More than 180,000 people have died as a result of the series of earthquakes that struck Haiti in January. The country has been torn and Ohio State has reached out to help.

OSU is hosting A Buckeye Benefit Dinner for Haiti at the RPAC at 5 p.m. All proceeds will go directly to Haiti through the Red Cross.
“When students do come together, they can do some special things,” said Bernie Savarese, assistant director of service and outreach at the Ohio Union.

OSU President E. Gordon Gee has even gotten involved, e-mailing students Thursday and urging them to attend.

Gee will speak to those in attendance at 5:30 p.m.

“Gordon Gee is a really motivational person and he really bought into this project,” said Jordan Davis, Undergraduate Student Government vice president. “How could you not be excited to have Gordon Gee on board with this?”

The event is similar to a fundraising dinner put on by OSU students to benefit relief causes for hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The cost of the dinner, which consists of pasta, salad, garlic bread and Coca-Cola products, is $10. Davis said those students who have prior commitments and cannot attend the dinner have another option to buy a meal and donate to the cause. “Students could always stop by the drive-through,” she said.

To-go meals can be picked up at the corner of 17th Avenue and Tuttle Park Place, and traffic will be redirected for the event. David said this option will help with parking.

The RPAC will have 1,000 seats set up in the Tom W. Davis Gym.
Ruth Gerstner, director of communications for the Office of Student Life, said she expects the area to be filled to capacity.

The only part Davis said was a struggle was that they had too many volunteers.

“We had over 200 students volunteer and we actually had to turn students away,” Davis said.

Other groups involved with the dinner were Greek Counsel, the Office of Student Life, the Ohio Staters, Inc., Buckeye Frenzy, Council of Graduate of Students, Block O, BuckeyeThon, the Interprofessional Council and Student Alumni Council.

“It is truly a community event,” Davis said. “We also got a lot of donations. Uniprint donated 20,000 cards to pass out for the dinner.”
Food and beverage donations were provided by Coca-Cola, Co. and US Foods.

For more information on the dinner, check ohionunion.osu.edu/Haiti.