Cruise Line Establishes Fund to Help Country

Atlantis has started a donation drive with the LGBT (Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgendered) community joining the Red Cross to help Haiti in the aftermath of the recent earthquake. (Source: Planetout.com).

Major travel companies are banding together to raise money for disaster relief in the ravaged country and one cruise ship is visiting Labadee right now.

Rich Campbell, chief executive officer of Atlantis Events, which has a gay and lesbian cruise from Miami, FL making a stop on the northern coast of Haiti, noted that while the area it will visit was not directly damaged by the quake, "our guests have been watching with horror and concern as the painful images of suffering in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince come spilling forth on our television," states a press release. "Now is the time for us to lend our gay dollars to a compelling human tragedy that knows no gender or sexual orientation."

Atlantis and its subsidiary RSVP have promised $15,000 in matching contributions, according to research.

Olivia President and Founder Jud Dlugacz said: "All of the money collected through this appeal will be managed by the American Red Cross" and bundled together as contributions from the U.S. LGBT community to the people of Haiti in a formal statement.

American Red Cross Senior Vice-President and Chief Diversity Officer Floyd W. Pitts added: "We are thrilled with the partnership with the LGBT community, and we are delighted to be working with organizations which take such a strong interest in humanitarian response" in a mass email.

The organizations are urging all LGBT individuals and groups to contribute and provide matching funds when possible by going to http://american.redcross.org/LGBT-pub.

In other related news, you can also make a donation to vitaminangels.org and even a dollar will provide much-needed supplements to children in places like Haiti.

Usually Save Dade, Inc. in Florida focuses their efforts to their area in promoting, protecting, and defending equality for the people in Miami who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered but with the current Haiti crisis, the agency has expanded their activities.

To make a donation online, look up http://www.dadecommunityfoundation.org/Site/wc/wc233.jsp?menuid=198.

"According to Cary Johnson, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), LGBT people in Haiti and countries like it, especially transgender people, are particularly vulnerable in times of crisis because they are often already leading a more marginal existence with less resources," states writer Sheela Lambert of The Examiner.

To make a contribution, visit https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1870/t/10454/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=5868.

The Haitian Gays and Lesbians Alliance (HGLA) is reaching out to the community for any help and donations may be made through Paypal.

Many items are desperately needed such as baby items like formula, baby bottles, diapers, flashlights, batteries, toothpaste, female items such as pads, deodorants, creams, lotions, and soaps, among other things.

For a complete list of needs or to donate, see http://www.hgla.org/donation.html on the Net.