I recently found out about an interesting fundraising effort for Haiti called C4C or Cooking for a Cause. Staff at the United Nations International School came up with the idea to devote their time to creating fabulous dinner parties for those who are interested. All the money they collect is donated to Haiti relief and reconstruction. Details follow:
C4C (Cooking for a Cause)
United Nations International School Faculty and Staff will cook, serve dinner in your own home.
To raise funds for Haiti UNIS Faculty and Staff has formed a Catering Service whose members will cook on request many types of cuisine, serve and clean up before they leave your home. 100% of proceeds will go to UNIS Haiti Relief Fund . We are committed to help Haiti for a long term. We hope to provide this service for at least one year.
Date and time: Any Saturday from 6:00pm to 9:00pm
Location: Your home
Menu: French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese,Italian and vegetarian cuisine
One appetizer
One main course
One or two side-dishes
Dessert
Price: $100/person
Numbers of guests: 4 to 12
Reservations: One week prior or by Wednesday for Saturday.
Contact: Kimxuan Huynh Brezinsky at kbrezinsky@unis.org
I digress from this month’s forecasting theme because I am devastated by the large-scale destruction in Haiti. I would like to share a different vision of Haiti and to send my best to all those I met over the years. I learned to love Haiti from one of my first best friends in high school. She showed me a vibrant and proud culture of music and mysticism. I grew up seeing the strengths of the Haitian community in New York – indeed, Haitians rank among the more successful immigrant groups in the U.S. Later on, when I was studying for my graduate degree at NYU, my friend helped me to navigate New York’s Haitian community for my International Reporting class.
New York City’s Haitian community is clustered in three main neighborhoods: in Manhattan on 103rd and Amsterdam, in Queens’ Jamaica and Cambria Heights and in Brooklyn’s East Flatbush and Crown Heights areas. In my travels, I met Jack who co-owned, Les Delices, a restuarant in Cambria Heights, and Vioela Caze who worked at Haitian music store, Antilles Mizik Ltd. Vioela was here to study but wanted to return to Haiti where she loved the club scene in Port-au-Prince. She introduced me to traditional Haitian troubadour music and kompa, the music of the new generation. I spent several evenings with the regular attendees of the Haitian American Student Association at NYU, most of whom were studying medicine, and all of whom were mixing Haitian culture into their American lives.
I also met strong advocates for Haiti including Gina Cheron-Merlin, at the time director of National Coalition for Haitian Rights; Kim Ives, who edited and wrote for Haiti Progresfor over twenty years; Gary Pierre-Pierre, founder of the Haitian Times; Farah Tanis who launched Dwa Fanm, a service provider for Haitian victims of domestic and sexual abuse in New York City; and Steeve Coupeau who founded Haiti Advocacy to give a voice to the Haitian community in New York and he told me to show, “We are not just boat people.”
I hope they are all well, and I reach out to them to help get Haiti through a seemingly neverending crisis which escalated in 2008 when hurricanes and tropical storms killed hundreds of people, wiped out Haiti’s food crops and caused nearly a billion dollars in damage. Last year, rising food prices further hurt families. And now the unspeakable losses.
Deciding how and where to give is overwhelming when faced with the flood of pleas on television, in the mail and in my inbox, especially in the last remaining days of the tax year. I walk around feeling guilty – I should have pledged during the PBS drive because I do believe in quality programming and I don’t think there is enough of it (instead we have MTV’s inane reality show, “Jersey Shore”). I should have thrown in an extra dollar into the Salvation Army pot. I should have put together a package of my daughter’s gently used clothes for poor Ukrainian orphans.
Unfortunately, I don’t have oodles of money like billionaires who can paste their names on everything from museums (Ukrainian metals magnate Victor Pinchuk and his Pinchuk Art Centre) to universities (real estate mogul Stephen M. Ross and his Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan) to libraries (private equity investor Stephen Schwarzman’s building at the New York Public Library). And I don’t have celebrity power like Madonna or Oprah to raise money for schools in Africa, among other causes.
That’s why Britain’s community activist, Hayley Teague, and her advice to go local makes sense to me (see Speaker’s Corner). Though Hayley was inspired to serve after visiting an AIDS orphanage in South Africa, she decided she could have a bigger impact in her hometown of Mitcham in South London. Going local has taken her to work with youth offenders, act as a drug and alcohol awareness educator, and serve up dinner to those less fortunate on Christmas Day. She has touched the lives of so many who live where she lives, and has made Mitcham a better place.
I am also impressed with organizations that have larger mandates. I think Remote Area Medical which provides free health clinics to those in need is invaluable. I admire the dedication and commitment of those I met with for my profile of the Salvation Army. I also met some very courageous people at Mercy Corps who travel to the core of global conflicts to help the impoverished. Admittedly it is difficult to chose from many such charities. A few years back, I worked on Forbes’ America’s 200 Largest U.S. Charities; I think this list is one of the best at pinpointing where dollars are spent and why one charity may be more efficient than another (and deserving of your dollars).
Whether going local or global, it should be a cause dear to your heart. Then you will feel like you made the most difference.
The American Museum of Natural History currently has an exhibit about the Silk Road, an impressive review of land links from China to Europe that began sometime in the second century BC to around 1500 when boats took over as trade conduits. My daughter loved the camels and the live silkworms, I marveled at the rich history of the many peoples and cultures along the route. I am reading Freya Stark’s beautiful reflections on her travels in Arabia and what once was has captured my imagination.
Afghanistan for example was part of a southern Silk Road route that snaked to India. On the map, cities like Herat, Kabul and Bamyan, the last which we today associate with the terrible Taliban destruction of the giant Buddhas. Chaos and mayhem are probably the only visuals we get from Afghanistan today. But once upon a time, as my daughter would say, Alexander the Great walked these lands, Indian ivories and Chinese lacquers were collected, and rug-making transcended centuries.
Connie Duckworth who is our second featured writer in Speakers’ Corner recognized the skill and entrepreneurship shown by Afghan women in creating beautiful hand-made rugs and started Arzu, an organization which provides a marketplace for the rugs made by Afghan women and in turn invests in their education and well-being. It is a unique endeavor, and Connie has built it step by step by relying on contacts and associates and their donation of skills and expertise. I profiled Connie several years ago, and have reconnected to see the organization become an even bigger success. It also shows a different side of Afghanistan – one where the traditions and heritage of the past are very much alive and celebrated, and one where women have a chance at empowerment.
Six years ago, I met two striking and strong-willed women from Afghanistan when I was taking an International Reporting class at NYU. They had tremendous pride and hope in their country, and wherever they are today, I know they are trying bring Afghanistan back to its prosperous Silk Road past.
I am excited to launch what I hope will become a network of idea generation and sharing with leaders and readers around the globe. Each month, I will be exploring a topic and engaging global thinkers to share their thoughts about the month’s theme. I anticipate Speakers’ Corner will be a chance for leaders otherwise reduced to soundbite or snapshot a chance to explore in long or short form their passions. I encourage readers to participate and share their stories, that way we can connect content to the market and create a new option for a media world coming undone.
This month’s theme is giving. It’s all around us – the ads, the Black Friday hype, the holiday decorations put up even before Halloween was done encouraging us to spend spend spend. Let’s begin a discussion that’s not so focused on if retailers are going to be profitable this holiday season. I say sell out your retail portfolio, companies like Coach’s stock price are going up based on fluffy hopes. It’s my gut call based on the fact they called to invite me to a store event and I haven’t purchased anything in years; they are digging deep to try to get dollars.
So instead, my first guest writer in Speakers’ Corner – philanthropist, publisher and author Ellen Sabin discusses teaching children to be charitable.Full disclosure: I have a two-year old daughter and I want to raise her to understand how lucky she is to have so many things so many children around the world lack – a family, love, food on the table, access to health and education, equal opportunity, never mind the gazillion toys. Ellen has wonderful ideas to teach children to make the world a better place one small step at a time.
I will be writing about my passion – the developing philanthropic tradition in Eastern Europe and Central Asia which is currently being driven by its top billionaires . More on that later.
Next month, we will be looking at what 2010 may bring, lessons learned from the previous year and successes in a year many thought was negative.
February is arts month. More on the editorial calendar as we go forward.
