Saturday, January 23, 2010

Hope For Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief

Hope For Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief

Websites

MTV: Hope For Haiti Now

Hope For Haiti Now

Wikipedia: Hope For Haiti Now


Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief is a charity telethon that was held on 22 January 2010 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, 23 January 2010 from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. UTC. The telethon is set to be the most widely distributed telethon in history. The event was broadcast from Studio 36 at the CBS Television City, Los Angeles, from the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York and from the private club The Hospital in London.[citation needed] There were also live reports from Haiti.

Creation of the telethon was announced by MTV Networks in the United States on January 15, 2010, three days after the 2010 Haiti earthquake struck on January 12 and claimed the lives of at least 70,000 people. The event is one of a number of humanitarian responses to the earthquake. The telethon is patterned after the form begun with the 2001 America: A Tribute to Heroes program and continued with the 2005 Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast.

The telethon and its album and video, currently available for pre-order on iTunes, will raise funds for Haiti relief, to be given the following organizations with humanitarian operations in Haiti: the World Food Programme, UNICEF, the Red Cross, Oxfam, the YĆ©le Haiti Foundation, Partners In Health and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.

Participants

Wyclef Jean hosted the concert in New York City, with George Clooney in Los Angeles and Anderson Cooper in Haiti.

Rihanna revealed on 21 January, during the Norwegian-Swedish talkshow Skavlan, that she would perform a new song titled "Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)", together with Jay-Z and U2's The Edge and Bono for the telethon in London.

In San Francisco, Clint Eastwood and Matt Damon appealed for donations. (Credit: Wikipedia).