SEIU 1199 donates $1 million to UNICEF's efforts in Haiti

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East - whose Boston local has already distinguished itself by hosting a relief center for Boston-area Haitians - is stepping up yet again for the Haitian cause. SEIU, the largest healthcare workers union in the country - announced today that it is donating $1 million to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF for earthquake relief and recovery efforts in Haiti.

Salsa for Haiti: Multicultural coalition plans benefit in South End

A multicultural coalition of Latino organizations has pulled together a special Salsa for Haiti event for this Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts in Boston's South End. Here are the details:

New Yorker: Edwidge Danticat on the loss of her cousin

Don't miss Edwidge Danticat's article in the new edition of the New Yorker magazine entitled "A Little While." The award-winning Haitian-American author recounts the life and death of her cousin Maxo.

Sunday jewelry sale will help rebuild, house people in Jérémie

Ruth Adomunes has never felt as if life was driven by technology. Yet for the past week, this local nurse and humanitarian has found herself glued to the computer and the television for information about Haiti since a magnitude 7.0 earthquake tore the impoverished Caribbean nation apart. More specifically, she is riveted by news about Jeremie, a coastal village located about 100 miles north of the epicenter of the catastrophic earthquake.

‘Mother Nature has risen up against us’

Haitian linguist and journalist Nicolas André sent this account of the hours and days after the Jan. 12 earthquake to BHR contributor Emmanuel W. Vedrine in Boston. Vedrine has translated his report from French to English.

Wyclef closes telethon on upbeat note: "Enough with the moping. Let's rebuild Haiti!"

For anyone who missed it (where were you??), here's the closing performance of last night's impressive Hope for Haiti telethon, in which Wyclef Jean and fellow Haitian musicians played a medley. The highlight: 'Clef saying: "Hold up, hold up. Enough of the moping. Let's rebuild Haiti... Let's show them how we do it where we come from." Solid indeed.

Former Bush advisor: We should open doors to Haitian immigrants post-quake

The Washington Post published an interesting op-ed piece on Thursday from Elliott Abrams, who served as assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs in the Reagan administration and was a deputy national security adviser to President George W. Bush. This veteran of two Republican administrations makes the case that many Democrats would likely agree with: We need to open the doors to a new wave of Haitian immigrants as one way to help Haiti in the aftermath of Jan. 12.

Longwood Symphony, NEC plan Jan. 31 concert to benefit Partners in Health

The Longwood Symphony Orchestra at the New England Conservatory are planning a program called "Symphonic Relief For Haiti: A Global Concert to Benefit Partners In Health" for Sunday January 31, 2010, from 12:30—2 p.m. Here is the release from NEC: Goal is to Raise $250,000 for Earthquake Ravaged Country

Harvard Square restaurant will host Sunday fundraiser

An event benefit for Haitian relief through Partners in Health will be held on Sunday, Jan 24. at OM in Harvard Square. It will run from 6p.m. to 10p.m., with a $10 donation to gain entrance or $20 and your first Pinnacle vodka drink is on the house, as well as food specials all night (with a large percentage of sales being donated by OM). Fifty percent of all Pinnacle vodka sales will also be donated all night. Here is a facebook page for the event.

Watch tonight's Hope for Haiti Telethon at Reggie Lewis Center

The Reggie Lewis Center Gymnasium will be the venue tonight for a special gathering to support the nationally televised Hope for Haiti telethon. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the televised program starts at 8 p.m. The telethon will be shown on two big screens at the RCC facility.

Boston Haitian Reporter