What started out as a grassroots effort by a group of friends from Miami and Haiti has now turned into a collaboration of hundreds of people around the country from all walks of life, all working together for one cause: to save as many lives as humanly possible in earthquake ravaged Haiti.
The morning after the earthquake hit, Dr. Barth Green, co-founder of Project Medishare/UM Global Institute, was en route to Haiti on a charter plane (made possible through the generosity of Hank Asher) filled with a team of trauma surgeons. Upon their arrival in Haiti, Project Medishare/UM Global Institute doctors began working closely with Haitian President René Préval to organize all medical teams on the ground to implement a plan to set up field hospitals and triage centers around the capital city of Port au Prince.
With the help of the United Way of Miami-Dade, Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc., their WQAM radio station and The Miami HEAT, drop points have been designated where people can donate medical supplies, water, food, generators and other necessities. Upon discussing ideas on how best to set up a fundraiser at a local Miami venue, some of the friends noted that with the huge outpour of support, a national event would attract more attention, and in turn create more donations to send aid to Haiti. Over the next forty-eight hours the group came up with a concept, devised a plan and has since launched the website www.SaveHaitiSaturday.com to implement it.
Restaurants, clubs, bars, etc. from across the United States have offered to generously donate a percentage of their revenue for “Save Haiti Saturday” which will be taking place every Saturday through Super Bowl weekend. “Save Haiti Saturday” is a nationwide fundraising initiative to benefit Project Medishare/UM Global Institute for Haiti’s massive medical earthquake relief effort. Each participating business has committed to donating either its door cover charges, a percentage of the food and/or beverage revenue or a fixed dollar amount. The final decision as to how much each individual venue chooses to donate is completely their discretion. The more money we can raise, the more support we can provide to our teams of doctors, nurses and rescue workers who are working tirelessly and selflessly around the clock, performing surgeries and taking care of the sick and wounded during this most critical time in Haiti.
Special thanks from our team at Save Haiti Saturday, Jenna Green, Nick Arison, Doug Rosenberg, Kelly Arison and Jackie Tommasino to: Anthony Shriver, Mark Lewis, Best Buddies, Inc., Romero Britto, Peter Boyd, Genna Brevitz, Christian LaCapra, Heather Monahan, Marissa Merove-Pierre, Stephanie Guernsey, Sebastien Merove-Pierre, Yousef Warwar and Andrew Warwar.
Project Medishare for Haiti, Inc., a 501.3 non-profit registered in the State of Florida, was founded in 1994 by Drs. Barth Green and Arthur Fournier from the University of Miami School of Medicine. It is an organization dedicated to sharing its human and technical resources with its Haitian partners in the quest to achieve quality healthcare and development services for all. This mission is accomplished through two distinct but complimentary programs which now frequently intersect, such as the Community Health Program and the Integrated Community Development Program.