Public Employee Press

How you can help earthquake victims in Haiti

Acting quickly after a powerful earthquake devastated Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Jan. 12, District Council 37 donated $10,000 to the relief effort and is urging members to make their own contributions.

The magnitude 7.0 earthquake killed an estimated 200,000 Haitians and left about 3 million of the Caribbean nation’s 9 million people homeless and without access to basic needs. The quake hit during a severe food crisis and the country’s attempt to reconstruct after four devastating hurricanes in 2008.

The majority of Haitians have no clean drinking water or electricity and lived in flimsy structures that did not withstand the earthquake. Even before the disaster, most Haitians were unemployed and impoverished, living on less than $2 a day.

The DC 37 Executive Board approved the contribution to the Earthquake Relief for Haitian Workers fund of the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center on Jan. 13. DC 37’s national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, contributed $25,000 to the Solidarity Center fund.

The New York City Central Labor Council quickly set up the NYC Central Labor Council Haitian Disaster Relief Fund to directly benefit the workers, victims and families of the Haitian community. DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts is a co-chair of the CLC fund.

The people of Haiti need our help now. In order to get assistance to earthquake victims as quickly as possible, DC 37 urges members to mail checks directly to either of the funds listed below, not to DC 37. Please write “Earthquake Relief for Haitian Workers” in the memo line of the check. Donations can also be made on-line through the AFSCME Web site, www.afscme.org.

Solidarity Center Education Fund
888 16th Street, N.W., Suite 400
Washington, D.C. 20006

NYC Central Labor Council
Haitian Disaster Relief Fund
275 Seventh Avenue, 18th floor
New York, NY 10007