– Haiti Film Festival –

Learn a bit more about Haiti while raising money to send to relief efforts in Haiti through the What If? Foundation.

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Monday 3/1: “Égalité for All: Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution” – Historical documentary that tells the story of Haitians fighting to become the first freed slave nation.

Tuesday 3/2: “Port-au-Prince Is Mine” – Shows some of the culture of the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, through the eyes of people who live there.

Wednesday 3/3: “The Agronomist” – Story of Jean Dominique, a Haitian journalist who ran the first independent radio station in Haiti during politically repressive years.

Thursday 3/4: “The Unexplained: Zombies” – This A&E documentary discusses different perspectives on the subject of zombies and outlines some of the Voodoo religion. *Voodoo doughnuts provided!*

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March 1-4. Each film begins at 8pm, Council Chambers. Suggested donation for entry: $2 Suggested donation for baked goods: $0.50 a piece

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Brought to you by Campus Living & LCHaiti questions? contact: sweet@lclark.edu

Penny Drive Continues!

LCHaiti has raised approximately $1,000! We were enormously successful with our Penny Drive, so we are leaving the jars out all around the LC campus and collecting donations regularly.

Here is where you can find the LCHaiti jars for your loose change:

-Maggie’s Cafe
-The Dovecote
-Aubrey Watzek Library (Circulation Desk)
-Bookstore
-Mailroom
-LC Co-Op

Stay tuned for a running tally of our donations!

WE WIN

Because alltogether LC community members donated a whopping $924.91 to the What If? Foundation!!
Great job everyone! Thank you for all of your help!

Video

Adrian sent in this link:

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/22/security_red_zones_in_haiti_preventing

“A report by Democracy Now from the epicenter of the quake– interviews with people ON THE GROUND, including grassroots aid organizations, local activists, and citizens. Explains why the large aid organizations like Red Cross have been struggling or failing to move supplies, how the Port Au Prince community is responding, and what living conditions are like right now, and the militarization of the area. This is by far the most comprehensive and truthful report that has come out of Haiti since the quake. Illustrates current problems. One of the best aspects of the report is that it gives human faces to the disaster, and reflects the resilience and strength of the Haitian people.”

Appreciation

For those of you who don’t know, my step-mom knows Margaret Trost, founder of the What If? Foundation and I told her about our efforts, hoping she would let Margaret know that there are people trying to help (it seemed a little pompous to brag directly to Margaret, and I know from the Foundation’s facebook page and I know Margaret has been more than a little harried since the quake). My step-mom passed on the following:
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Oh that is so terrific, Rachel!!! I’m sure that this news will lift Margaret’s spirits…it’s such a challenge for her to keep the logistical nightmare of getting aid there from overwhelming her.

What If? was the first relief aid to get into the St Clare’s neighborhood. Thank heavens that What If? Foundation has a local connection there so that they can work through the local people and their own networks. That’s what sets them apart from other foreign agencies.

As you can tell by the Foundation’s latest newsletter update (sign up through their website http://www.whatiffoundation.org), Margaret is so frustrated and enraged at all the media reports of the violence. It’s simply not the norm, and when Haiti is portrayed like that, Americans tend to dismiss them as lawless heathens. It’s just not the case.

Your dad has a cool article he found about that too. Anyway…great job! And I’m honored to pass this on to Margaret.
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The article my dad sent me she refers to can be found here:
http://reason.com/blog/2010/01/21/cnns-plea-from-haiti-send-cops

Peace,

Success!!

…and we’re not even done yet!

After just a single day of tabling, we’ve been able to raise over $200 for Haiti (and that’s just from our Howard table)! Thank you for all your donations!

When tabling a lot of people said they’d bring money tomorrow–so we’re looking at even more to give!

This makes tomorrow even more important: just think what we can do with a whole extra day of this! Tell your friends to remember their wallets and spare change, and raise awareness by inviting more to our group.

Another thing you can do is encourage your parents, teachers, and friends from outside LC to visit our website, lchaiti.wordpress.com and donate to the cause via paypal.

As for future events, two of our members, Kelsey and Sarah, are in the process of planning a rummage sale! If anyone is interested in donating items or helping to run this event, you can contact them at kwhitedavis@ and sparker@

Also, don’t forget to attend the special Hoops for Haiti event during the basketball game on Saturday, January 23rd. (To give credit where it’s due, this event doesn’t have anything to do with our group, but it’s still important!!) You should have received an email about this.

Thank you everyone!

More About What If? Foundation

Here’s some info about our current charity of choice! It pretty much rocks, so give their site a view if you want more info…

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Founded in 2000, by Margaret Trost, the What If? Foundation has worked with the St. Claire’s Rectory in Port-au-Prince for nearly ten years to run a food program. They feed up to 1,500 children a day, five days a week. Food is purchased at a farmers market to support the local economy. The children receive a combination of rice, fresh veggies, beans, and meat and each plate costs about 70¢.

There are very few public schools in Haiti so many children cannot receive free education. In addition to the food program, the foundation also provides approximately 200 boys and girls with scholarships to attend private elementary and high schools and 18 students with scholarships to local colleges. It costs only $250 for an elementary student and $350 for a high school student to attend school for one year.

http://www.whatiffoundation.org

LC Students in Action

From Jonah Luke Geil-Neufeld:

Hey LC haiti peeps – Jonah here, I am studying in the dominican republic this semester. I have been helping with the relief effort here — me and some haitian friends recorded a little interview, so people can see how real the situation is —– check it out! More soon!

http://www.jonahgn.com/blog/

Tabling this week!

LCHaiti will be tabling at Howard and outside of the Bon Thursday the 20th and Friday the 21st. You can bring cash to these tabling events, or you can donate any amount you choose via paypal by clicking the “donate” button on our homepage.