Student’s faith inspires creation of nonprofit

More than 30 garbage bags full of clothes sit piled in Cathleen Manville's game room.
 

Manville, 22, a senior industrial engineering major, started her own nonprofit organization, Chai4Humanity, to help the people of Haiti.
 

It all began when Manville, the Judaism columnist for the Orlando Examiner Web site, wrote an article that implored the Jewish community to help the Haitian community by donating money in multiples of 18, a Jewish tradition.
 

Soon after, Manville, encouraged by her Jewish faith, decided to stop writing to others and start doing something herself. Now she is in the process of incorporating Chai4Humanity.
Manville said that Chai4Humanity has a symbolic meaning and follows Jewish tradition, just as the donations in multiples of 18 did. In Hebrew, "Chai" means "Life" and the word also adds up to the numerical value 18.
 

Manville has placed FedEx boxes on campus inside the Burnett Honors College, Engineering 1 and Engineering 2 buildings to collect used or new clothing and non-perishable food and supplies.
 

Through Facebook, fliers and e-mail blasts, Manville has spread the word about the boxes.

Along with the clothes, she has raised an estimated $200, which is ready to be shipped off to Haiti.
 

One of the boxes, overflowing with donations, sits beside Arlene Murphy's desk in the Burnett Honors College.
 

"It's really heartwarming to see the outpouring of generosity by the students, who themselves have very little and are willing to donate what they have to people who have nothing," said Murphy, an office assistant in the Honors College.
 

Chai4Humanity will accept donations until Friday. Then Manville and other volunteers, such as the UCF Chabad group, will sort through the items and send them to Haitian refugees or Haitians overseas.
 

Manville said she plans to continue her efforts and help others elsewhere.
 

"God willing, Haiti will be stabilized, but I realize that other people are going to be affected by these acts of God, and they are going to need help," Manville said.