Valley Supporting Haitian Relief

Moved to action by the tragedy in Haiti, a number of Valley businesses and organizations have already come forward with contributions for humanitarian aid. To support relief efforts of the nearly 3 million victims left by the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake which has claimed the lives of thousands of people, the Walt Disney Company announced a donation of $100,000 to the Red Cross International Fund. “We at the Walt Disney Company are deeply saddened by this tragedy and send our thoughts and prayers to the people of Haiti and their loved ones, which include our Cast Members and employees,” said Robert A. Iger, president and CEO, The Walt Disney Company. “We hope this donation will help the Red Cross to provide immediate aid and relief to the thousands of people affected by this terrible tragedy.” The Health Net Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Health Net, Inc. is starting an employee matching funds program to bring relief to the Haitian people. The Foundation will match employee donations with a contribution of $50,000, and all funds will benefit Project Medishare Haiti. The program, founded 13 years ago to provide continuing medical care in the Central Plateau, one of the poorest regions in Haiti, has now taken on even greater urgency. “We know that the funds we donate to Project Medishare Haiti will help provide important and urgent medical care to so many in need,” said Jay Gellert, Health Net Foundation board member and president and chief executive officer of Health Net, Inc. SADA Systems, an information technology services firm in North Hollywood, announced the launch of a campaign to donate one percent of all its cloud-computing based revenues such as Google Apps and Microsoft BPOS, to Yele Haiti and UNICEF, two organizations rushing to the scene in Haiti to help secure fundamental resources like clean water and shelter. To facilitate the collection of funds in support of Haiti, the city of Lancaster activated donation links on its website, www.cityoflancasterca.org. Donations will go directly to The Salvation Army’s Haiti Earthquake Relief Efforts. “We offer our deepest condolences to those who have lost loved ones in this tragedy,” said Mayor R. Rex Parris. “It is our hope that these donations from local residents and City staff will quickly provide much-needed food, water, shelter and other essentials to those who have survived this disaster.”