With the help of several hundred Stanford students, FACE AIDS has reached its $50,000 fundraising goal for Haiti relief efforts, the group said yesterday.
The Stanford-founded group hit $50,000 late Friday night. Sterling Stamos, a Menlo Park-based investment firm, matched the goal, resulting in a total donation of $100,000 to Partners in Health, an international organization that provides medical care in Haiti, Rwanda and other nations.
The partnership between FACE AIDS and Partners in Health was formalized with the launch of an ASSU fundraising Web site last week.
FACE AIDS launched the Haiti fundraising initiative on Jan. 16 in response to the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that devastated the country four days earlier. The $50,000 goal was reached in fewer than seven days, with a total of 970 people donating $51,099.82 to the FACE AIDS account on the ASSU Haiti Web page.
“I was ecstatic,” said FACE AIDS Executive Director Julie Veroff ’07. “I couldn’t believe we met the goal so quickly. I really like that it was such a community-wide effort.”
Patricia Arty ’10, FACE AIDS development director, believes that the success of the fundraising goal can be attributed to students’ attitudes and the participation of the ASSU.
“The ASSU efforts were extraordinary, especially in matching FACE AIDS with a beneficiary,” Arty said. “Doubling the money and having a deadline was a great way to get people to donate now, and not put it off and forget about it.”
The ASSU fundraising effort has raised more than $2,600 since the $50,000 goal was reached last Friday. Stanford affiliates continue to donate on the ASSU site.
“The response from the Stanford community has been tremendous,” said ASSU President David Gobaud, a coterminal student in computer science. “The money keeps coming in.”
Brandon Jackson ‘12, one student who donated to the FACE AIDS effort, remembers watching news coverage of the Haiti quake in a hotel room when he was traveling with the Stanford men’s basketball team two weeks ago. An interview with a survivor left an impression on him.
“Hearing a survivor speak made me think about how blessed we are at Stanford,” Jackson said. “We need to remember that even a little bit makes a big difference.”
The nationwide college fundraising challenge Stanford joined has raised more than $250,000, including FACE AIDS matching funds, with 25 colleges pitching in since the site was launched last Sunday.