SU's French Club and the Klub Kreyol hosted a Mardi Gras fundraiser on March 1,in the Spiritual Center for people in Haiti.

SU students fundraised for a mission trip that serves as a service learning experience in Haiti. The two-week trip consists of students building a medical dispensary on the north shore of the island called La Gonâve in Haiti.

The students of the 5th annual SU Mardi Gras celebration accepted an entry fee of $5, and additional donations, to help the volunteers with the supplies that they need to build in Haiti.

Agnes Ragone, a professor of Spanish and French, mentioned that the clubs do many different things to fundraise throughout the year, such as selling cards with pictures of Haiti and sandwich sales.

The Klub Kreyol and the French Club provided snacks, drinks, music and dance lessons for the few dozen attendees. The clubs made sure to feature the classic Mardi Gras New Orleans King Cake and there was a baking recipe available.

José Ricardo Osorio, the modern languages department chair, led the attendees in traditional dances. This was Ricardo Osorio’s fifth time volunteering to lead the interactive dance.

“The fact that the students come [to the event] and try to learn,” Ricardo Osorio said was his favorite part of the fundraiser.

SU senior Andrew Hutchinson participated three times in building the medical dispensary. Hutchinson said the group’s focus on making the dispensary secure from the elements because the group wants a long-term presence to have something to come back to.

Hutchinson said he recalled a student from SU had once lived on the island and that was how the volunteers chose the Haitian island of Gonâve to fundraise and build the dispensary and a playground.

Blandine Mitaut, a SU associate professor of French, said that she will go back to volunteer in the village of Gros Mangles.

“[The] inhabitants are a welcoming, kind,” Mitaut said, nothing that asking the villagers what they want instead of choosing a project for the villagers was key. The Haitians asked for a playground that children could use and a dispensary that was closer and more convenient for the villagers.

SU senior Cody Connelly, who is the president of the Klub Kreyol and the secretary of the French Club, went on the service learning trip. He said his favorite part of the trip, aside from building the dispensary, was playing with the little kids that helped the volunteers.

Getting to know the people and the culture was what Angela Simé, a junior and a criminal justice and french major, said was her favorite part after going on the service learning trip once and she is thinking about going again.

Matt Hathway, a freshman and an English major at SU, attended the Mardi Gras fundraising event. Hathway said his favorite part of the event was the cake, and he said that he would possibly join the service-learning trip and help with the building efforts in Haiti because he likes to help people and enjoys traveling.

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