Duke Athletics Raising Funds For Haiti
Dear Friends,
Given the tragedy that occurred in Haiti recently, the Duke Department of Athletics has joined a national fundraising effort titled "Save Haiti Saturday" to aid in the nation's earthquake recovery efforts. The official announcement will be tomorrow, but I wanted to share this information with this group first. Beginning with Duke's men's basketball contest at Clemson on Saturday night (ESPN, 9:00 PM ET), Duke teams that are in season - 15 in all - will display "Save Haiti Saturday" patches in the upcoming weeks to maintain high awareness for the relief effort in Haiti.
Three Duke graduates, including former Duke men's basketball manager and current Miami Heat Vice President of Basketball Operations Nick Arison (Duke '03), along with Jenna Green (Duke '08) and Doug Rosenberg (Duke '07) spearheaded the "Save Haiti Saturday" initiative. "Save Haiti Saturday" is primarily an awareness campaign that benefits Project Medishare for Haiti, Inc., a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 by Drs. Barth Green and Arthur Fournier from the University of Miami. That organization collaborates with Partners in Health (PIH), one of the organizations through which Duke is coordinating its Haitian fundraising relief efforts. Duke alumnus, Dr. Paul Farmer, founded PIH and currently serves as the United Nations Deputy Special Envoy to Haiti.
Several business, teams and individuals from the entertainment and sports industry have lent their names - and social networking and resource support -- to the effort, including the Miami Heat, Mourning, Alex Rodriguez, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Ryan Seacrest and Lenny Kravitz. Former Blue Devil men's basketball stars Chris Duhon, Shane Battier, Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy also are involved with the initiative.
For more information about or donate to "Save Haiti Saturday," we encourage you to access the website at: www.savehaitisaturday.com.
Additionally, for the past two weeks, Duke's field hockey team collected donations for the Haiti Relief Fund. As of this morning, the team's effort generated nearly $2,000 in donations to that effort.
Needless to say, it is wonderful to see those with strong connections to Duke Athletics trying to make a difference - away from competition. These are the type of young men and women who represent the University so well.