Just like magic, Keck School students raise $7,000 for tsunami disaster relief
Photo/Greg Arce
Nine magicians from the Magic Castle performed at the show, held at Mayer Auditorium. About 200 students, faculty members and others attended the “Magic Relief” show, while 50 diners took part in a catered, pre-show dinner.
Money raised went to the nonprofit groups UNICEF and CARE, which are helping children and families in Indian Ocean coastal nations devastated by the Dec. 26 earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
Second-year Keck School student Sumit Dua came up with the idea of staging the magic show when he saw the devastation wreaked by the tsunami, and felt compelled to act.
“I’ve done big shows like this before, so why not do it here to raise money for relief?” said Dua, who had worked professionally as a magician before enrolling at the Keck School.
Now the students are back for more.
“Our first event went so well, we decided to create another fundraiser,” said Dua, a native of India who now lives in Walnut, Calif. “We’re calling it ‘The Challenge.’”
To kick off The Challenge, Keck School student Deborah Kimball (who also worked on the tsunami relief magic show) volunteered to donate $1,000 for relief, in honor of her grandmother, who recently passed away. But she made her gift a challenge grant to fellow students: She will match other students’ donations, up to $1,000.
With the combined $2,000 donation, the students then hope to challenge USC faculty members to give $2,000, Dua said. “Then we will try to appeal to a private company to match our $4,000, bringing the total to $8,000,” he added.
Dua noted that Kimball and fellow second-year students Sheila Vasan and Julie Kang and first-year student Pho Nguyen have been instrumental in the successful fund-raising efforts.
Anyone wishing to contribute may contact Dua at (626) 272-1055 or send an e-mail to KeckTsunamiRelief@yahoo.com. Checks may be made out to UNICEF or CARE. Students also have information on donation via credit cards on their Web site http://relief.gotmedbooks.com.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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