Please Stand with Haiti

*updated with cider stand info below:

Thanks to Tom of Bikejuju for raising awareness of  the situation in Haiti and  specifically promoting Paul Farmer‘s Partners In Health (PIH) and their Stand with Haiti campaign as a worthy place for donations.

When I was in graduate school and working in an undergraduate library, “Mountains Beyond Mountains”  by Tracy Kidder was the  required “Common Book ” for all UW freshman. Me, as a good librarian, and Anne as a member of the extended campus community, chose to read along. It wasn’t long before we found ourselves touched deeply by the story of  Haiti, Farmer, and his organization PIH.

But days slip by and suddenly it’s three years later. Though our initial intentions to somehow do something were genuine, we truthfully haven’t thought much about Haiti in the past couple years.

That is, until the earthquake. When deciding how to help, we considered giving to Doctors without Borders, UNICEF, the Red Cross, and others. Yet, in our minds, the connection between us, Farmer, and Haiti remained.

We wanted to contribute to his organization because we felt we knew something about the work they did. But did we? Was Partners in Health a Worthy cause or were were reacting to our memories of the book? Would a small org be a good choice or should we just joint the hordes and give to the Red Cross?

As many Bikejuju readers already know, Tom works for an organization which provides health and education services in developing countries. Today he posted a recommendation to support PIH that we feel both validated our choice and is worthy of your consideration. Though I don’t normally copy the bulk of someone’s post, I think in this case you, and Tom, will understand. His brevity and clarity don’t require embellishment from me:

This isn’t a bike post. This is a simple request that you pitch in. I have selected Partners in Health as the medical organization I think is the best recipient of your support at this time. They have operated in Haiti for over 20 years, are fully equipped at multiple sites, operate with low administrative costs, and are scaling up very rapidly on the ground. I have visited their main hospital site in Cange (featured in the book Mountains Beyond Mountains), and I know the quality of their work first hand.

-Bike juju

Carfree Kids want to help out

When we told the kids about the situation in Haiti, they wanted to do something. After kicking around numerous ideas , some practical, some not, they’ve decided to host a seasonally adjusted lemonade stand (ie, hot cider) fundraiser at Greenlake this weekend with all proceeds/donations going to to PIH and Haiti.

So, if you are out and about, stop by for a warm up! We expect we’ll be loading up the Xtracycles with the Coleman stove, table, donation jar, signage, a big pot, and lots of cider Saturday morning and heading to the souteast side of the lake. With luck we’ll garner the morning walker crowd before they blow their cash on after-stroll lattes.

We’ll update the post with final time/location. Sunday is our backup option in case Saturday is so rainy the walkers stay away.

updated: The plan is to set up and start heating the apple cider around 10am on the SE side of the lake (north of the crew/boat house/amphitheater, near the restroom). Watch for the Xtracycles and happy kids with tasty cider. We should be there for about 2 hours or until we exhaust the cider supply.

Update 2: Cider stand was a big hit. We collected $433.85 and donated that amount directly to PIH (via http://www.standwithhaiti.org) on the web today. Weather permitting (it’s supposed to pour which would really cut into the walker traffic) we’ll be back there tomorrow (Sunday). Thank you Seattle for your support!

Please do whatever you can to Stand with Haiti!

-Tim

Creative Commons /flickr photos: Haitian Flag by Carrib and Hot Cider by Elana’s Pantry