Pastor calls on Wall Street to help Haiti
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A home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, stands open to the
outdoors, its side sheared away by the earthquake. A UMNS photo by Mike
DuBose.
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By Jan Dragin*
Jan. 27, 2010 | NEW YORK (UMNS)
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Wall Street executives are being challenged to tithe
their bonuses.
Photo courtesy of f-l-e-x / Sjoerd van Oosten
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The United Methodist pastor who leads Church World Service called
Jan. 27 for Wall Street's financial industry leaders to tithe their
bonuses for the reconstruction of Haiti.
"This month's catastrophic earthquake is not only an unforgettable
tragedy but a wake-up call to rich nations of the world," said the Rev.
John L. McCullough, the top executive of Church World Service. The
agency's aid workers and longtime local Haitian partner agencies, along
with other international humanitarian groups, including the United
Methodist Committee on Relief, are assisting survivors on the island.
The Jan. 12 earthquake that struck the island nation killed more than
100,000 people and destroyed much of Port-au-Prince and the country's
fragile infrastructure.
"As a relief and development agency that has worked in Haiti
beginning in 1954, Church World Service has seen the dire challenges,
strife and unremitting, abject poverty that the people of Haiti have
experienced for generation after generation," McCullough noted.
A collaborative effort to assist the people of Haiti is needed,
McCullough said, "not simply to recover from what was the worst natural
disaster in this hemisphere, but to assist them as they build, for the
first time in their history, a country and a life that reflects and
respects their indomitable spirit."
Church World Service also is urging forgiveness of Haiti's remaining
debts.
"Last Friday's ‘Hope for Haiti Now’ telethon made a powerful statement
about our common humanity," he said. "Now is the perfect moment for
executives in the financial sector to make an equally powerful statement
about corporate social responsibility by tithing their bonuses towards
the longer and arduous challenge of redeveloping Haiti."
Despite a tough economy, a high jobless rate and an increase in the
number of homeless families, he noted, “the American people managed to
contribute to the $61 million raised in the one-night benefit for the
Haitian people.
“At the same time,” said McCullough, “more Wall Street bankers and
traders this year are expecting to receive massive bonuses than last
year, despite public outrage over the industry’s seeming impunity to its
own role in the economic meltdown.
"We're inviting all Americans to join the call and invite Wall Street to
offer 10 percent of those bonuses to Haiti. Consider it a sacrificial
offering. Consider it seed money to jumpstart the reconstruction and
development that we hope world leaders will now fully commit to while in
Davos this week."
The agency is using Facebook and Twitter to spread its message. More
information about the "Bonuses4Haiti" cause can be found on the CWS
Causes page on Facebook.
*Dragin is a communications consultant for Church World Service.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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