With DarfurFAST, STAND Raises $1,100

By Elizabeth Rowe and Kate Kauffman | Oct 23 2009 |

STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition raised over $1,100 this week to fight genocide taking place in Darfur, a western region of Sudan.

Students participating in DarfurFAST were asked to give up an everyday purchase and donate the money that they would typically spend on that item to STAND instead. This year, students gave up coffee, soda, Leo’s, late-night study snacks, sweets and Facebook.

The event concluded in the DarfurFAST Candlelight Vigil in Red Square on Wednesday night. The Saxatones performed at the event, and Dan Porterfield, senior vice president for strategic development, spoke.

“We need gatherings like this,” Porterfield said, speaking at the vigil. “If you look up and see the stars, you are looking at the same stars the 2.5 million people look at in Darfur that are displaced in refugee camps.”

STAND was started in 2004 after Nate Wright (COL ’06) and Patrick Schmitt (SFS ’06) were inspired by a lecture given by Bishop Macram Gassis of Sudan.

“We continue to commemorate the fast each year as a small way to remember that the fight is not over,” Bridget O’Loughlin (SFS ’11), co-president of STAND, said.

Georgetown’s chapter of STAND is the founding chapter of the organization. There are now over 1,000 college and high school chapters in more than 25 countries.

Last fall, DarfurFAST raised over $1,800.

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