Most recent print edition: Jul 28

– Last updated: Today

• About Us
• |
• Contact Us
• |
• Advertising
• |
• Submissions

Arts & Entertainment

Students celebrates Kamloops’ efforts in Haiti

Sarah Bruce - Arts & Entertainment Editor

As the Olympics approach the Haiti earthquake is becoming old news, but this is giving two TRU students the chance to celebrate.

Natasha Little, a second year science student and Kristina Bradshaw, a second year fine arts student, have organized and will present to campus Tremors: a rally to renew the Haitian nation on Friday Feb 12.

“Essentially [the event], is a three-pronged single day event to recognize and celebrate how Kamloops has come together as a community to support a country in distress,” Little said.

“We want to do that in an atmosphere where we are raising funds and awareness of the situation that is currently going on in Haiti, and will continue to go on in Haiti once the media’s attention is taken away from the event,” Little said.

“Volunteer funding and efforts drop off the further away from the actual event you get,” Little said, explain their reasons for hosting the celebration. “It’s something like after the first week it gets cut in half, and by the time you are a month or two away everyone has almost completely forgotten about it.”

“And you can already see that in our society,” she said. “It’s not all over the news anymore.” “The Olympic signs have taken up where the Haiti signs used to be around,” Bradshaw said.

They will be celebrating the community’s effort so far by presenting a series of events on campus.

Events will include a keynote presentation from Slocan’s Mount Sentinel Secondary high school students, who arrived in Haiti on a mission trip just before the earthquake struck, and stayed for five days to help out before they were evacuated.

Musical presentations will also go all day in the gym in between speakers, with performance by Kyle Hayes, Matt Stanley and the Decoys and the Duo #2.

There will be an art show and sale of donated art with all proceeds being donated to Haiti, in the panorama room. Bradshaw, who has organized the art sale part of the event, has been collecting for a couple of weeks accepting from students, faculty and the community.

“Any art that anyone wants to drop off is welcomed, it doesn’t have to be framed or anything specific, we just want to people to drop off anything they feel they want to donate,” Bradshaw said.

“At the Campus Activity Centre, we are trying to have a community showcase to show what people in the community—different groups, different businesses—have been doing to raise funds for Haiti and what they are continuing to do and how people can get involved in the future,” Little said.

And at the end of the day there will be an after party at Heroes from 9 until midnight. All events are by donation so all students have a chance to participate. They plan to set up a Richter scale to show how much has been donated.

Little and Bradshaw were grateful to TRU for stepping up with their donations: TRU world donated the use of the panorama room, the Wolfpack donated their time in hosting many of the events, the new residence offered rooms for the speakers and the gym, security and services to help put up and take down the event were all donated.

“It wouldn’t have been possible without the help so far,” Bradshaw said.

“Everything we have has been 100 per cent donated,” Little said. “It’s an event for the community by the community to celebrate things the community has done, Kristina and I are really just acting as the glue to hold it all together.”