CMCers Open Hearts, Wallets for Haiti

By Wyatt MacKenzie | February 17, 2010 at 11:29 pm | News | 28 comments | |

 

In the five weeks since Haiti was struck by a catastrophic earthquake, there’s been a global outpouring of support and CMC has been no exception.  In addition to the events and contributions that have sprung up all over campus to help raise money for Haitian relief efforts (everything from a benefit featuring Without A Box to a 3 on 3 basketball tournament at Pomona, to a plan to donate profits from the Motley) the Community Service Office, ASCMC, and our dorms’ RAs and Community Service Reps have worked together to raise more than $2500.

Ben Kraus, the ASCMC Dorm Affairs Chair, worked to coordinate the efforts, which included the door-to-door visits in the dorms and senior apartments, a dorm challenge with an In-N-Out reward to incentivize donations, and numerous dorm events, while the Community Service Office arranged a pizza party in Claremont Hall to help collect contributions.  If free fast-food is what it takes to make us donate, I guess there are worse things.

Although the original dorm challenge ended on January 31, donations continued to pour in, and the Community Service Office was contacted by an alumnus, Adam Sherman ’09 who offered to match student donations up to $5,000.  Many students also contributed to relief efforts on a personal basis, and Courtney Dern, who works with the CSO, reports that “people who have donated on their own (and have proof of donation) want to see if they can add it to the communal pot to be matched. If that’s the case then we’ll have over $1000 more to add.”  Nevertheless, that leaves CMCers some $1500 more to contribute if we want to squeeze the most out of the matching opportunity, which the CSO hopes to achieve by the end of the month.  The CSO aims to plan one more fundraising event before then, as well as an alumni campaign.  Meanwhile, Ben Kraus and ASCMC today announced another fundraiser– ASCMC will be holding a raffle for an Amazon Kindle, selling tickets outside Collins for $3 each from Wednesday, February 24 through Friday, February 26.  ASCMC also plans to accept donations at the White Party.

Although CMCers’ efforts have been impressive, there have been bumps along the way.  The money raised through ASCMC and the CSO has been raised for Partners in Health, a large health care charity with decades of experience working in Haiti, while Sherman would prefer to see donations made to Fonkoze, a (very CMC sounding) microfinance institution which provides Haiti’s poor with microloans in the hopes of “building the economic foundations of democracy.”

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Wyatt MacKenzie

Wyatt MacKenzie, like Venus, was formed spontaneously from sea foam and emerged carrying an IBM Selectric. He is physically incapable of producing anything but the most perfect reporting imaginable and has won seven Pulitzers for his work investigating CMC cafeterias. He hopes one day to report a story so hard that it stops ethnic conflict in the third world.

 
 
 
 
  • anonymous

    let’s thank the community service reps that did all the organization and actual collections for this fundraiser. I see they were given no lip service despite doing most of the work.

    • Agreed

      ok i realize this isn’t the most PC comment and i could be wrong about this but my friends and i were just talking about this:

      I’ve really had it with all the e-mails and over-friendliness from ben krause and tammy phan leading up to the ascmc election. neither of them did anything for the school all year until now, and for the past weeks their all about Haiti and brunches and bullshit e-mails to the whole school. why do ascmc members get email privileges anyway.. there’s clearly an incumbent advantage in the system.

      give credit where credit is due, to the people who went up and down eight floors knocking on doors just to help others in need

      • four words

        Don’t vote for them.

  • anonymous

    let’s thank the community service reps that did all the organization and actual collections for this fundraiser. I see they were given no lip service despite doing most of the work.

    • Agreed

      ok i realize this isn’t the most PC comment and i could be wrong about this but my friends and i were just talking about this:

      I’ve really had it with all the e-mails and over-friendliness from ben krause and tammy phan leading up to the ascmc election. neither of them did anything for the school all year until now, and for the past weeks their all about Haiti and brunches and bullshit e-mails to the whole school. why do ascmc members get email privileges anyway.. there’s clearly an incumbent advantage in the system.

      give credit where credit is due, to the people who went up and down eight floors knocking on doors just to help others in need

      • four words

        Don’t vote for them.

  • A good deed for the wrong reas

    As much as I agree that there wasn’t enough focus on the actual ground troops raising the money in the dorms (and at the apartments!), this clearly required some amount of organization from those mentioned in the article.

    Even if it was for the wrong reasons, there was a positive outcome. Clearly these people are trying to distinguish themselves more now that they’re running (and very clearly running) for ASCMC offices. But I’d rather see people overdoing the charity work than overdoing the frivolous spending. …Free Chipotle burritos come to mind. Class of 2010, anyone?

  • A good deed for the wrong reasons is still a good deed

    As much as I agree that there wasn’t enough focus on the actual ground troops raising the money in the dorms (and at the apartments!), this clearly required some amount of organization from those mentioned in the article.

    Even if it was for the wrong reasons, there was a positive outcome. Clearly these people are trying to distinguish themselves more now that they’re running (and very clearly running) for ASCMC offices. But I’d rather see people overdoing the charity work than overdoing the frivolous spending. …Free Chipotle burritos come to mind. Class of 2010, anyone?

  • agreed and agreed

    please, if ben krause wanted to help he could donate some the 45,000 from that extremely over the top and shamelessly self promoting wedding party.

  • agreed and agreed

    please, if ben krause wanted to help he could donate some the 45,000 from that extremely over the top and shamelessly self promoting wedding party.

  • Campus Humanitarian

    I was astonished at the generosity of CMC students in donating to Haiti relief. As one of the “troops” that traversed campus to collect donations, it was heartening to see students of all socioeconomic situations giving to this tragic cause. However, the execution of the “competition” by ASCMC was horrible and undoubtedly rife with unfair practices. I am sorry to hijack your article, Wyatt, but the apparent sense of entitlement oozing out of the party-ravaged ASCMC “office” behind McKenna auditorium is inexcusable and for that reason in particular many CMC students have become disillusioned with our student government. Yes, I appreciate most of the work that they do. Then again, with the financial resources and relative lack of oversight and restrictions set over ASCMC, we should have high standards for the events ASCMC throws. More importantly, however, is the expectation of respect and esteem from ASCMC’s “leaders”. Somewhere between Spring Break and the beginning of the following school year, ASCMC’s “leaders” seem to lose sight of the priorities they outlined in their elections. Fellow plebeians, it’s time for revolution. We need accountability. We need oversight. We need more participation. The backdoor deals, nepotism, elitist mentality, lack of female involvement, and general disregard for the interests of many CMC students have to change. I am not trying to personally critique the individual leaders of ASCMC (although I’m sure I could…) but rather the political culture that inhibits or deters most CMC students from becoming active in their own student government. RISE UP!

    • Time for a revolution

      Totally agreed.

      Vote Charles Johnson. I heard he’s running. You know that’ll be interesting.

  • Campus Humanitarian

    I was astonished at the generosity of CMC students in donating to Haiti relief. As one of the “troops” that traversed campus to collect donations, it was heartening to see students of all socioeconomic situations giving to this tragic cause. However, the execution of the “competition” by ASCMC was horrible and undoubtedly rife with unfair practices. I am sorry to hijack your article, Wyatt, but the apparent sense of entitlement oozing out of the party-ravaged ASCMC “office” behind McKenna auditorium is inexcusable and for that reason in particular many CMC students have become disillusioned with our student government. Yes, I appreciate most of the work that they do. Then again, with the financial resources and relative lack of oversight and restrictions set over ASCMC, we should have high standards for the events ASCMC throws. More importantly, however, is the expectation of respect and esteem from ASCMC’s “leaders”. Somewhere between Spring Break and the beginning of the following school year, ASCMC’s “leaders” seem to lose sight of the priorities they outlined in their elections. Fellow plebeians, it’s time for revolution. We need accountability. We need oversight. We need more participation. The backdoor deals, nepotism, elitist mentality, lack of female involvement, and general disregard for the interests of many CMC students have to change. I am not trying to personally critique the individual leaders of ASCMC (although I’m sure I could…) but rather the political culture that inhibits or deters most CMC students from becoming active in their own student government. RISE UP!

    • Time for a revolution

      Totally agreed.

      Vote Charles Johnson. I heard he’s running. You know that’ll be interesting.

  • Isayas Theodros

    Campus Humanitarian,

    You should really run for office. You seem to be very sure of your beliefs, so you should translate your passion into your potential campaign.

    • arp arp

      Isayasarp is the best diplomatarp…charp.

  • Isayas Theodros

    Campus Humanitarian,

    You should really run for office. You seem to be very sure of your beliefs, so you should translate your passion into your potential campaign.

    • arp arp

      Isayasarp is the best diplomatarp…charp.

  • ?

    What would the process of getting rid of a sitting president be?

    • Can someone explain this?

      Sure, there are a couple assholes in ASCMC, including the one mentioned in this article, but overall I think ASCMC does an excellent job. Just compare them to another college’s student government. Ask students at the other 5Cs, especially those involved with their student government, what they think of CMC’s student government and they’ll say they are envious.

      This year more than ever, we’ve seen some outstanding events with more to come apparently. Also, this website grew out of the current ASCMC and is better than ever. In the past, they didn’t even fund The Forum and wasted all the money on parties. Now The Forum is self-funded and an integral part of ASCMC.

      I understand that there are personal vendettas and some people who are just bad at their jobs, but don’t disparage the efforts of, for example, the organizers of Hub Quiz.

      I am kind of curious to hear some pointed criticism though. But maybe this isn’t the forum for that.

  • ?

    What would the process of getting rid of a sitting president be?

    • Can someone explain this?

      Sure, there are a couple assholes in ASCMC, including the one mentioned in this article, but overall I think ASCMC does an excellent job. Just compare them to another college’s student government. Ask students at the other 5Cs, especially those involved with their student government, what they think of CMC’s student government and they’ll say they are envious.

      This year more than ever, we’ve seen some outstanding events with more to come apparently. Also, this website grew out of the current ASCMC and is better than ever. In the past, they didn’t even fund The Forum and wasted all the money on parties. Now The Forum is self-funded and an integral part of ASCMC.

      I understand that there are personal vendettas and some people who are just bad at their jobs, but don’t disparage the efforts of, for example, the organizers of Hub Quiz.

      I am kind of curious to hear some pointed criticism though. But maybe this isn’t the forum for that.

  • Ha!

    Lolz!

  • Ha!

    Lolz!

  • Campus Humanitarian

    As I mentioned in my comment above, “I appreciate most of the work that” ASCMC does. The majority of events are a great success. The Hub Quiz is a successful dry event, and the Forum is an excellent informative and creative outlet for the CMC community. I am not advocating for the abolition of ASCMC or the great things that it has accomplished. However, what I am critical of is the attitude and perception of ASCMC’s leaders. In the interest of avoiding the troll diatribe of previous years, it suffices to say that NOT everyone involved with ASCMC leadership deserves their position.
    “What would the process of getting rid of a sitting president be?”….that’s a very good question! Perhaps some accountability would be a nice addition to our student government.

    • Democracy

      If someone won a contested election for their position, don’t they “deserve” it under the most basic definition of democracy? Sure they might do a less than stellar job, but you can’t impeach someone unless they do something criminal or fail to complete the most basic requirements of their job. That’s how free governments usually work, no?

  • Campus Humanitarian

    As I mentioned in my comment above, “I appreciate most of the work that” ASCMC does. The majority of events are a great success. The Hub Quiz is a successful dry event, and the Forum is an excellent informative and creative outlet for the CMC community. I am not advocating for the abolition of ASCMC or the great things that it has accomplished. However, what I am critical of is the attitude and perception of ASCMC’s leaders. In the interest of avoiding the troll diatribe of previous years, it suffices to say that NOT everyone involved with ASCMC leadership deserves their position.
    “What would the process of getting rid of a sitting president be?”….that’s a very good question! Perhaps some accountability would be a nice addition to our student government.

    • Democracy

      If someone won a contested election for their position, don’t they “deserve” it under the most basic definition of democracy? Sure they might do a less than stellar job, but you can’t impeach someone unless they do something criminal or fail to complete the most basic requirements of their job. That’s how free governments usually work, no?