Student Body President Patrick Kobler, International Relations executive council member Rachel Carey, and Vice President for Student Affairs Lori White stand with former President George W. Bush Friday. Members of the SMU community raised $25,000 and presented it to the Clinton-Bush foundation to support Haitian earthquake relief. (SPENCER EGGERS/The Daily Campus)

SMU’s Heart does beat for Haiti.

Patrick Kobler, student body president, Rachel Carey, international relations council executive and Lori White, vice president for student affairs presented former president George W. Bush with a check for $25,000 on Friday.

“While I am not surprised by the generosity of the SMU family, I am truly humbled by it,” Kobler said.

The money was raised through the SMU Hearts Beats for Haiti campaign. Kobler continued, “I hope this amount along with the prayers given and awareness raised for Haiti will bring hope to those in need.”

Bush and former president Bill Clinton created the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund, a relief organization, which was a response to the Haiti earthquake.

The campaign, which was organized primarily by Kobler, Carey and Nicola Muchnikoff, an intern for the human rights program, lasted from Jan. 25 to Feb. 15.

Several student organizations also joined in to raise money for the campaign by planning events and collecting money for the SMU effort.

Students Promoting Awareness Responsibility and Citizenship designed pins and sold them in Hughes-Trigg Student Center, Pi Kappa Alpha organized a date auction and the Vietnamese Student Association donated proceeds from their Boba tea sales to the campaign. 

Platinum donors or those organizations, which donated more than $1,000, included Tri-Delta, Phi Gamma Delta and Delta Gamma. Kappa Kappa Gamma contributed between $100 and $499 and was labeled a silver donor.