Haiti Fundraiser Wrap Up: $3500 for Fonkoze.org

On Thursday night SeaMo, Seattle Greendrinks, Global Washington, Re-Vision Labs, and Seattle Works co-sponsored a benefit to support the work of Fonkoze in Haiti.

In just a few short hours we raised over $3400 to support the work of Fonkoze, including a generous donation of more than $400 from our event host, Pike Pub.

The event featured music from Sunday Evening Whiskey Club, as well as presentations from Fonkoze and the Grameen Foundation.

Charlene Balick, a program officer of the Grameen Foundation, shared the stories of two women who are involved in the Road to a Better Life program. By coupling microcredit with training in how to run a small business and how to access health and education services, Fonkoze provides these women with both the resources and the know-how to lift themselves out of poverty.

Georgina Allen, who interned with Fonkoze in Haiti, shared this sentiment about Fonkoze’s work after disasters:

“Fonkoze has made miracles happen time and time again and they will continue to do so. Fonkoze started with nothing and has grown into a network of 40 branches. After the hurricanes Fonkoze employees traveled to the affected areas to help shovel mud out of branches and employees homes. Anne Hastings and another employee hit the ground running and successfully obtained something like a 2.5 million dollar grant from the UK development agency. Today, despite having lost two employees from P-a-P headquarters, Anne Hastings has already managed to have nearly all of their branches reopened. Fonkoze staff and clients are the reason I am confident Haiti will recover from this unprecedented disaster and ultimately flourish.”

Although the five co-sponsoring organizations would hope that a relief fundraiser would never be necessary again, we recognize that these urgent, unforeseen needs will arise–and we’re grateful to have networks of engaged and generous people to call upon.

Thanks to everyone who participated!