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New South Florida-based Rebuilding Campaign Helps Rebuild Haiti

Among the pictures and paintings on display at The Little Haiti Cultural Center in Miami, more than 100 business leaders, community activists, neighbors and people who care turned out to support the "Rebuilding Haiti" program through a new campaign called Hard Hats for Haiti. Spearheaded by the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF), the campaign's main goal is not only to raise awareness, but to raise funds to build safe homes and neighborhoods for hundreds of thousands Haitian earthquake victims, through a private and public partnership.

"We want to rebuild Haiti by implementing the 3R's: Rebuilding communities, Revitalizing neighborhoods, and Restoring livelihoods (creating jobs) by making sure the people who need the most help, really get it," said Paul Fisher, Director of Corporate Partnerships for PADF. Fisher co-hosted the launch event at The Little Haiti Cultural Center at 212 NE 59th Terrace in Miami last Thursday, September 22nd at 7p.m.

Fisher and Haiti's Consul General, Ralph Latortue, kicked off the night's event and campaign, then introduced the community and corporate sponsors who have pledged to donate money and time to the Haitian rebuilding effort. More than 180,000 homes were damaged and 1.5 million people were left homeless after the January 2010, 7.0 magnitude quake struck near Port-au-Prince.

"Unlike other movements to help Haiti, every dollar will go directly to the hardest hit areas, like Delmas 32, a neighborhood at the epicenter of the crisis," added Latortue. Event attendees got to see how that would happen first hand as a slide show of the devastation and rebuilding process in Haiti played on a big screen at the front of the gallery. Guests watched and clapped as Daniel O'Neil, PADF's Senior Director of Programs for Haiti and Dominican Republic spoke about the reconstruction process, and the group's higher goal of creating 14,000 sustainable jobs across the country.

The list of sponsors of Hard Hats for Haiti is impressive. Among the community and corporate partners are: Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado and the City of Miami, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Caterpillar, Diageo, RIM Blackberry and MTV. PADF also receives backing from institutions such as the United States Agency for International Aid, the World Bank, the American Red Cross and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.

The campaign is the most significant to date because of the leadership of the PADF, which is able to bring corporations, institutions, cities and citizens together for a good cause. In fact, PADF has secured over $50 million dollar commitment from its institutional donors, but there's a catch, in order to access the money, PADF has to raise $1 million dollars a year for the next three years through public donations, as matching funds; "We want to build a better Port-Au-Prince where lives are better, where we can say we built back the community better," added O'Neil.

So how does it work? Participants can join the cause by visiting www.hardhats4haiti.org
and doing one of three things:

- Create a Team - Join a Team - Join as an Individual

Teams are encouraged to raise $2,000, which is the amount it takes to rebuild a home in a revitalized neighborhood. In fact, local TV anchor, Jawan Strader of CBS, WFOR-TV who attended the event, is taking up the cause and hosting a party at Cadillac Ranch, a restaurant in Kendall on October 21st, 2011.

The events go on with Reggie Canal of AKYSON, who is organizing a fashion and design gala called "Contemporary Haiti". The gala is scheduled to take place on November 19th at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. Photos by renowned artists Jordan Zuņiga and artwork by Carl Juste, will be part of a silent auction.

The overall goal is to raise money, and no amount is insignificant. That's why before the evening ended, guests were asked to text HARDHATS to 27722 to make a $5 donation. Organizers also asked people to tweet about the initiative through Twitter at the hashtag #HH4Haiti or to follow the efforts on Facebook.

Follow PADF on Twitter to get updates on the latest information.

Pan American Development Foundation

Headquartered in Washington DC, PADF is a is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 1962 to promote, facilitate and implement social and economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Today, PADF is closely engaged with the South Florida community through its Miami office. PADF develops public-private partnerships that assist the least advantaged people in Latin America and the Caribbean. Having worked in every country in the western hemisphere, PADF engages community-based groups, governments and the private sector in the process of implementing appropriate solutions for sustainable development. In 2010, PADF helped more than 10.2 million beneficiaries in 22 countries. To learn more about the Hard Hats for Haiti campaign, please visit www.hardhats4haiti.org.