As of March 8th, Yele has given 400,000 Gallons of filtered water in over 100 locations across Haiti.

Thanks for all your support! 

Thanks to our supporters and local drives! Three containers of water, food, clothing, shoes, shelters and medical supplies are on their way to Haiti.

These items collected in New York city and New Jersey were sorted, packaged and loaded by our Yele volunteers at 2 West South Orange Avenue in South Orange, NJ. If you would like to volunteer please contact us at volunteer@yele.org by putting on the subject line: Volunteer in South Orange, NJ or by calling 1-973-378-3330 

To see pictures, please click here.

Ex-Fugee to get Image Award, in part for Haiti effort By IAIN BLAIR

"This award means so much to me because it's not just for me -- it's also for the people of Haiti," says Grammy Award-winning musician and activist Wyclef Jean, who was born and raised in Haiti, where he grew up singing in his father's church before moving to America at age 9.

The ex-Fugees member has always "fought for recognition of my country," and was one of the first people to fly back to his homeland after the devastating earthquake Jan. 12 leveled much of the country, drawing scrutiny for his Yele Haiti org's accounting practices in the process.

"It was like Armageddon mixed with the Apocalypse," recalls Jean, who says he lost 15 family members and friends. "I was helping carry bodies in the street." Ten days later, Jean spearheaded the Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief concert in New York City, and soon after joined nearly 80 performers -- including such diverse collaborators as Celine Dion, Lil Wayne, Barbra Streisand, Kanye West and Pink -- to record a new version of the 1985 charity hit "We Are the World," with proceeds this time going to the Haitian relief effort.

But raising money and awareness "isn't enough," stresses Jean, who plans to be a part of the rebuilding. "We need action now to replace the infrastructure, get Haitians employed and renew the agriculture. It's going to take years, and there's no time to lose."

Link: http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=awardcentral&jump=news&articleid=VR1118015749&cs=1

On Monday, Feb. 22, Wyclef Jean joined rabbis from the New York City area at the Jewish National Fund to discuss the current crisis in Haiti and how the Jewish community could help.  Wyclef shared some of what Yele Haiti is doing to support the relief efforts there and his vision for the needs for Haiti over the long-term. 

Even before the earthquake in January, the JNF had been working with Yéle Haiti and The Timberland Company to address the environmental degradation of Haiti, which has less than two percent tree cover remaining -- and the need is even more pronounced today.  Because the JNF has such a long history of  environmental stewardship (108 years of planting 240 million trees and building 1,000 parks in Israel) they are perfectly suited to advise on the how this much-needed strategy fits in to the long-term recovery plan over the next several years.

Revealed meets singer and music producer Wyclef Jean as he returns from helping in earthquake-devastated Haiti.

Sunday, February 14, 2010- Yéle Haiti distributed 6,000 hot meals as well as 12,000 gallons of water to approximately 2400 families in Leogane and Gressier. On Monday and Tuesday, our Yéle Haiti team distributed 24,000 gallons of water that served 4800 families to the following areas: Solino, Nazon, Croix des Pres, Avenue Pouplard, Carrefour Feuilles, Savane and Des Caette. 

 Click here to see more pictures.

Wyclef Jean (center in blue shirt) helping to distribute hot meals in the Cité Soleil section of Port-au-Prince on January 24th, and the local population lined up peacefully (right) for the same distribution. 

As of today, Yéle Haiti has prepared and distributed more 52,000 hot meals in a pilot program that began Sunday, January 24^th, 2010. The goal was to deliver between 5,500 to 7,000 individual hot meals a day in affected neighborhoods throughout Port-au-Prince.  

While these meals were delivered daily from January 24th to 31st, the hot meal pilot program is now operating on Sundays. The next hot meal delivery is today, February 7, with 6,000 meals being prepared and delivered in the following areas: Bel Air, Cite Soleil, Route de l’Enterrement and Carrefour de l’Aeroport in Port- au-Prince.  

All distributions are managed by the local Yéle Haiti team in collaboration with community leaders.

One of Yéle’s 15 1,200-gallon water trucks for delivering water to the tent encampments and neighborhoods in need. 

Yéle Haiti has purchased an initial 2 million gallons of filtered water and contracted 15 1,200-gallon water trucks to assist Yéle in delivering the water directly to communities throughout Port-au-Prince. The first test delivery of 2,400 gallons took place on January 24th, and the second test will involve delivering 6,000 gallons on February 9th. Regular daily distributions begin shortly after that with 9,600 gallons a day, and within two weeks this will have increased to more than 24,000 gallons of water a day. 

All water distributions are undertaken in consultation with community leaders in each of the targeted tent encampments. These leaders help to gauge the volume required in a delivery the following day, using a basic formula of one gallon per person – and usually people bring a five gallon container in order to get a supply for their family, the average size of which if five. 

The community leaders help to ensure that people are lined up and ready with their containers. The Yéle team, which includes student volunteers from the State University of Haiti, works with these leaders to ensure an orderly process. As one truck is close to having dispensed its load of 1,200 gallons, the next truck is called in to replace it. When the first truck arrives, a faucet on the tank releases water into the containers each person in line has ready. The Yéle team also ensures that elderly or handicapped people in the area who are not able to get to the trucks have water delivered to them.