Screening of "Lift Up" In Washington D.C. to Benefit Haiti (5/18/2011)

The Service to Serve Haiti Committee is a group of individuals from the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, DC committed to supporting recovery efforts in Haiti.  Its members have organized a screening of "Lift Up", a documentary about two Haitian brothers who return to Haiti in order to memorialize the grandfather they lost after the earthquake.  The screening will benefit Fonkoze, the Haiti Micah Project, and the Saint Vincent's School for the Handicapped, each of which the Committee's members have worked with and know first hand the impact these groups are making for women and children in Haiti.  Below is the official press release. 

“LIFT UP” SCREENING TO BENEFIT HAITI

On Wednesday, May 18th at 7:00 pm, the critically acclaimed documentary “Lift Up” will be screened at the E Street Cinema to benefit Haitian organizations directly involved in continuing earthquake relief and rebuilding.  “Lift Up” tells the story of two Haitian-born brothers, Clifford Muse and Huguens Jean,  returning  to the country of their birth post-earthquake. Fulfilling a promise to their grandfather, who died shortly after the quake, they share stories that assign faces and souls to the living and the dead.   The resilience and courage of Haiti rises in ritual, symbol, and in community.  “Lift Up” is a love letter to a strong, but still grieving family: the Haitian family. The screening will benefit Fonkoze,  The Haiti Micah Project and The St. Vincent’s School for the Handicapped.

The Haiti Micah Project is a nonprofit Christian organization committed to addressing the needs of impoverished and uneducated children in Haiti. HMP’s mission is to assist the street children of Mirebalais in meeting their most basic needs, by providing food, clean water, health care, education, vocational training and emotional well being. An extended goal is to provide Haitian children with guidance, education and skills so that they will play an important role in improving their communities and the conditions of this poverty-stricken country.

Fonkoze is Haiti’s alternative bank for the Organized Poor.  As the largest micro-finance institution in Haiti, Fonkoze offers a full range of financial services to the rural-based poor. Fonkoze is committed to the economic and social improvement of the people and communities of Haiti and to the reduction of poverty in the country.

In a county as poor as Haiti, the disabled fall to the bottom.  All students attending St. Vincent’s School for the Handicapped are blind, deaf, confined to a wheel chair, or are substantially physically disabled.  All students attend classes across a wide curriculum, and are taught to work with their disabilities while continuing to achieve the education they need for future success.  Additionally, St. Vincent’s also houses a medical clinic which treats about 500 patients a month, a physical therapy department, an eye clinic and the only brace shop in all of Haiti.

This exclusive “Lift Up” screening is sponsored by Service to Serve Haiti, a Metro DC network of organizations and individuals committed to helping Haiti rebuild.  The E Street Cinema is located at 555 11th St. NW in Washington, DC , near Metro Center Station.  Doors open at 6:30 pm, and tickets are $10.

For further information, please contact  Margaret McLaughlin at smclaugh@comcast.net.  Thank you!