IU students lend their talents to benefit Haiti

After the havoc wreaked on Haiti by the recent earthquake, IU students have risen to the occasion by organizing events to raise proceeds to help those in need.

Junior Elisabeth Wurm said she wanted to help Haiti in some way and realized she could use her natural talents to raise money for the country.

A campus-wide benefit concert for Haiti, featuring several singers, pianists and two bands, Jip Jop  and Rob and Falls, will take place 8 p.m. Saturday at the Willkie Auditorium. Tickets are $7. 

“Basically, IU students, a lot of music and theater students are coming together to donate their gifts and talents in music form in a concert for Haiti,” Wurm said.
Freshman Jackson Elliot will sing and play the piano during the concert. He will play the song “Love That Will Not Let Me Go,” by David Phelps.

“The main gist of the song is all these things may happen, but there is always love by your side,” Elliott said. “It talks about how fortunes fail, and all these people in Haiti have had everything stripped away, and this song exemplifies that.”

Wurm had the idea for the Haiti benefit concert, but the process of bringing the concert to life has proved to be a collaborative effort of students and organizations providing donations in many forms.

Willkie has donated the space where the concert will be held, while national Christian organization Campus Crusades for Christ has been working closely with Wurm in the organization and backing of the event.

Sophomore and director of CRU weekly meetings Tyler Chernesky said this is the first event of its type CRU has been involved with.  “In the past, a lot of what CRU has done has been on its own,” Chernesky said.

Proceeds from the concert will be sent toward the Global Aid Network.

“When everybody combines their efforts, we have a really awesome lasting effect,” Wurm said.