|
|
Haitian-born Dinecia Pierre-Louis, an Educational Development Program counselor and SUNY Fredonia graduate, is coordinating an all-campus relief effort, including a talent show, to assist victims of the earthquake that struck her homeland, leveling its state capital, Port-au-Prince, and killing more than 150,000 people.
The SUNY Fredonia School of Music has also organized a concert to benefit the fund, to take place at 8 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 1 in Rosch Recital Hall.
For Dinecia, the disaster was personal
“My heart just went out to them. I just wanted to do something to help the people of Haiti who are so dear to me,” Pierre-Louis said. It was very painful for Pierre-Louis to follow the devastation that unfolded in the days following the Jan. 12 earthquake.
That’s why she’s enlisting the support of the entire Fredonia community to raise money through a fund established with the Fredonia College Foundation.
The fundraising effort will include a talent showcase on Friday, Feb. 5, at 6 p.m., in the Williams Center Multipurpose Room.
Performers sought for Talent Show
The range of performers is wide open and may encompass singers, dancers, poets, jugglers and comedians. Performers of all talents are invited to step on stage to benefit a very timely cause.
“I would love to have 200 to 300 people or more watching,” Pierre-Louis said. “I know the students, staff and faculty at SUNY Fredonia and people in the community are very caring and gifted.” In order to accommodate as many performers as possible, each act will be allotted five to 15 minutes. Prospective entertainers may sign up at Pierre-Louis’s office, E290 Thompson Hall, until Feb. 1.
The show will directly benefit SUNY Fredonia’s Haitian Relief Fund, established by Pierre-Louis in collaboration with the Jamestown chapter of the Red Cross. Donations can be made at the door; tickets are $5 for students and $10 for non-students.
Her family is safe
Pierre-Louis immigrated to what she calls “the land of opportunity” in 1996 at the age of 14. She earned her degree in Adolescent French Education and a minor in Spanish from SUNY Fredonia in 2005, and joined the EDP office in 2008. Pierre-Louis has a brother who lives and works in Port-au-Prince, but he was not injured during the earthquake. Other family members living 30 miles from the capital in an area not severely impacted were not hurt.
"I am very fortunate that my family was not harmed,” she said. “However, my heart goes out to the rest of the nation, to those who lost loved ones, and to those who died and will die today and tomorrow.”
Music faculty organize benefit concert
The SUNY Fredonia School of Music, under the leadership of Composition Professor Rob Deemer, has also organized a concert to benefit the fund, to take place at 8 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 1 in Rosch Recital Hall.
The concert will feature several student chamber ensembles and faculty soloists, including violist David Rose, soprano Angela Haas, pianist Jonathan Mann, clarinetist Andrew Seigel and saxophonist Bruce Johnstone, as well as the Kingston String Quartet, Erie Saxophone Quartet and Fredonia Guitar Quartet.
Tickets are $5 and $10 for students and $10 and $20 for general public (based on what each individual is comfortable donating). Higher gifts are possible as well.
Tickets are available through the SUNY Fredonia Ticket Office in the Williams Center, by calling 716-673-3501 (1-866-441-4928) or at www.fredonia.edu/tickets.
Checks, made payable to the Fredonia College Foundation and indicating "Haitian Relief Fund" in the memo line, can be sent to the Fredonia College Foundation, 272 Central Ave., Fredonia, N.Y., 14722. Online gifts can be made directly via the foundation website at www.fredonia.edu/give.
