The Auburn chapter of Omega Psi Phi has stepped up to do whatever it can to help the island nation of Haiti after the 7.0 earth-quake last week.
For its main fundraising effort, the brothers of Omega Psi Phi hosted a step show and T-shirt sale in the Student Center Friday, Jan. 29.
"We're selling shirts from Banana Graphics," said Skylar Forney, senior in French international trade. "They're $10, and $7 of that will go directly to the people of Haiti." In addition to selling T-shirts, the brothers of Omega Psi Phi also sold food donated by Price's Barbecue, Papa John's, Domino's Pizza, Niffer's, Veggies to Go and Liz's Bakery.
Other businesses such as Nexxt Level Barbershop and Auburn University Catering gave canned food or cash donations to help the victims.
Mario Jones, senior in finance and secretary of Omega Psi Phi, said the fraternity wanted to do something different with the money they raised.
"Were giving all of our money to the Yele Foundation," Jones said. "That's Wyclef Jean's charity. A lot of people are giving money to the Red Cross so we wanted to do something different."
The Yele Haiti Foundation is a charity established by Wyclef Jean in 2005 to assist the musician's home country.
The organization has raised $2 million for the disaster-stricken nation as of Jan. 18, according to the New York Daily News.
Jones said Omega Psi Phi hoped to raise at least $3,000 for the people of Haiti.
"We wanted to start out on campus and go into the community to raise money," Jones said. "We wanted it to be something bigger than the University." In order to spread the word of its fundraising efforts to as many people as possible, Omega Psi Phi decided to put on a step show in the Student Center to attract crowds to its tables, said Jonathon Howard, senior in electrical engineering. "We really want to in- form people about what we're doing and this is a way to get them to come buy a T-shirt or a piece of pizza," Howard said.
The step show and community fundraiser are not the only efforts Omega Psi Phi is making to assist the people of Haiti.
"We have a party next week," Howard said. "We're taking the money we raise to buy hygiene products. A lot of people lost their homes and will need things like toothbrushes and soap and shampoo so we're trying to help provide that."
Howard said all of the fundraising efforts of Omega Psi Phi are something to be expected from their fraternity.
"For the most part, living in an American world, we're very fortunate," Howard said. "We enjoy being able to help people. At Omega Phi Psi, that's our mission."
Forney said every member of the Auburn community and University should be able to do something to help those in need in Haiti, no matter how small.
"This is a terrible disaster and we're very fortunate it didn't happen to us," Forney said. "Auburn University is a family and we should all pull together to help the people of Haiti."
To donate money to the Yele Haiti Foundation, visit http://yele.org.
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