An overflight assessment above Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

On Friday islanders opened their pockets for the good of Haiti at the Lopez Center’s fundraiser. Organizer Stewart Marshall was very pleased with the results. “I’ve lived in a number of places, but I’ve never seen a community quite like this” he says, elaborating on how the island has an active grasp on forgein affairs and a strong envirmonetal conscience, “it’s a very caring community” he concluded.

“About half way through we had raised around $2500, but the end figure will bigger than that…people were donating as they were leaving.” Says Marshall.

Marshall commented that his initial idea to hold a fundraiser really took flight as soon as word of mouth began to spread. Having previously had only a few days to put on the Katrina fund raiser, he knew it could be done, “it’s the sort of thing that takes on a life of its own” he says.

That energy translated into a lucrative total. Richard Sorenson, director of the Lopez Center, puts the exact total of fund raising at $3320.56. “It went well, it was my first major on-island disaster event fund raiser” he said. The three charities available for donations were Partners in Health, the American Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. The two organizers are,however, far from complacent about the Haiti aid project.

Marshall stressed that he hoped people realized the scope of the tragedy “it is still unfolding” he said. “It is not a situation where we can be content to give just once”. This is reinforced by Sorenson’s plans to run another fund raiser in a month or so. Both are aware that, as the media attention moves away from Haiti it will perhaps slip from people’s minds, and hope that this will not be the case. “Every dollar goes far down there” says Marshall, “everything we raise is significant”.