For the past 28 years, the Haitian Students Association (HSA) has held an annual banquet, usually in the spring. For the past 25 years, the Cornell Caribbean Student Association has done the same.

This year for the first time, the two groups will hold a joint banquet to raise relief funds for Haiti. The banquet, "From Dusk 'til Dawn: A Haitian Renaissance," is slated for March 12, 8 p.m.-1 a.m., Duffield Hall, featuring Haitian cuisine, a Haitian comedian, a professional Haitian dance and music troupe, and a collection of talented student performers. The banquet is open to the public.

"We wanted to make this event as accessible as possible to students and people in the local community by keeping ticket prices down ($3 per person; $5 will include raffle ticket) and providing a variety of ways for people to contribute," said Albert Lee '10, co-president of the HSA. These include selling photographs of individuals and couples, holding a raffle and providing other venues for donating to the relief effort. "We want people to enjoy the ambiance of the evening without feeling a lot of pressure to give," Lee said.

Already more than 150 of 300 tickets have been sold. Anyone interested in attending should contact Ashley Jeanlus, e-mail: aj239@cornell.edu or phone 845-521-4830.

The banquet is the culmination of the HSA's fundraising efforts thus far. Within the first week after the earthquake, the HSA hosted a meeting for student groups to encourage campuswide collaborations, then developed a system to track campus activities related to Haiti and worked with the Student Assembly to track monies raised. They held a candlelight vigil; bake sales at the Trillium Dining Hall, the Robert Purcell Community Center and Ho Plaza; and a cultural presentation featuring Haitian dishes at the Holland International Living Center -- all in support of GHESKIO, Cornell's medical clinic in Haiti.

Members of HSA have also held interviews with WVBR and WHCU radio, BusinessBecause.com, and other media outlets to talk about the student response to the earthquake. They have spoken or provided information at such events as the Glee Club concert, the Singaporean Students Association's New Year's Dinner and the Hands for Haiti benefit concert.

Extending its collaborative spirit beyond the Cornell campus, HSA has become a member of the Students for Haitian Relief, a recently formed group of student government leaders from campuses across the nation, including Stanford, Brandeis and the University of California-Berkeley, who share information and fundraising opportunities with each other. This group has set a goal of $1 million, total, from all participating student groups. In addition, Cornell's HSA has joined with students from Ithaca College to plan for a fundraising concert later this spring.