31 March 2010
Chilean students host fundraiser for quake victims
A group of Chilean students from the University of Sheffield hosted an evening of fundraising activities last week (27 March 2010) to raise cash for earthquake victims in their home country.
The event, which was organised in conjunction with the Mexican and Latin American Society and held at St Andrews Church Community Hall, included a range of Chilean themed activities for students and members of the public to enjoy.
Typical Chilean food was available all night, alongside live popular Chilean music, dance and poetry, followed by a Latin party to give guests a taste of life in South America.
Members of staff in the Institute of Work Psychology at the University also organised a cake sale and raffle to raise much needed funds for the people of Chile and show support for one of their students whose family were caught up in the earthquake.
Hector Madrid, a first year PhD student in the Institute of Work Psychology, moved from Chile to Sheffield last year. Fortunately, his relatives and friends back in Chile survived the disaster, but are now trying to rebuild their lives and sense of security in an environment where aftershocks occur every day.
Both events raised over £2500 and will now be donated to the Chilean Earthquake appeal.
Hector said: "Chilean people have a sad record as they were part of the highest earthquake registered (9.5 on the Richter scale) in 1960, and the recent event has the fifth position in this ranking. Even though Chilean society has developed some strategies to face this kind of disasters, nobody can be really prepared it. The most affected area after the recent earthquake is the south of Chile which is one of the poorest areas in the country. Some people have lost everything, such as houses, work resources and social infrastructure.
"We organised various events to raise much needed funds. There are different Chilean communities living abroad collecting resources in order to contribute to the appeal. As an international student living abroad, most of us feel a strong commitment with the development of Chile, and also the responsibility to coordinate possible help for the most affected communities and people by the disaster."
Kate Sheppard and Merryn McGregor from the Institute of Work Psychology, said: "We had both seen and heard about the earthquake on the news but when Hector came into work and told us more personal accounts of the disaster we thought it only right to hold an event to show some support for Hector personally and try to make some money to help people in his country. We all love cakes at the IWP so it seemed appropriate to have a cake sale and raffle to raise some funds which we will be giving to the British Red Cross Chile Earthquake Appeal." For further information please contact: Lauren Anderson, Media Relations Officer, on 0114 2221046 or email
l.h.anderson@sheffield.ac.uk
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