(Photo by Andrew Meade)
The people of Haiti live with 98 percent deforestation, 70 percent illiteracy and 50 percent unemployment. The all-volunteer Vassar Haiti Project has raised funds for a school lunch program and improved teacher salaries, built a new seven-room school building serving 200 students and nine teachers and helped the people of Chermaitre to gain a new health clinic and better access to clean drinking water.
A benefit sale and auction for the people of Haiti will be held on Friday, April 5 from 12 noon to 8 p.m., on Saturday, April 6 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. with a live auction by Bill Rinaldi of Rinaldi Auctions from 4 to 6 p.m. and on Sunday, April 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the College Center multi-purpose room on the second floor of the main building on the Vassar campus. Four hundred original paintings will be offered, as well as thousands of handcrafts including handpainted silk scarves, iron sculptures, jewelry and woodwork.
To preview the artwork or see bidding details for the auction, visit www.thehaitiproject.org. Vassar College is located at 124 Raymond Avenue in Poughkeepsie. For more information, visit www.vassar.edu or call (845) 437-5370.