There will be a lot of splashing going on Saturday when Ohio Wesleyan hosts belly flops for Haiti (photo by Vivek Chugh and used with permission)
When it comes to fund-raisers, this one promises to be a big flop. And that’s just fine with organizer Frankie Weschler, a junior at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio.
Weschler, a Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity member from Chicago, is organizing a “Belly Flop for Haitian Relief” in conjunction with Ohio Wesleyan’s eight fraternities.
The fund-raiser will be held from 6 – 8 p.m. on Saturday, February 6, at OWU’s Pfeiffer Natatorium. Doors will open at 5:45 p.m.
Admission is $2 per person, and 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the United Methodist Committee On Relief (UMCOR) to help Haiti recover from the 7.3-magnitude earthquake that devastated the country last month.
Although the event will mark Ohio Wesleyan’s first belly-flop fund-raiser, such events are nothing new to Weschler, whose high school, Loyola Academy, has been holding them for years to help feed Chicago’s homeless and hungry.
Weschler was working on plans for an OWU belly-flop fund-raiser even before the crisis in Haiti.
“But after the earthquake, it went from hunger to Haiti,” Weschler said, crediting his parents for inspiring him to take part in projects to help others.
Weschler remembers his parents being heavily involved in Honduran relief efforts after Hurricane Mitch struck in 1998, killing or displacing thousands and obliterating much of the nation’s architecture and infrastructure. According to the National Climatic Data Center, Hurricane Mitch remains the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since 1780.
“I remember walking into our dining room, which had been transformed into an office, and seeing people and boxes everywhere,” Weschler said. “I learned everyone was working to save Honduras. Ever since then, I’ve wondered when it would be my turn to help. This is an opportunity to follow in my parents’ footsteps.”
