Vassar Haiti Project

Hello VHPers! It is finally spring break at Vassar. While most of us are relaxing and sleeping, we are excited that a team of VHPers are in Haiti with Lila and Andrew, in hot weather, their sandals and t-shirts wrapped around their heads, their hands ready to help and their minds ready to learn.

This pause in the semester is an excellent time to reflect on what we’ve done, where we are, and what we have yet to do.  In terms of events, we kicked off this semester with the Avon Sale in Avon, CT, hometown of our very own Co-VP of Programming, Sarah Oliver ’15. The sale was an absolute success and we raised just under $11,000 including web sales! Following the sale, Laura Livingston (alum) and Charlene Ren ’14 from the Water and Reforestation Initiatives, along with the help of other VHPers and the Environmental Studies department, held a movie screening/panel/discussion about global inequalities of land and water. Terry Leroy, co-founder of Haitian Peoples’ Support Project gave his insight into sustainable living projects in Haiti. In addition, we have also held a film screening of One day, everything will be free by Joseph Redwood-Martinez (a Vassar alum, now filmmaker) about the Haitian Sadhana Forest living community. Other fundraising efforts include the StartSomeGood campaign set up by the Education Initiative Directors (Tamsin Chen ’15 and Sahara Pradhan ’15). Other smaller events have included Munchy Mondays (where the trippers sell delicious Haitian food in the college center to fundraise for the trip) and Stretching Parties (where we “stretch” the paintings into frames). Furthermore, our VP of Outreach, Cindy Fung ’14 has, along with many other events, organized a presentation of what VHP does to the Arlington Rotary Club,, Kiwanis Club, the Haldane High School and the UU Fellowship. Just last weekend, Lila and Andrew were recognized by at the Mill Street Loft Gala for their work in creating VHP.

For the rest of the semester, we have even more planned, including a teach-in on International Aid, an on-campus fundraiser, a tripper presentation, art sales in New York City and most importantly our April Sale where George Desarmes (one of the Haitian painters) will be coming to Vassar!