG, is using an email campaign to try to increase the number of students involved.
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