Why We're Not Funded

Remember how I wrote that The Feinstein 1200 is unfunded, and with good reason?

Here's the reason: other people actually know what to do with your money.

Very rarely can I recommend a group that works so well with so little, but Harvard-trained Dr. Paul Farmer's Partners In Health, which provides free medical care to the Haitian people, is that group.

As you probably know, Dr. Farmer was the subject of a best-selling non-fiction book by Pulitzer-prize winning author Tracy Kidder, titled Mountains Beyond Mountains. It's a book that will change the way you look at yourself, your world, and the ability of people to do the right thing.

Amid the devastation of the 7.0 earthquake that struck Port-Au-Prince on Tuesday, this is the time to send PIH some support.

I know that it's hard to believe you could make a difference in a country as poor as Haiti - barely half of an island! But this is no ordinary half of an island. Please consider giving to PIH - for three important reasons.

1) We Owe The Haitian People.

500 free Haitian soldiers fought for us in our all-important, history-making American Revolutionary War, during the Siege of Savannah. How did we repay them? It's kind of embarrassing, but... we didn't actually repay them.

2) Haitians are no ordinary people.

While Haiti itself is the poorest in the western hemisphere, the country boasts an unusually large number of talented artists and musicians. The poorest parts of the country are still covered in beautifully rendered murals. The music is great. Here's some old-school Nemours for you to listen to.

Even though it's a very small country, Haitian immigrants to the U.S. and Americans of Haitian descent have made outstanding contributions to American history and culture. The founder of the city of Chicago (Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable) was born to a Haitian slave in Port-Au-Prince, and the polymath sociologist and pioneering civil rights leader W.E.B. Dubois (the first African-American to earn a doctorate degree from Harvard) had a Haitian father. So is writer Edwige Danticat. The artist Basquiat was half-Haitian, and his powerful images were inspired by Haitian and African culture.

3) Partners In Health will actually put your money to effective use.

PIH is not one of those giant organizations where most of your money goes to administrative costs. You can read more about PIH in Pulitzer-winner Tracy Kidder's book about Paul Farmer, and on the PIH website, and in this article.

Bonus reason: we have earthquakes; apparently so do they.

Thanks for thinking of the Haitian people, and thanks for considering PIH.

Just for fun, here's a portrait of the late Basquiat in the 1980's, you can see the influence of the bold color of Haitian painting in his work: