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The Last Tragedy — Haiti still needs help

The Last Crisis

by digby

Rick Perlstein sent in this Public Service Announcement and reminded me that neaqrly 200,000 people died in Haiti just six months ago. God, what a year:

The world’s attention has turned elsewhere as Haiti struggles to recover from the historic January earthquake. No country has suffered such a massive disaster in a century; 3% of the 9 million population died, a like number suffered injury and illness and 20% are now homeless. The situation in Port au Prince is still threatened by the chaotic situation existing there. Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere has little infrastructure, making every task more difficult.

TOMMY STINSON is committed to aiding the fundraising and awareness building efforts in Haiti by working with the Timkatec Centers, three schools located in Petion-Ville, a suburb of Port Au Prince.

Tommy, currently in Guns N’ Roses and Soul Asylum and formerly of The Replacements, Bash & Pop and Perfect, will hold an online fund-raiser by selling personal and donated items on his website, www.tommystinson.com, in late July. Items will include a signed GNR bass guitar, two retired custom-made plaid suits from his GNR tours, a week-long vacation in the Bahamas, and more. Everyone who makes a donation of any amount to Timkatec as part of the fund-raiser will receive a free download of “Don’t Deserve You,” the first single off of Tommy’s upcoming solo release, which is currently in production (release date TBA).

The three Timkatec schools support 500 children and desperately need financial support. Timkatec 1, a residential Primary school founded in 1994, brings some relief and normalcy to 500 kids in the post earthquake chaos by providing food, shelter, education and structure to homeless and abandoned children, some just 5 years old. Timkatec 2, built in 2005, is a trade school for destitute teenage boys, training as plumbers, electricians, tailors, shoe makers and construction workers; Timkatec 3, founded in 2009, trains teenage girls as cooks, hairdressers, seamstresses and child care workers. The results are improvements in health, literacy and self-esteem and above all, the ability to support one’s self. Currently, funding for Timkatec comes from “The Friends of Timkatec in America”, founded by the O’Shea family and friends in 2004 to build Timkatec 2 and fund its operations.

More information here.

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