Bob Stane of the Coffee Gallery Backstage says that Sunday's matinee will be a benefit for agencies helping out in the wake of the Haitian earthquake:
I was somewhat confused about where to send money. I have several charities I like but a perfect solution was handed me by one of the voiceover stars of the TV hit, South Park. (SOUTH PARK’S ELIZA JANE SCHNEIDER). She will do a 90 minute one woman play at The Coffee Gallery Backstage tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon starting at 2 PM. It will be 90 minutes of good stuff.
There will be no set price and, actually, if you wanted to you could come for free. However, we will be collecting, and forwarding, checks for several organizations now doing relief work, including bringing in supplies, to Haiti. A check is fine, we don't want to handle cash. We will mail your check to the organization you desire.
It does not have to be an "instant" internet donation. Money needs to flow constantly into the rescue operations. The airport and harbor needs to see cargo delivered, efficiently, for a long, long time.
Phone in your reservation from noon on until we close and on Sunday. I will not be able to get the Reservation Sheet into The Reservation Book until about 11:00 AM and the crowds level off about noon.
We need not overwork the morning baristas. If you just want to drop in without a reservation, do so. Matinees seldom fill to the brim. We hope to see you and your check book. Me and mine will be there. We can be a crowd that matters.
Remember, all of this is tax deductible. Also, remember who we are. The world does. We turn the wheels.
Among the charities Coffee Gallery will be collecting for:
Doctors Without Borders operates one of the only free trauma centers in Port-au-Prince as well as an emergency hospital in the capital for pregnant women, new mothers and newborns. All three of its primary medical centers have collapsed, but DWB has already set up temporary shelters and is offering emergency care on the ground
Partners in Health-- PIH (@pih_org) is already on the ground in Haiti and mobilizing relief efforts.
CARE has deployed emergency team members to Port-au-Prince to assist in recovery efforts. They're focusing their efforts on rescuing children who may still be trapped in schools that collapsed.
- Oxfam has four offices in Haiti and over 200 highly experienced aid workers on the ground. They are already responding to the situation where assistance is most needed.
- AmeriCares has already committed $5 million in medical and humanitarian aid, is sending emergency response experts to Haiti, and is currently preparing an emergency airlift to their partners in Haiti.
- Action Aid's Strategic Crisis Fund coordinates immediate disbursement of funds for rapid humanitarian response, and is providing medicines, food and shelter to people in need.
- MADRE has activated an emergency response through its partner organization, Zanmi Lasante Clinic. The most urgent needs right now are bandages, broad-spectrum antibiotics and other medical supplies, as well as water tablets to prevent cholera outbreaks.The doctors, nurses and community health workers there are working to get medical assistance and supplies to areas that have been hardest hit.
Oh, and what's the performance? "Freedom of Speech":
Actor Eliza Jane Schneider has accumulated a nationwide following over the last several years. She’s voiced nearly all of the female characters on the hit TV series “South Park.” You may have seen her on TV as a regular on “Beakman’s World,” or heard her singing and performing locally as a singer/songwriter/fiddler, but her most astonishing achievement is the creation of her show “Freedom of Speech.” Sparked by a senior thesis project in World Arts and Cultures at UCLA, she acquired a second-hand ambulance and criss-crossed the country in an incredible odyssey, conducting over 1,000 interviews.A true story, Eliza Jane Schneider’s thirty-four character solo play, Freedom of Speech, will take the audience on her journey through the kitchenettes and hearts of Arizona polygamists, Los Angeles dominatrixes and Montana Huterites, and into the real social emergencies facing America as a nation. Arkansas fiddles, Pittsburgh street rap and New Orleans midnight arias provide the soundtrack to Schneider’s 317,000-mile spiritual quest, born of her hypothesis that dialects—residual phonemes-- are the only archeological dig the kids of America have.
