Concordia students gathered Thursday at Reggie’s bar to raise funds for victims of last month’s South Asian tsunami. As the devastating effects of the disaster continue to be felt around the world, several of the universities’ associations came together to host the party. A five dollar donation was suggested upon entrance.
While the CSU set a goal of $20 thousand in relief funds, the Tamil Student Association (TSA) partnered up with the Egyptian Student Association, Arab Student Association, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, and the Mexican Student Association (MSA).
“It was put together very impromptu,” said Emiliana Donadi, MSA president. “Everything was put together in a day and a half.”
With few flyers circulating the campus, the groups were pleased with the $251.80 that was amassed.
“Anything at all was a lot to us,” Donadi added. The money was passed on to the TSA to allocate.
Livening up the scene was a host of diverse entertainers, including French-speaking Iraqi rappers “Le Pref”, who provided freestyle performances during song breaks. “It was an inadvertently collaborative effort,” Donadi said, referring to all the help given from strangers. “Many who’d simply stopped by for a beer ended up jumping on stage or into the DJ booth. Everybody knew it was for the tsunami, so they were ready to help,” Donadi said. The CSU was a key player in this event, helping groups find music equipment in the nick of time. As the evening waned, those planning the event found performers were quickly disappearing from the roster. One young man, toting a guitar into the bar, chose to aid in the effort by strumming some rhythm and blues.
“I thought that it was a good idea, and that it was fun since people could go up and help the DJ,” said Dinah Zeldin, a second year Journalism student at Concordia. “It was a way to bring together students from different groups and have us all contributing our talents to this cause.”
Zeldin added that, though Canada is far from the areas affected by the tsunami, she’s glad to see Concordia students doing what they can.
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