YPIC's Haiti Expedition Project Launched

Those of you who read the UNA Southern NY Division website will see a longer article about the Young Professionals for International Cooperation (YPIC) recent fundraiser to launch their Haiti Project. Congratulations to YPIC and all who were involved. On March 25, YPIC brought together over 140 members and friends for this launch, a cocktail party held at the 92Y Tribeca center. Please take a little time to read about YPIC's Flagship Program: The Haïti Expedition Project , which is worth supporting.

David Stillman and I greatly enjoyed the event (though we don't fit in the 21-40 age group). The slide show was both inviting and poignant. The program was just long enough to invigorate an audience to become involved. Conor Bohan spoke about HELP, the program he started, which gives scholarships to help some of the poorest Haitian students to attend college. Martina Bruno, a Haitian-American singer, treated the audience with "Summertime" and with a lively call-and-reponse piece.

On a personal note, I worked in Haiti in public health, most recently about 15 years ago; David has traveled there twice in the past three years, and is currently developing two projects related to Haiti. We were the lucky winners of two of the four pieces of artwork that were part of the silent auction -- both by Richard Rapoport, a peace artist whose website is http://www.peacefreedom.com/ The art pictured above I purchased at a street market in Port-au-Prince.

YPIC Chair Patricia Sacristan, VP Michele Chaplin, Kevin Jamison, director of YPIC's European Affairs Committee and members of several other committees were responsible for the excellent planning and implementation of the event. Brava and Bravo!