Red Devil Relief
Dickinson and Carlisle communities join forces to help Haiti
by Hillary Leeb ’10
February 23, 2010
Lee Tankle ’10 and Alex Baranick ’10 are spearheading Dickinson’s fundraising efforts for Haiti. According to Tankle, the benefit concert may be the first time that all the Dickinson performance groups will be onstage together.On Jan. 12, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit and devastated Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince. Struck by the terrible losses, the Dickinson community is raising funds for Haiti through a benefit concert on Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. at the Carlisle Theatre. Tickets are available at the theatre, Devil’s Den and college bookstore for $10.
Dickinson performers include Synergy, Hypnotic, Dance Theatre Group, Octals, D-Tones, Syrens, Infernos, Run With It!, the Dickinson String Quartet and Third Degree Steppers. In solidarity, all of Dickinson’s a cappella groups will share the stage to sing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’. ” Carlisle’s dance group REACH! and the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet also will perform.
The Dickinson and Carlisle communities are working together to raise $10,000 for ServeHAITI and Ecofiltro, nonprofit organizations chosen by Dickinson students. ServeHAITI, co-founded by Peter Anderson ’73, brings medical professionals equipped with supplies and expertise to do medical triage in Haiti. Ecofiltro is headed by Christine Wilson ’93, whose filters help Haitians obtain cleaner water; she produces 2,500 a month at her organic coffee farm in Guatemala.
Student Senate President Lee Tankle ’10 and benefit-committee chair Alex Baranick ’10 are spearheading this operation to show the importance of communitywide efforts and the extraordinary effects combined forces can have. “We want this to not just be a Student Senate effort, but a Dickinson College and Carlisle community effort,” says Tankle, adding that more than half of the $10,000 already has been raised through campuswide mini-fundraisers.
Gaelle Erisnor ’10, a Haitian resident until the age of 11, says she is proud to be a part of a community that is helping rebuild the country she once called home. “I am more than happy to see how Dickinson College is so involved in helping Haiti,” she says. “I feel that my fellow classmates care about the Haitian people, and I am thankful for that. Thank you all for the help; it is greatly appreciated and needed.”
Molly Boegel, assistant director of admissions and a member of the benefit-concert committee, couldn’t be happier with how Dickinson and Carlisle have responded to the devastation in Haiti. “As a member of the Dickinson community and a Carlisle Theatre board member, I am so encouraged as I see the two coming together to support victims of the earthquake in Haiti.” Boegel hopes that the show will be the first of many collaborations. “The existing relationship between the theatre and the college can only strengthen and grow,” she says.