Help for Haiti

Contact:
Angela Burrows, vice president for university relations
724-938-5938
burrows@calu.edu

January 27, 2010

Give online to help rebuild a school in Haiti!

A Letter from the President

Dear members of the University Family,

California University, along with our 13 sister institutions within the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), is participating in PASSHE's Haiti relief effort.

I encourage your support of the fundraising initiative described below.

The outpouring of donations across the world has been impressive and quite moving. I applaud those of you who have already responded with tremendous generosity to the immediate needs of the Haitian people.  

In its relief initiative, PASSHE is looking beyond the immediate needs to a time when rebuilding will commence, both for the country and for the Haitian people. These citizens, many of whom lived in great poverty before the earthquake, will be faced with the arduous task of re-establishing an economic and educational infrastructure; therefore, PASSHE will concentrate its efforts on collecting donations for rebuilding a school in Haiti. 

Cheyney University and Kutztown University will serve jointly as coordinators of the effort to identify and adopt such a school. 

A fund will be established in the PASSHE Foundation to collect donations from faculty, staff, students, alumni and other groups. Members of the California University family who wish to donate to this effort should make checks payable to "Foundation for Cal U," and the designation "Haiti Relief Fund" should be noted in the memo section of the check.

Mail checks to: Foundation for Cal U, P.O. Box 668, California, PA 15419 . A charitable gift receipt will be sent from the Foundation for Cal U noting that your donation has been designated for the Haiti Relief Fund.

You may also give online . All donations made through the University's Foundation will be forwarded to PASSHE.

In addition, the University will host Help for Haiti: A Special Convocation at 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 11. Details about the program will be coming soon.

With sincere appreciation,

Angelo Armenti, Jr.
President

Congress has amended the federal tax code to allow some gifts from Haitian Earthquake Relief made in 2010 to be deducted on income tax returns for the 2009 federal tax year.  More information is available in IRS Publication 526 and its lead amendment page, available at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf