Shenandoah University Community Responds to Earthquake in Haiti
President Tracy Fitzsimmons expressed her concern to the Shenandoah University community for the people of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, who are suffering following a massive earthquake on Tuesday, Jan. 12.
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President Tracy Fitzsimmons expressed her concern to the Shenandoah University community for the people of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, who are suffering following a massive earthquake on Tuesday, Jan. 12. She asked the campus community to be mindful of those dealing with the disaster and to think of ways the university can respond and assist in relief efforts.
“The hospital collapsed, much of the presidential palace collapsed, the airport traffic control tower crumbled, the United Nations building collapsed, and thousands of homes and buildings are now rubble. Thousands are missing and feared dead. As the poorest country in the western hemisphere, Haiti was as unprepared for this tragedy as one could be,” President Fitzsimmons wrote in a message to campus.
Haiti touches the lives of many people at Shenandoah University, including the president and her husband, Chuck, who over the past 15 years have done much work and research in the Caribbean nation.
"As a reflection of SU’s commitment to global citizenship, we are working with Project HOPE and Partners in Health relief effort to understand what SU could do most productively to support those in Haiti," said Shenandoah University President Tracy Fitzsimmons.
“We have faculty, staff and students with loved ones living in Haiti, we have trustees who have done philanthropic work there, we have international students from Haiti studying at SU, and a number of you have done mission trips through your churches to Haiti. My heart goes out to especially to those in our community who have not been able to reach their family members in Haiti,” said Fitzsimmons.
“As a reflection of SU’s commitment to global citizenship, we are working with Project HOPE and with the Partners in Health to understand what SU could do most productively to support those in Haiti.”
The Office of Spiritual Life will coordinate the Shenandoah University response to the disaster in Haiti, in both immediate and ongoing ways. On Sunday, a service will be held at 6 p.m. in Goodson Chapel as a time of prayer and solidarity with those suffering in the wake of this disaster. Plans are also underway to begin immediately collecting items for health kits to be sent to Haiti.
More information will be distributed as it becomes available.
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