An obscure little fact about the training coordinator of the Foundation Center in San Francisco is that most of my formative years were spent in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In fact, my first memories included that beautiful but already depleted landscape. I love Haiti and always hoped great things for the country especially after enduring the last years of a 30-year dictatorship. As you might imagine, January 12, 2010 hit me like a ton of bricks. Like most, I scrambled around how to be most useful. Having only Creole and no particular skills in disaster relief, I focused on what I do well, raise money. And one thing that warms me to the core is seeing how many others have rallied to raise funds and supplies in response to the disaster.
As our own PND reported last week, “Small Fundraisers Add up to Help for Haiti” with local watering holes often being the fundraising event site of choice. With the bar scene covered, our team set out to plan an extra special event. Armed with some very talented artists, we have pulled together an epic fundraising event that I hope you will attend. It is not to be missed.
This Saturday, February 20, 2010, NIMBY, one of the largest do-it-yourself art and design spaces in the Bay Area, will host DO IT FOR HAITI, a monumental benefit and clothing drive. All proceeds of the event will be donated to relief organizations on the ground in Haiti.
DO IT FOR HAITI will feature live music, including Kalbass Kreyol and Rosemond Jolissaint from Haiti, kinetic art, youth activities including the Sustainable Living Road Show and the The Life Sized Mouse Trap, food vendors, a clothing donation area, kinetic large-scale art installations, featured speakers and the opportunity to meet and get involved with local relief organizations.
Featured organizations include Architecture for Humanity, CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Fonhep, Sirona Cares and the What If Foundation, among many others.
For more information, please visit.
NIMBY is a community comprised of hundreds of industrial artists and craftspeople who share workspace and knowledge, and who work together to create art that has inspired hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.
WHEN: Saturday, February 20, from 2:00 pm to Midnight.
WHERE: NIMBY, 8410 Amelia Street, Oakland, CA 94621 BART accessible, bicycle and care parking available.
ADMISSION: $10 (children under 12 free)
DONATIONS of summer weight clothing for children and adults will be accepted on site.
Are you hosting a fundraising event in response to the disaster in Haiti? Be sure to comment here so that others will know about your fundraiser.
(This post is from C. Davis Fischer, training coordinator, Foundation Center-San Francisco.)