How the Hill is helping Haiti: Totals from charity efforts, plus benefit concert this week

“We don’t want to be like the news who report disasters for the first two weeks after they happen and then forget. We want to keep this in the minds of the students as long as Haiti needs us,” says Seattle University (SU) student Osbaldo Hernandez Sahagun.

 Sahagun is one member of a committee of SU students planning For The Love of Haiti, a benefit concert being held on the university’s campus on Friday, March 5th. Thanks to the donations of Carlson Audio System, the SU onsight restuarant company Bon Appétit, and various clubs and offices within Seattle University, the student committee was able to plan the event on a $0 budget.

 “To be able to say that 100% of the money raised at the concert will go to Haiti, is a thing I am personally proud of,” says Sahagun.

 The procedes generated by For The Love of Haiti will be given to Friends of the Orphans. This is being done to honor a friend of some current SU students who was working with this organization when she was killed in the Haiti quakes.

 Given the recent earthquakes in Chile and the increasing death toll they have caused, it may seem odd to continue thinking about Haiti. However, without comparing one tragedy to another, having been much less prepared for and educated about earthquake behavior, Haiti has sustained long-lasting damages to its cities and its people, and will need support for many years to come. 

 Across Capitol Hill, individuals, businesses and aid organizations have worked to raise money for the victims of the earthquakes in Haiti on January 12th. 

 Cafés, restaurants, bistros, and bars planned fundraisers to help the charities working on the task of rebuilding Haiti and helping its afflicted.

 Coastal Kitchen raised $2,100 to donate to Mercy Corps, Liberty on 15th concocted a $6 cocktail christened “the Haiti” to raise funds, and Molly Moon Ice Cream donated all of its proceeds on February 6th to Partners in Health, an organization working in Haiti.

 Despite confusion about whether their fundraising event was canceled, Pietro Borghesi, owner and manager or La Spiga, said his restaurant donated $660 to UNICEF.

 The man Boom Noodle’s blog calls “Boom’s main man behind the bar,” Matt Larson, organized a silent auction of local artwork where 100% of the proceeds were donated, in addition to the 25% of happy hour food and drinks proceeds. Larson says that Boom Noodle made about $2,050 for the Red Cross on which he commented, “Everything sold in the end . . . we had a big night that night.”

 Faire Gallery Café was able to raise about $750 dollars by selling donated art and wine, while hosting musicians who played for free. Ebony Arunga, a barista at Faire who helped organize the benefit, said that their Capitol Hill patrons turned out for the event. “It was a pretty big crowd. We only fit about 60 people in here, and we had a full house!”

 Capitol Hill’s entertainment industry has also played its part, not only were benefit concerts hosted by both Neumos and Chop Suey, but the North West Film Forum (NWFF) held a special screening of a film by Michelange Quay’s called Eat, For This Is My Body, a film displaying the suffering in Haiti even prior to the earthquakes.

 The $300 in proceeds made from this showing was given to Haiti’s Cine Institute located in Jacmel, a small city on Haiti’s southern most coast line. The Cine Institute has been partnering with many charities and aid organizations to distribute resources, and the students of the institute have been documenting the state of Haiti since the earthquake hit.

 Program Director of the NWFF Adam Sekuler said, “The idea was to raise funds for another part of Haiti, but also for this film institute that had become an area for resources to be dispersed. It was a natural fit for us in terms of where we placed our resources.”

 Yet, despite the huge support shown for the Haiti cause, Osbaldo Hernandez Sahagun says he has seen a decline in activity, and that he has even been confronted about the March 5th concert date of the SU benefit. “Some people say why we waited until March and I tell them because, first it takes a lot of time to plan an event like this but also to remind people that Haiti is still helpless and still needs our help today and tomorrow and for the years to come.”

 While Capitol Hill should be applauded for its far-reaching efforts to send aid and support to the victims of the Haitian earthquakes, Sahagun and the committee planning For The Love of Haiti stress that there is still more to be done.

 Sahagun says,“We hope that people come to the concert. There will be a lot of entertainment, amazing-talented artists and all for a small $10 cost . . . This money is to aid and give more hope to orphans who need help. To a country that needs a hand. It’s giving hope to generations that will build Haiti again.”

 For more information on For The Love of Haiti, visit its Facebook page .