Angie Harmon, Patricia Heaton, David Hunt, Jason Sehorn, and Gary Sinise join HRF’s Haiti Relief Program 

NEW YORK (January 27, 2010) – Actors Angie Harmon, Patricia Heaton, David Hunt, and Gary Sinise, along with NFL great Jason Sehorn, have joined Kelsey Grammer in contributing to the Human Rights Foundation’s (HRF) emergency relief program for Haiti. 100% of donations received by the fund will go directly to a fully-operational anti-hunger initiative in the St. Clare’s community of Port-au-Prince.

 “We are incredibly happy to announce that, in addition to Kelsey Grammer, who has generously pledged to match each donated dollar for a dollar of his own up to $50,000, Angie Harmon, Patricia Heaton, David Hunt, Jason Sehorn, and Gary Sinise have also made significant contributions to help the Haitian relief effort,” said Thor Halvorssen, president of HRF.

The community kitchen in St. Clare’s provides children with basic foodstuffs and water and is currently feeding more than 3000 people every day. Very little support from the broader relief efforts in Port-au-Prince has actually reached the communities surrounding St. Clare’s. People walk for miles to reach the kitchen for sustenance.

It is expected that in the coming days the number of people dependent on the kitchen’s services will grow to the tens of thousands. “The kitchen staff has recently begun providing hot meals made of rice and beans in addition to distributing canned foods and water,” added Halvorssen. "There is an overwhelming demand for this – it is an emergency.” Given the hard fixed cost of $.60 to feed each person, as the number of the needy rises, donations are essential to continue providing help.

 “This represents more than 160,000 meals – this is a game-changing amount of food during a disaster at a time when aid is not getting where it needs to go,” continued Halvorssen. The $100,000 that HRF seeks to collect will help to provide approximately twenty trucks full of food and water to the survivors of the tragic earthquake.

“The recent series of powerful aftershocks in Haiti has only served to intensify the need that already exists in the country. The efforts of the St. Clare’s community are heroic and it is important to emphasize that even the smallest donation is an invaluable contribution,” said Halvorssen. “Although this project is primarily focused on feeding children, nobody will be turned away.”

100% of all donations received will be allocated to HRF’s Haiti Relief Program. No funds received will go toward overhead, fundraising, or administrative expenses.

Donations will go to a food bank on the ground, with thirty cooks at six working stoves — all the personnel are Haitian and are using existing infrastructure that has withstood the recent series of earthquakes. Before the current crisis, St. Clare’s provided children with meals five days a week, an annual summer camp program, afterschool services, and scholarships. Its food program was started in 2000 by American author Margaret Trost and by the late Gerard Jean-Juste, a former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience who served as the priest of the St. Clare’s community.

The Human Rights Foundation has experience championing Haitian rights, including fighting against human trafficking, slavery, and the illegal use of child labor. HRF is a non-partisan human rights group that operates as a 501 (c)(3) educational foundation. All contributions are tax-deductible.

Donate online here, call in a donation to (212) 246.8486, or mail a donation to our New York office.

Contact: Sarah Wasserman, Human Rights Foundation, (+212)246.8486, info@thehrf.org