Nearly a month after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast and displaced thousands of New Orleans residents, the Student Association will be holding a four-day event to raise money for the disaster’s victims. But despite the kind-hearted intentions of SA organizers, some student leaders said they are disappointed that fundraising efforts were not better planned.

Some SA leaders’ original plan for putting money toward disaster relief called for $50,000 to be donated directly to Katrina relief. The plan was proposed by junior Will Donovan, the SA chief administrative officer, and was supported by some members of the Senate, including sophomore Tyler Hudson (CCAS-U).

Many members of the SA looked unfavorably upon the direct deposit donation plan, arguing that SA money should go solely to students. The planned fundraiser is co-sponsored by a group of student organizations, and all proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross.

“When Katrina hit, a lot of organizations began planning all kinds of things, and the SA decided to consolidate all of the events and make it into one big rally so it would come out really strong for the community,” said junior Maria Bea Querido, the SA vice president of student activities.

Organizers would not say how much money they are planning on raising.

“We’re hoping a very large amount,” Querido said. “I just know that the money that we have is the students’ money; they feel like with their consolidated effort, we will make more.”

“We cannot guarantee $50,000,” she added.

The festivities kicked off Wednesday night in the Marvin Center with a Greek-letter organization date auction. They’ll continue with a dodgeball tournament on Friday in University Yard. Spectators pay $1 to watch, and teams pay $50 to compete. The half-week of events will culminate with the annual Octoberfest concert on Saturday. Students are not required to make a donation to attend the show, but GWorld machines will be stationed in University Yard for students who want to contribute money.

The president of one student group, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the event “could have been planned a lot better.”

The president’s organization originally wanted to plan a concert with other groups, but once the rally week had been organized, “the SA took it over.”

“It’s not fair for the organizations that took a lead early on this,” the president said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of groups dropped out because the SA fell short. We wanted to do it as soon as possible, but (the SA) wanted to wait, and now other groups have found other ways of doing things.”

“Now it’s more of a short half-week thing,” the president continued. “I feel like it got cut back a lot.”

An officer in another group said the event his group was planning was “thwarted” as well. The officer said Querido did not consult with student groups enough. “(The SA) took too much into their own hands,” the officer said. Both the president and officer requested anonymity because of the sensitivities involved in planning a relief fundraiser.

The officer also wished the events had occurred sooner and said if the SA had not gotten involved, fundraisers could have happened two weeks ago.

“The best money is money that would go as soon as possible,” the officer said. “If we’re going to throw it together, it might as well get thrown together sooner than later.”

Querido said she did not know of specific student organizations that dropped out of this week’s festivities. She said the fundraiser took a lot of planning.

“It’s pretty tough,” Querido said. “It has all been thrown at us, everyone wanted to do everything right away, but we figured we would give it a few weeks.”

Hudson said one of the common objections to his donation plan was that it didn’t involve students and organizations.

“Every dollar counts, and I’m confident the money raised will show the dedication that GW students have to helping Katrina’s survivors,” Hudson said.

But the officer said that if the SA had not got involved in the fundraiser, the individual student organizations could have raised more money hosting their own events.

“They had good intentions, and they wanted it to be a united GW effort … and give the American Red Cross a big check from all of GW,” the officer said. “But by doing that they had two concerns – with making it a fun event and well-received, and they were very into having a team effort at GW, without focusing on the money.”

GW effort … and give the American Red Cross a big check from all of GW,” the officer said. “But by doing that they had two concerns – with making it a fun event and well-received, and they were very into having a team effort at GW, without focusing on the money.”

In response to last year’s tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia, student organizations planned a GW Live Aid event for tsunami victims and raised about $4,000. Organizers had hoped to raise about $15,000.

GW’s Class Council will be co-sponsoring this Saturday’s Octoberfest concert in University yard with WRGW, the SA, College Democrats and Knights of Columbus. The show will feature bands including Washington Social Club, Honor by August and The Sunday Mail.

“I guess ideally we would have liked to have a GW Live Aid event, but because of groups not being ready, we couldn’t put it on in two weeks notice,” said senior Sean Holiday, president of Class Council. “I think for the limited amount of time, it is going to be pretty good, even if there is no huge event.” n

-Ryan Holeywell contributed to this report.