A “Lil Positivity”: Wyclef’s Jean’s “Yele Haiti” Raises $1 Mill, Speaks Live From Haiti

Posted on January 15th, 2010 - By Bossip Staff

Categories: A "Lil Positivity", For Your Information, News, Wyclef

Wyclef Jean’s organization to aid earthquake relief efforts is announcing substantial success after accepting donations for the cause. Continue…

  • UrHeinessDaQueen

    awesome! hope Haiti continues to receive much more support

  • Nique

    I def have much much more respect for Wyclef after this

  • Bacqui

    A Lil Positivity Indeed,,Wyclef Jean Is Such A Good Ambassador!

  • Soul Touch

    I’ve already made my personal donations…but donated again today because my company is raising money for Haiti. That’s why I love the company I work for, service to the community is important to them. We donate computers to ‘inner-city’ youths, we donate farm space to special needs children, this year we started donating homes to be built in West Africa…all through our yearly charity auction and now this (and they are offering tax reciepts to encourage bigger donations).

  • Butterscotch™

    @Soul Touch

    “That’s why I love the company I work for, service to the community is important to them.”

    My company is also matching employee donations for the Haitian crises. I’ve always liked Wyclef as an artist, but my opinion of him as a human being has risen tremendously. He actually helped clear rubble and move bodies yesterday.

  • pynk♥{On my “Kanye’s Work-Out Plan” tip, LoL :)}

    It feels real good to see everyone come together & pitch in! Much love & prayers to my people in Haiti! <3

  • Keepnit100

    Way to go Wyclef…I donated!

  • rayhummer

    HAITI WE ARE TOGETHER AS ONE,,WE WILL KEEP PRAYING FOR U

  • DR.FUNK

    There will be a bright side to this devastation.One of those elements I hope is the OBLITERATION of the skin color based caste system. Part of the European colonial legacy- that is STILL very powerful throughout the Caribbean -is a system of social and economic privilege based IN PART on a lightness of skin tone.The Duvaliers …the Mevs…the Brauns…and Bigio families played up this schism. Being more “French” was to be celebrated & rewarded.Dark & African…not so much. A side note here: It gives me much joy to know that Jean Claude Duvalier is dead-a.s.s. broke & basically a ward of the state in France.(last I read) May it always be so. That aside…I was listening to a radio report about the devastation from an aide worker in Port Au Prince. She described the destruction as “complete”.She remarked at the fact that no one was spared.Not even the wealthy elite with their fancy homes & cars behind high walls & barbed wire.They had been leveled too.Maybe a good start when the rebuilding begins would be to leave the mental/physical/social barriers OUT OF THE PROCESS.Maybe Haiti can finally look like something livable for ALL . One can only hope.Excellent work as usual Wyclef.

  • Soul Touch

    @Butterscotch

    I was just reading that. I agree, much respect to him. I can’t imagine having to do something like that…one could never be the same after.

  • Black Woman

    I have donated. Text Haiti to the Red Cross number. Your donation is billed toward your next phone bill.

    Very quick and easy

  • Black Woman

    prayer is also a great way to help. Thanks

  • Kigali- I will check you

    We got a call from some relatives today. Just a few more people to hear from and hopefully we can be at peace.

  • Kigali- I will check you

    Dr Funk.

    Lets not get into rivalrys ok. Some people I know live behind those big walls and we didnt get behind them through theft ok. Yes there is extreme poverty in Haiti but Haiti needs jobs not class warfare.

  • DR.FUNK

    @KIGALI:

    Agreed…but you know the history.

  • Soul Touch

    @Kigali

    Good luck to you, I hope you hear from those you hold dear.

    Been back and forth with some university friends of mine…he heard from his wife’s father but still waiting on hearing from a couple of his siblings and other family members.

    When I see the pictures, my heart breaks every time. I see MY people suffering. True, I am not Haitian (I am Jamaican) but they are still my people…. dying. This could have happened any where and it’s nice to see the world stepping up and helping.

    I just read text messages alone racked up to $8 million in donations so far. Now that is commendable.

    I’m in Canada and they just announced that Ottawa will match personal donations – dollar for dollar – for all Canadians who donate..up to &50 million.

  • Trelawny

    RESPECT CLEF

  • Trelawny

    @ DR.FUNK: you dunn know – it’s clear to me that the leve of deaths may have been preventable…. and for the rest of yor comment… me realy want to rail on those bad-mind back-biting “west indians” right now. but there is more important tings to tend to

  • DR.FUNK

    @Trelawny

    Agreed.

  • Gimmeabreak78

    @Kigali

    I didn’t know that you are Hatian/have Haitain family. Prayers to you. I’m glad you were able to get in contact with some missing loved ones.

  • tg

    They need a million a day. Can you imagine how much it cost to rebuild a hospital, alone. But the world looks like it is responding very well – so I’m happy to see and hear that.

  • Illuminate Truth “The Strong Rule the Weak, and the Wise Rule the Strong.”

    This situation gets graver by the day….my heart goes out to the victims and their families…smh with tears in my eyes.

    OK….the media referred to the victims of Katrina as refugees and now I hear and see in bold lettering the following on CNN “Bodies of Haitians litter the street”….WTF???

    lit·ter
    Pronunciation: \ˈli-tər\
    Function: noun

    a : trash, wastepaper, or garbage lying scattered about
    b : an untidy accumulation of objects

    AND why are they scooping up bodies, possibly never to be identified, with a bulldozer? The lives of our brothers and sisters are being belittled right in front of us…..

  • Sydney™ (RIP Teddy Pendergrass)

    Ill, this reminds me so much of Katrina, it’s depressing. . .I passed by a newstand this afternoon and saw a cover photo of a man literally stepping over rows of corpses.

  • GotYou

    That’s nice that he was able to raise that much but I must say that he should have cashed in one of his exotic cars and personally been able to donate that amount. It’s easy to ask your friends to step up but lead by example.

  • http://nautysgirl@yahoo.com bklynlady

    OMG THAT FOOTAGE JUST GOT ME SO TEARY EYED…

    GOD PLEASE HELP HAITI!! WE HAVE TO ALL PITCH IN AND HELP THESE PEOPLE. CLOTHES, CAN GOODS, TOILETRIES, SHOES, UNDERWEAR, TEE SHIRTS, MAXI PADS, EVERYTHING YOU CAN THINK OF THEY HAVE NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!

    AND PLEASE KEEP THEM IN YOUR PRAYERS

  • kit

    millions upon millions been poured into haiti and it one of poorest country.I bet wyclef will be buying a new rolls royce very soon.MORE MONEY DOWN MAGIC HOLE PEOPLE CONTINUE TO SUFFER

  • TestingTesting123

    I hope the money gets put to good use.

  • NYC Gal

    God bless Wyclef and his family. To spend a whole day just picking up dead bodies one after the other, is just heart breaking. I couldn’t do it.

  • ill “Lou” Minati

    Before y’all sprain a giblet patting Wyclef on the back, you might want to take a look at this.

    http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0114102wyclef1.html

  • ill “Lou” Minati

    Before y’all sprain a giblet patting Wyclef on the back, you might want to take a look at this.

    thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0114102wyclef1.html

  • t

    33 comments… a damn shame..im nervous about these donations. im going to give can goods and things of that nature. i read something today that said 6.47 BILLION dollars was donated whne katrina happen. IF that figure is right then where in the h.e.l.l did all that money go? they didnt rebuild anything…i trust that wyclef’s donations wuill be used wisely but bush and clinton (who has been exploiting haiti for yrs) both have charities setup…i jus dont trust em…good look for wyclef tho…its a truly sad situation. i was going to pappadeux today for lunch anf felt bad for going out to eat knowing they havent eaten in days and some will die from dehydration and starvation. i know its been that way for yrs but we dont think about things until they’re put in the spotlight…such a sad situation

  • Come On Man

    My friend found her grandfather but the 2 year old nephew is still missing. I didn’t think this was gonna effect me that much until I came to work and saw come of my co workers on their knees with tears. My mom has two haitian friends who has at least 95% of their family over there and don’t know if they should cry now or later b/c they are hoping they are still alive.

  • http://www.axipe.com/2010/01/wyclef-jean-charity/ Wyclef Jean Charity | AXI

    [...] A “Lil Positivity”: Wyclef's Jean's “Yele Haiti” Raises $1 Mill We donate computers to ‘inner-city’ youths, we donate farm *****e to special needs childre… [...]

  • MR.VEGAS

    I hate to break the news to all of you that want to show Wyclef all this love,but the man is a thief and has been for years!!!!He has been RAPING his fund raising organization from day one….God bless those in Haiti

  • Law Abiding citizen

    JANUARY 14–The Haiti earthquake has already triggered hundreds of thousands of donations to musician Wyclef Jean’s charitable foundation, which expects to raise upwards of $1 million a day in the disaster’s wake. However, Internal Revenue Service records show the group has a lackluster history of accounting for its finances, and that the organization has paid the performer and his business partner at least $410,000 for rent, production services, and Jean’s appearance at a benefit concert. Though the Wyclef Jean Foundation, which does business as Yele Haiti Foundation, was incorporated 12 years ago–and has been active since that time–the group only first filed tax returns in August 2009. That month, the foundation provided the IRS with returns covering calendar years 2005, 2006, and 2007–the only periods for which it has publicly provided a glimpse at its financial affairs. In 2006, Jean’s charity reported contributions of $1 million, the bulk of which came from People magazine in exchange for the first photos of a pregnant Angelina Jolie (the actress reportedly directed that the publication’s payment go to Jean’s charity, not her personally). As seen on the following pages from the foundation’s 2006 tax return, the group paid $31,200 in rent to Platinum Sound, a Manhattan recording studio owned by Jean and Jerry Duplessis, who, like Jean, is a foundation board member. A $31,200 rent payment was also made in 2007 to Platinum Sound. The rent, tax returns assure, “is priced below market value.” The recording studio also was paid $100,000 in 2006 for the “musical performance services of Wyclef Jean at a benefit concert.” That six-figure payout, the tax return noted, “was substantially less than market value.” The return, of course, does not address why Jean needed to be paid to perform at his own charity’s fundraiser. But the largest 2006 payout–a whopping $250,000–went to Telemax, S.A., a for-profit Haiti company in which Jean and Duplessis were said to “own a controlling interest.” The money covered “pre-purchased…TV airtime and production services” that were part of the foundation’s “outreach efforts” in Haiti. No further description of these services was offered, though the return claimed that “the fees paid are below market” and that the use of Telemax was the “most efficient way of providing these services.” The group’s tax returns also report “consultant” payments totaling $300,000 between 2005-2007, while the 2006 return reported nearly $225,000 in “promotion and PR” costs. These expenses are not itemized further in the IRS returns.

  • Gmen

    my respect to him…..i respect and love all my brothers and sisters from africa and in all the world!

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