UPDATE: How Much Did the Telethon Raise, and Where Is The Telethon Money Going?
Hope For Haiti Now: A Global Telethon for Earthquake Relief was an emotional, sometimes hopeful, frequently rousing 2-hour event that featured extraordinary musical performances. The live and taped reports from Haiti drove home the magnitude of the destruction and kept in sharp focus the point of the evening: to raise money for the Haitian people.
Here is a recap of the evening’s performances and reports.
Alicia Keys, Bruce Springsteen and Shakira Perform
* Performance by Alicia Keys, “Prelude to a Kiss”
* George Clooney spoke about Haiti’s overwhelming poverty and lack of resources even before the earthquake struck. He implored viewers to donate to the Haitian people, appealing to “the best of who we are…The Haitian people need our help, and they need to know we still care,"
* Performance by Coldplay, “A Message”
* Halle Berry told the story of a little boy who was saved after 8 days buried in the rubble, and asked viewers to donate for the orphaned children of Haiti.
* Performance by Bruce Springsteen, “We Shall Overcome”
* Anderson Cooper, live from Haiti, and then Leonardo DiCaprio in Los Angeles, both report on the human toll the earthquake has taken, and of the desperate need for medical supplies and aid.
* Performance by Stevie Wonder, “A Time To Love” /“Bridge Over Troubled Water”
* Wyclef Jean told of his time in Haiti providing support after the earthquake. “My people…should have been laughing, they should have been singing, but instead, they were heavy in my arms.” Jean called on people to help prevent the “second wave” of disaster that will arise from inadequate food, water, shelter and medical aid. “My country’s in great pain, and I know that you can help. […] From the ashes, we shall rise.”
* Performance by Shakira, “I’ll Stand By You”
Anderson Cooper Reports from Haiti, Mary J. Blige and Taylor Swift Perform
* Live donor call with Reese Witherspoon
* Anderson Cooper (from Port-Au-Prince) introduced the director of an orphanage who speaks of having to “defend the orphans from armed robbers” who thought that they would find food at the orphanage. He tells Cooper that, before the earthquake, he had to turn away 80 children per month who were seeking a home at the orphanage. Anderson reported that there were an estimated 380,000 orphans before the earthquake, and untold thousands more have been made parentless by the earthquake.
* Performance by John Legend, “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”
* John Stewart told of survivors making stretchers out of mattresses, of people texting for help from under the rubble. “The people of Haiti are listening tonight. What will they hear?”
* Performance by Mary J. Blige, “Hard Times Come Again No More”
* Samuel L. Jackson reassured viewers that “100% of your donations will go directly to organizations that are on the ground right now,” and gives a brief overview of the work the organizations are doing.
* A Haitian man who came to the U.S. at the age of 15 told of his 3 cousins who died in the earthquake. Through the tragedy, he found the possibility of a Haiti that would be better after the earthquake than before. “I was in Haiti 18 days before the earthquake trying to bring clean water and dig wells. In all of this destruction, there is something positive we can hold on to. We have a chance to rebuild in a sustainable way.”
* Performance by Taylor Swift, “Breathless”
Don't Be Afraid of Death: Stories of Miraculous Rescue
* Nicole Kidman told the miraculous story of Jeanette, a woman rescued from the rubble after 7 days, who came out singing” “Don’t be afraid of death.” “Firefighters from Los Angeles California pulled her out. Now you can lift her up.”
* Performance by Christina Aguilera, “Lift Me Up”
* Live donor call with Julia Roberts
* Anderson Cooper report from Haiti shows a little girl (who will appear again in the evening’s second hour) being rescued from the rubble by two men who have only one shovel to use. She is pulled out alive.
The telethon’s second hour begins with Robert Pattinson.
Christine E. Taylor - Christine E. Taylor is a freelance writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Christine is currently writing a series of articles ...
