ALTIDORE CALLING ON FANS FOR HAITI Arch Bell - Thursday, January 14, 2010
US international and Hull City forward Jozy Altidore is calling on people everywhere to support the Haitian earthquake relief effort.
The Caribbean country was rocked by an earthquake on Tuesday afternoon which registered a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale.
Altidore, whose parents are from Haiti, has many family members scattered throughout the country and has been unable to reach those relatives to find out if they are safe which he says has been difficult for himself and his parents.
"I'm doing OK, just trying to hang in there and stay positive, " a somber Altidore told YA. "But my mom is taking it really hard. She's really worried about our family members who are there."
The 20 year old has long considered Haiti a second home since traveling with his parents to visit family members when he was a child.
Since then, Altidore has become involved with charity missions for Haiti including rapper/singer Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti organization where the striker and other prominent Haitian-Americans journeyed to the island as part of a service trip.
The former New York Red Bull is now imploring fans to donate to the organization which he says can easily be done by sending a text message on their cell phone.
"People can text �Yele' to 501501 and it will make a $5 donation. You can do this as many times as you want. I want to thank everyone who does this. It means a lot," concluded Altidore.
Donations can also be made to the Red Cross by texting 'HAITI' to 90999 for a $10 donation.
According to tax forms filed by the Y�le foundation, 73 percent of the organizations funding went to its programs in 2007, the last year for which data is available. The group put 65 percent and 61 percent of its revenues toward programs in 2006 and 2005, respectively. In contrast, roughly a quarter of the group�s funds went toward administrative and fundraising costs during 2006 and 2007. Over 40 percent of Yele�s 2006 expenditures were eaten up by administration and fund-raising appeals. Y�le did not respond to an e-mail message seeking comment.
� Marc Silverstein
Thursday January 14, 2010
2:12 pm
Marc-
If you feel more comfortable, the RED CROSS is accepting $10 per text. 'Haiti' to 90999.
can someone please do some research about Wyclef Jean and Yele Haiti?
Yele and its predecessor the Wyclef Jean Foundation don't have any public documents showing how they spend their funds or the percentage of funds that go to administrative costs. The last public IRS 990 for the Wyclef Jean Foundation is dated 2000. There is no information on this organization at Guidestar or the Better Business Bureau's Give.org. That gives me pause.
Currently visting YA: 146 
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