Information tables and pledge sheets will be available at the O’Connell Center when the men’s basketball team takes on the University of South Carolina at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Student members of Gators United for Haiti will be at Alligator Alley and the entrances to the O’Connell Center with pledge forms. The pledge forms are informational sheets about how to get involved in Haiti relief efforts and how to donate. No donations will be accepted at the game.

Gators United for Haiti is a student-run philanthropic project, supervised and aided by UF administration. Their goal is to motivate students in the Gator Nation to raise $50,000 for Haiti relief efforts. All students and student organizations are invited to be a part of the philanthropic project. So far, more than 70 student groups have signed up to help, including VISA, Club Creole, Student Government, STAAR, United Haitian Students of Florida, CaribSA, Alpha Phi Alpha, Association of Black Communicators, EBL, Iota Phi Theta, Hope for Haiti, FACES Modeling Troupe and the Black Student Union.

The project continues to evolve, adding new student organizations and opportunities to donate daily. As of Tuesday night, the project had collected more than $6,000.

The University Athletic Association announced this week it will match, up to $50,000, what students from Gators United for Haiti raise.

For more information on Gators United for Haiti and for events where you can donate, please visit http://gatorsunitedforhaiti.org/ or join their Facebook group.

While UF and the rest of the world continue to grieve for the tragedy and loss in Haiti, UF students and student organizations have rallied together to support relief efforts. I’d like to commend these students for devoting their time, energy and talent to people who are in great need.

Gators United for Haiti is a student run philanthropic project, supervised and aided by UF administration. The group’s goal is to motivate students in the Gator Nation to raise $50,000 for Haiti relief efforts. All students and student organizations are invited to be a part of the project. So far, student groups involved are VISA, Club Creole, Student Government, STAAR, United Haitian Students of Florida, CaribSA, Alpha Phi Alpha, Association of Black Communicators, EBL, Iota Phi Theta, Hope for Haiti, FACES Modeling Troupe and the Black Student Union.

For information and updates regarding Gators United for Haiti, you can join the group on Facebook (as of Thursday afternoon there were already more than 400 members) or follow it on Twitter at GtorsUntd4Haiti.

Multiple student organizations will have collection sites around campus in areas such as Turlington Plaza, Plaza of the Americas and the J. Wayne Reitz Union. Donations will go toward Gators United for Haiti’s relief efforts. Additionally, students involved are in the stages of planning community outreach to support their cause and mission.

In addition, a candlelight vigil is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, January 15 in the J. Wayne Reitz Union amphitheatre. The entire campus community is welcome to attend, and donation stations will be set up there as well. Gators United for Haiti accepts donations in the form of cash or checks (checks must be made out to the University of Florida). If you wish to make a donation by credit card, the student group recommends making it to the Red Cross or Yele, a grassroots organization based in Haiti and founded by Grammy Award winning musician Wyclef Jean.

Our students have many personal and academic connections to Haiti. For the first year of our Common Reading Program in 2007, all incoming freshmen were provided Tracey Kidder’s book, Mountains Beyond Mountains, which chronicles a doctor’s travels around Haiti. Through the experience of reading this book, those students came to understand more about Haitian culture and the developmental problems facing that country. Many of our students also have strong family and friendship ties to Haiti or are originally from there. I offer my greatest sympathies and hopes to all of them.

If you are a student in need of counseling or emotional support, please contact the Counseling and Wellness Center at 352-392-1575 or Student Health Services at 392-1171. Counseling services are located in Peabody Hall, room 301 and are available between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Additional information regarding counseling services is available at www.counsel.ufl.edu. It is important to remember to reach out to your friends, family or counselors during this difficult time.

The university will continue to keep you updated on how you can help and where to go for support.

Thank you for coming together at this time,

Dr. Patricia Telles-Irvin
Vice President for Student Affairs

Family members reported Thursday morning that Jon Bougher and Roman Safiullin, both master’s students in the College of Journalism and Communications, had been contacted and are safe, Dean of Students Paige Crandall said.

“This is absolutely tremendous news,” UF President Bernie Machen said. “It’s a bright spot in the midst of a horrible tragedy. While we’re thankful that Jon and Roman are safe, we continue to keep the earthquake victims and their loved ones in our thoughts.”

As Haiti continues to struggle with the horrific effects of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Tuesday afternoon, I know many of you in the University of Florida community are eager to help.

The University of Florida has numerous connections with Haiti – not just scholarly ones, but also personal connections between UF students, faculty and staff and their family and friends there. We offer our greatest sympathies and hopes to all.

Student groups are meeting this afternoon to discuss how best to advise the UF community to provide assistance to the Haiti earthquake victims. Please check this site for updates.

We have received confirmation that two UF/IFAS faculty members in Haiti are safe and accounted for: Florence Sergile, an assistant instructor in IFAS International Programs; and Ed Hanlon, an agronomist from the Immokalee station. However, we continue to await word on the status of two UF journalism graduate students who are in Haiti: Jon Bougher and Roman Safiullin.

Meanwhile, faculty and staff in UF’s College of Public Health and Health Professions, College of Medicine and Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences are organizing a relief mission to the Haitian community of Christianville and its schools and clinic.

We realize this is a difficult time for many in the UF community. If you are a student in need of counseling or emotional support, please contact the Counseling and Wellness Center at 352-392-1575 or Student Health Services at 392-1171. Counseling services are located in Peabody Hall, room 301 and are available between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Additional information regarding counseling services is available at www.counsel.ufl.edu.

Also, a candlelight vigil scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday will now recognize the concerns of those suffering in the aftermath of the earthquake. The vigil will be held at the Reitz Union amphitheater.

We will update you as soon as we have further information on Jon Bougher and Roman Safiullin and any other UF employees or students in Haiti we become aware of. For now, please consider helping the survivors in Haiti through channels at UF or elsewhere. We keep everyone there in our thoughts and prayers.

Sincerely,
Bernie Machen