Rotarian Foundation Fundraiser In Support Of Haitian Earthquake Victims At Roosevelt Island's Riverwalk Bar & Grill Thursday 2/4 At 7 PM

Roosevelt Island's Riverwalk Bar & Grill will be hosting a fundraiser for victims of the recent Haitian Earthquake. The fundraiser will take place at 425 Main Street on Thursday February 4 at 7 PM.

I asked owner Jonathan Hoo where the money raised will be going. Mr. Hoo replied:

Glad you asked!
All the money raised will be going to the Rotary Foundation's Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. 100% of money earmarked goes directly to supplies and direct relief and rebuilding effort on the ground. We are very excited for the turnout with 100+ confirmed already coming from off island. Hopefully the residents and workers of Roosevelt Island will make a nice showing as well!

According to the Rotary Foundation:

Rotary clubs and districts worldwide are mobilizing resources to deliver urgently needed relief to the millions affected by Haiti's devastating earthquake.

District 7020, which includes Haiti, has flown in 70 planes filled with more than 60,000 pounds of medical equipment and supplies into the cities of Pignon and Port-de-Paix to bypass logistical problems in the hard-hit capital of Port-au-Prince.

The United Nations estimates that more than half of the buildings in the capital have collapsed. About 200,000 people are dead and millions more homeless...

and:

...ShelterBox has already delivered more than 3,300 containers to Haiti, with another 1,000 or more scheduled to be deployed.

"This is the largest, quickest, and most complex deployment in our history," says John Leach, head of operations for ShelterBox. "We organized across four countries to get ShelterBoxes to the people of Haiti quickly."

Each box contains a tent that houses 10 people as well as a stove, blankets, and other essential items.

Doctors have been using supplies from the containers to treat the injured. Hospitals in the capital city are using the tents to provide emergency shelter for postoperative patients....

You Tube Video Of Shelter Boxes For Haiti Via the Rotarians

Orphans International Anime & Manga Fundraiser On Saturday September 20

Image from Orphans International

Received the following message from Jim Luce, founder of Roosevelt Island based organization Orphans International inviting all to a Fundraising event for their operations in Hait following the devastation from Hurrican Gustav.

I have just returned from Haiti where I was carrying relief supplies and checking on our children. Our own nation could not respond adequately to Katrina, and Haiti’s government cannot respond to three hurricanes there back-to-back.

It is we ‘Citizens of the World’ who must step up to the plate.

We have an event this Saturday night in the East Village (NYC) and I sincerely hope you can join us in raising funds for Haiti Hurricane Relief. I want to meet you and tell you about our project - and our beautiful, happy children who are such survivors!

The Saturday event (see below) should be fun for all ages, and we are pleased that Echostream and Lisa Hammer are performing for us. Please drop by and support our benefit - to benefit Haitian children! IF YOU CANNOT MAKE IT, PLEASE CONTRIBUTE DIRECTLY VIA OUR WEBSITE www.oiww.org.

Our children in Haiti count on you for your support! - Jim

P.S. - I have brought back wonderful pictures of our children. Write to me at jim@oiww.org and I will be happy to send you a copy of the set. - JL

Here is some more information on the Orphans International Anime & Manga Fundraiser.

ORPHANS INTERNATIONAL WORLDWIDE PRESENTS “THE
FIRST ANNUAL ANIME AND MANGA FUNDRAISER", WITH
SPECIAL CELEBRITY GUEST LISA HAMMER OF VENTURE
BROTHERS.

Enjoy Live Music, Cosplay and Giveaways. Ten lucky winners will receive free tickets to the NYC Anime Festival, worth $55 each.

New York, NY (September 2008) -- Orphans International Worldwide (OIWW) presents "The First Annual Anime and Manga Fundraiser”, with special celebrity guest Lisa Hammer; you may know her as the voice of Triana Orpheus on Venture Brothers. Funimation, ITO EN, AnimEigo, Planet Hollywood, Tokyo Pop, and Gaia Online have donated valuable gifts for our raffle prizes and goodie bags. Partygoers will enjoy Japanese snacks and beverages, and live musical performance by Echostream.

We welcome NY area businesses to join us as sponsors.

First Annual Anime and Manga Fundraiser:
China 1
50 Avenue B (btwn 3rd & 4th)
New York. Zip 10009
Saturday, September 20, 2008 from 6 to 8pm

The ticket price is $25 and includes gift bags and raffle tickets for the first 100 who register.

**Buy Tickets on our website via PAYPAL: www.oiww.org**

About us: OIWW is a non-governmental organization associated with the U.N. Department of Public Information and a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation. Proceeds from this fundraiser will benefit Orphans International's current project in Haiti, where we are struggling to provide money for food, clean water, new clothes, shoes, vitamins and protein supplements following recent flooding and wind damage from hurricanes Gustav, Hannah and Ike. Inflation is skyrocketing, and basic food is in very short supply.
For more information, press, or sponsorship inquiries:
Roxanne Arthur
(212)755-7550
Roxanne.Arthur@oiww.org

Emergency Request From Orphans International To Help Respond To Damge Done By Hurricane Gustav in Haiti

You Tube video from AP on impact of Hurricane Gustav on Haiti

I received the following message from Jim Luce of Orphans International based here on Roosevelt Island. More information is available at Orphans International Haiti blog.

Roof Falls In
Our Children in Haiti Safe

In May 2004 Hurricane Jeanne ripped through Gonaives, Haiti, killing over two thousand people. Our twelve children there lost their families. In July 2008, worried about the continued deterioration of Gonaives, we moved our children to a better home in the city of Jacmel. Last week, Hurricane Gustav hit Haiti and our old home in Gonaives – which we left only eight weeks ago – collapsed. It would have killed our children, had they not moved to Jacmel.

But in spite of the safety of our kids, our needs in Haiti are still great. Our director Jacques Africot, who was with us in Indonesia after the Tsunami, writes yesterday from Jacmel:

I could not have access to internet café because the Hurricane Gustav had hit hardly the city of Jacmel, specially our Cyvadier community. The community was really damaged. We have no electricity, all water drained damaged. Almost all trees down: mangoes, breadfruit trees, banana trees. Some houses are destroyed and everywhere is flooded. Please, do not let us suffer too much.

Thank God nothing bad happened to us at OI Haiti. But all around us there were tears. I was even affected directly because a coconut tree fell on my father's house, where the roof is covered with iron sheet, and it was damaged it a little bit. We are aware that there is another hurricane named Hanna that is in the air, we hope that it won’t touch Jacmel. It would be a complete disaster. We are at the beginning of another month, and I have to pay the staff and get food for this month but every price has raised up after the hurricane. Please, do not let us suffer too much. LINK

What can you give this week to assure that the orphans, who lost their families in Hurricane Jeanne in 2004, do not feel that the hurricanes have completely destroyed their life yet again? We must somehow make twice as much money available to buy what food there is, and we must advocate for Haiti from the outside. With our U.N. affiliation, we have joined others in actively appealing for more food aid for Haiti, but we must act now to meet our own kid's needs for food and cooking fuel... we are a small organization and have no available money for situations such as these.

We even need child sponsors for some of these kids. Won't you help us today? Go to www.oiww.org and click "Sponsor an Child" in the upper right hand corner. You can sign up for regular monthly support payments using a credit card.

American Airlines is assisting us with a small airlift of supplies to Haiti on Tuesday, led by founder Jim Luce. IMMEDIATE tax-deductible donations are needed. You know that OI is a lean organization, but we are too skinny for this financial challenge and desperately need your help. Call us at 212-755-7285 and tell me what you can do to raise this burden from our hearts.

Please call Jim directly at (212) 755-7285 or at (212) 755-7550 to donate by credit card, the fastest way to get us funds.
We must raise $4,000 over the next 48 hours to meet our obligations there.

If you are in a position to help, please do.