Jewish student groups fundraise for Haitians

Baking homemade challah and pastries and playing games of blackjack and roulette are some of the creative ways Jewish organizations on the campus are helping the victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti.Tzedek, a community service organization, and Challah for Hunger, took advantage of the Purim holiday last month to raise money for Haitians. They baked about 30 traditional challahs and 150 hamentashen, traditional Purim pastries, and sold them at Hillel.

Challah for Hunger, a local chapter of the national non-profit organization, bakes and sells challah every week to raise money for charities. It decided to direct part of one week's proceeds to help Haitian earthquake victims, and since that week also led up to Purim, the organization decided to sell Hamantashen as well.

Nehama Rogozen, a senior government and politics major and president of Tzedek, said her organization wanted to have a concert to raise money but could not book the Israeli band Hadag Nachash.

"We're still looking into it and seeing what else we can do," Rogozen said.

Members of the Hillel Programming Organization

(HiPO) used entertainment to raise money, when holding, "HiPO's Got Game," a casino night on Feb. 21. Participants spent $5 to buy $25 worth of poker chips and tried their luck at games such as blackjack, poker and roulette.

Max Jacobs, a junior finance major, was a blackjack dealer at the event and said he came because it was for a good cause.

"After the devastation that hit Haiti, I had to help," Jacobs said.

The money raised at the event went to Magen David Adom (MDA), which is Israel's emergency services organization that functions like the American Red Cross. MDA first went to Haiti a week after the earthquake, and although Israel's 200-member rescue team has since left, MDA is still working out of a field hospital in the capital city, Port-au-Prince.

"They've been doing a lot of work there," Avi Weinstein, a sophomore marketing and operations management major and president of HiPO said. "I thought it would be cool to do something both Israel related and something for Haiti."

Robert Kern, director of marketing and communications for American Friends of MDA, said the organization has already sent a couple hundred thousand dollars to Haiti already. This money will be used to buy medication, tents, water and food for victims. The money will also be used to buy kosher and non-kosher food for MDA volunteers and other necessary supplies and equipment.

"Now one of the big things is inoculation," Kern said. "There's no sanitation to speak of."

He said diphtheria, measles and tetanus are some major health concerns, especially in the crowded tent communities Haitians are using for temporary housing. MDA is working with several other organizations to vaccinate Haitians.

To learn more about what students on campus are doing to help Haiti, go to the Facebook group for University of Maryland Students Helping Haiti or its Web site at http://www.supporthaiti.umd.edu.