This semester's Cause Dinner, held on Tuesday at Carmichael and Dewick−MacPhie Dining Halls in support of the Tufts Haiti Relief Coalition (HRC), raised the most amount of money in the event's history.
"We shattered the records," junior Moises Cohen, an event coordinator, said. "No one has gotten so much [money] before."
Dining Services every semester co−hosts the Cause Dinner with the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate to support undergraduate charity initiatives. A portion of each participating student's dinner is donated to a Tufts−affiliated organization. Groups apply to receive the money, and the TCU Senate Services Committee selects the eventual recipient.
Senators this semester chose Tufts HRC, which consists of several student groups that have combined fundraising efforts to help Haitian communities damaged by the earthquake. Participating groups include the International Relations Honors Society, RESPE: Haiti, the Senate, the Freshman Class Council, Chabad, One World, the International Relations Director's Leadership Council and the Jackson Jills.
Senator Dan Pasternack, a junior and co−chair of the Services Committee, explained that Dining Services had requested that the funds go to benefit Haiti because many of the staff are Haitian and were personally affected by the earthquake. He also noted that some of the senators had personal ties to the disaster as well.
Senator Ard Ardalan, a freshman on the Services Committee, said the decision to focus efforts on Haiti was a natural one.
"We felt like this year … we were going to do Haiti because we were making the choice at about the time that the earthquake happened," he said. "It just made a lot of sense."
Senior Helaina Stein, co−leader of Tufts HRC, said that a preliminary estimate showed that the event raised at least $3,000. Over 1,600 students signed up to donate the cost of a meal, according to Cohen.
Volunteers from the involved student organizations mobilized to encourage students to donate a meal. "It came down to grabbing them for 20 seconds and saying, ‘Come, donate the cost of a meal,'" Stein said. "For the amount of organization that we put in, I definitely think we got a great return."
Ardalan attributed the Cause Dinner's success to the efforts of the volunteers and the fact that the cause resonated with students.
"I felt like [HRC] was much more proactive than groups in the past, and that was reflected in the numbers," he said. "I feel like the credit really goes to that group of students … They did an amazing job. It's a compound of really good leadership and students' concern for Haiti."
Stein added that the ease of making a donation was another factor in the fundraiser's success. "It was really successful because it didn't take much time out of people's day," she said.
Tufts HRC will donate the proceeds to Partners In Health, an organization currently working in Haiti, which aids communities in efforts to treat disease and alleviate poverty.
Cohen explained that HRC chose to donate the funds raised to Partners In Health because of its prominence in the field.
"We've just heard that Partners in Health is the best," he said. "We've done some research into it and figured out that this is the best place."
Associate Director of Dining Services Ralph Perrotto said that Dining Services approximately 30 years ago started holding Cause Dinners every semester in response to student groups' solicitations for donations.
"Many student groups would like to utilize or ask dining for donations, and it's just not something we could possibly do for all the groups that are interested in doing it," Perrotto said.
Stein said the Tufts HRC will continue to run fundraisers throughout the semester to help the Haitian cause.
Carmichael is currently running another special dining event for students and will offer its own version of the Academy Awards during tonight's dinner, with theme awards in six categories up for grabs along with a chef trophy award.
Voting began on Feb. 25, asking students to vote for their favorite theme event from the past year in categories including holiday meals, night events and dining−around−the−world events. Students have up until lunch today to vote.
David Kelley, unit manager for Carmichael, said that theme nights and awards serve as inspiration for employees, who serve approximately 2,000 students per day. "It's a great motivator for the employees to get involved in it," he said.
The dining hall's location necessitated creativity on the part of dining hall staff, according to Kelley.
"Uphill, we don't have as many students so we have to come up with theme events," he said. "Outside the box, we try to think of fun things to do."
