Advocacy Actions for Haiti

Many people are wondering..now that we have donated money for Haiti, what more can we do? My answer...advocate for Haiti.

The most direct advocacy help at this time is to focus on debt relief for Haiti. I'm not an expert in debt relief, but I'll take a crack at it and if you see something I say isn't right, please correct me in the comment section. The basic concept of debt relief is this: When a country is so impoverished that it can’t help its people get the basic human needs, if it carries debt on the order of $100M or more, there’s very little hope of recovering that debt. If it is pressured to pay it back, there is very little hope of the people or the country being able to work themselves out of poverty if they have no food, water, health care, education, etc. Haiti is exactly in this situation with $165M debt.

An aspect of this specific to Haiti is the form of emergency aid that Haiti is getting. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) approved a $102M loan for Haiti…not a grant as advocates pushed for. The IMF argues that the loans are much faster to approve than grants and notes that the loans are interest-free.

Many advocacy groups are working to get this debt cancelled especially in light of the earthquake damage. Some good news is that the US (as I understand it) already forgave Haiti it's debt before the earthquake. I think I heard Venezuela is doing the same now.

Here's a summary what has been done by advocacy groups in the US recently:
The ONE campaign sent out an emergency petition via email and delivered more than 150,000 signatures to the IMF to drop Haiti's debt. Several orgs are urging Tim Geithner, Sec of Treasury, to use his influence on the IMF. The orgs were successful in convincing a Rep Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) to circulate a letter around the House of Representatives to go to Geithner saying the same thing.

Here's what you can do. Follow this link and call your Representative and urge them to sign onto the letter to Geithner. The deadline is THE END OF THE BUSINESS DAY IN DC ON MONDAY.

If you're still asking "What else?" I encourage you to take action to support a Global Fund for Education here . You can write to your reps and senators about this, too, using the language from the link. You can also tell your reps and senators to help any efforts to provide our fair share of funding to the Global Fund for Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. It is precisely because Haiti was so impoverished before the quake that it's situation is so dire now. By supporting the creation of an education fund and supporting the health fund in place, other places like Haiti can stand a chance of lifting themselves out of extreme poverty before a tsunami, war, earthquake or other disaster strikes.

2010 Chicago Snuggie Pub Crawl supports orphans in Tanzania

Dear Snuggie Pub Crawlers,

With the 2010 Snuggie Pub Crawl just a few months away, we're really excited to announce early bird ticket sales to our email list!!

This event was a tremendous success last year, raising nearly $20,000 for the AC Orphanage in Tanzania. Thanks to you we have supplied, food, water, medicine and other self sustaining projects to the AC Orphanage with the funds raised from the event. We are currently involved in a project to build a much needed drinking well to be shared by two orphanages in Tanzania. We look forward to seeing you on April 10th!

Tickets are NOW ON SALE!

Tickets are now available for $18 before February 15th, $22 after February 15th and $25 at the door (if we have any left). We will only be selling 2500 tickets to this event.

We've worked hard with the participating bars, liquor and beer providers and we're proud to say that we've secured the following:

$2 Bud Light, Budweiser, Bud Select
$3 Well Drink Specials
$5 Bacardi Bombs
$2 Shots For Tots - Bacardi Torched Cherry Shots!
Raffles/Prizes- VIP Lollapalooza, Lollapalooza, Blackhawks, Cubs Tickets and more!
Live Music
Opening/Closing Ceremonies at Lions Head Pub / Apartment - starts at 7:30pm
BYOS - Bring Your Own Snuggie

This is a Bring Your Own Snuggie event. You must wear a Snuggie or blanket with sleeves to this event. We encourage decorating, modifying and imagination! There will be prizes for most original Snuggie!

Event Details

April 10th from 12:00pm - 8:00pm
Registration starts at 10:30 at Lions Head Pub at 2251 N. Lincoln - Arrive Early!
Tickets are required for admission
Ages 21 and up, photo I.D. required for admission
Peep Photos from last years event - http://www.flickr.com/groups/snuggiepubcrawl/
Visit www.SnuggiePubCrawl.com for additional details about the Snuggie Pub Crawl in Chicago. See you all on April 10th!

The Fate Monkey Team


This event is being put on by Fate Monkey Inc, SnuggiePubCrawl.com is owned and operated by Fate Monkey Inc.


SnuggiePubCrawl.com
Fate Monkey, Inc.
2040 N. Racine Ave.
Chicago, IL 60614