Whoopi Goldberg, Wyclef Jean, Mary J. Blige, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Michael Stipe, The Edge and more came out tonight in New York City to support Haiti Hope Help & Relief, a new initiative aimed at bringing “Tents Now, Home Tomorrow” to the people of Haiti.
Tonic was there, on the red carpet and inside the event (which at 9:45 p.m. was just getting rolling, as Mary J. Blige took to the stage!) to share the message of hope with our readers. (Not to mention all the fun! See the slide show of Tonic’s images from the red carpet below.)
“It’s really a call to action to come together and say, ‘What can we do for Haiti,’” Donna Karan tells Tonic of the evening. “The short term is ‘A Tent Today and Home Tomorrow.’ The long term is [working together to build] a sustainable community.”
Karan, who sits on Tonic’s Board of Creators, organized the event with the help of Blige, Andre Harrell and Andre Balazs — who’ll be hosting the afterparty at the Boom Boom Room in his hot downtown Standard Hotel shortly after this report was filed.
“What we’re about to do is launch a piece tonight. It’s not the end, it’s just the beginning. It’s a call to action bringing people from business art and fashion together to create a coalition of change.”
Karan also points out that it’s possible for individuals to make a real difference, too: A donation of $1,000 to the initiative will purchase a tent — and a complete supply kit including water purification, cooking and sleeping accoutrements — for 10 people. “For $1000 you can be servicing ten people, which is extraordinary,” Karan says.
Mary J. Blige tells Tonic, “I’m hopeful that people will really purchase a lot of those tents. If you go inside those tents, there are stoves, water, all kinda stuff — and it just makes me feel good that she would put together something like that. When I walked inside that tent I was like, ‘Man, God bless you for doing this.’ Because they need this, in a package like that, not all separate but a package with everything that’s needed.”
Whoopi Goldberg, who is serving as auctioneer at the party, pointed out that hope for Haiti’s future can be found in the news of today: “They’re still pulling out survivors,” she marveled on the way in to the fundraiser, which is expected to raise enough money for 50,000 tents for those survivors in a single evening. “They pulled out a survivor today — it is unreal, and you have to put it in perspective. Maybe we should still do everything we can, because maybe some people are still waiting.”
Emcee Soledad O’Brien, who just returned from a week in Haiti broadcasting for NBC News, and will return to Haiti on Feb. 20, explained the situation.”Those tent cities [we've all seen on the news] are not tent cities. They’re people who brought a tarp or a sheet or a blanket. That’s what they’re underneath. So to be able to upgrade to a tent is an amazing thing, and I’m so glad to be a part of it.”
Again, the theme of “Tents Now, Home Later” says it all: Addressing the needs of the people in the here and now, and down the road.
“You can’t just say urgent response now and forget about the long term,” O’Brien points out. “But you also can’t say ‘Let’s build homes’ when people are basically sitting outside. You’re driving on the main highway by people who are basically just on a square of carpet. So to have a tent is so much better than what 99 percent of the people have. Even people who did not lose their homes are not sleeping inside.”
“To have a tent is a huge upgrade,” she notes. “Then long term, you can’t live in a tent. You need a home that is well-built, structurally sound, and that will be integrated with all the other homes — and also, a real support for school.”
“I think there’s an opportunity to take what was a really horrible thing and turn things around [in Haiti]: Infrastructurally, and saving the children — and not by taking them out of the country. Saving them by making them the future of the country: educate them, feed them, give them health care. It’s really kind of simple, but it has an awfully big scope.”
Keep coming back to Tonic for more coverage of Haiti Hope Help & Relief.
Photos by Michael Trainer/Reckoning Studios