A local Subway sandwich franchise will be donating a portion of its earnings to the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti.

All day Thursday, a local Subway in downtown Pullman will be donating 10 percent of the sales for the day to the Haitian Relief Fund. The event is meant to encourage students from WSU, and the surrounding community to donate to the victims of the earthquake.

“We were aware of the events going on at WSU for Haiti, so we wanted to do something for the surrounding community who can’t make it up to campus,” said Subway Office Manager JoReen Brinkman.

Brinkman is the office manager of the Pullman, Colfax and WSU campus Subways. She said she planned on donating to the relief efforts in Haiti on her own. When she noticed that other local businesses had become involved, she decided to start a donation day with Subway.

“We’ve been trying to think of what we can do to get out in the community,” she said. “We just want to help wherever we can and wherever money is needed.” As an added bonus, the owners of the Subway will match the 10 percent of the proceeds earned and will donate to the Pullman Red Cross. While the fundraiser has been planned with Haiti in mind, owners of Subway do not want to overlook the possibility of a similar disaster happening here in Pullman.

“While we are donating to a global crisis, we also wanted to keep in mind, what if something like that were to happen here, locally?,” Brinkman said. “That’s why we’re donating to our Red Cross as well.” The Subway is located on 460 East Main St. in downtown Pullman. The restaurant will also be accepting donations at its registers throughout the day. This is the first fundraiser the owners have held since acquiring the Subway in 2005.