Pepsi with Brigid

Fighting Poverty: Where Do You Start?

Evanston Patch bloggers Patrick and Brigid sit down to discuss his trips to Haiti after the earthquake, Bangladesh to learn of solutions to poverty and finally his work with the organization RESULTS.

Have you ever thought about what is being done about poverty? Both domestically and globally?  Or wanted to help, but didn’t know where to start? Me too. Traveling to Haiti after the devastating earthquake revealed some disturbing but also inspiring images.  I saw the destruction that this natural phenomenon left in its path. I saw the suffering and terror that had filled the country. But I also witnessed hope and action.  An organization based in Evanston, IL, called the Haitian Congress invited me down there to observe and help. I got to see first hand how the world responds to disasters such as this.   It left me with many questions. This video blog post is about not only my trip to Haiti, but also an organization called RESULTS.  …

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Evanston Woman Determined to Keep Haiti's Needs in People's Minds

Librarian Deborah Lazar is raising money to rebuild a library in the coastal town of Petit Goave. That's gotten harder to do as the memory of the devastating earthquake two years ago starts to fade.

The only time Deborah Lazar paused during an hour-long conversation about her fundraising efforts to rebuild a Haitian library is when asked what she felt when she heard about the catastrophic earthquake that hit the country she’d grown to love. “To see it was devastating,” she said. “To know that people live and keep going in that is what I carry with me here.” That is what keeps Lazar, of Evanston, motivated in her fundraising work two years after the quake that killed more than 200,00 people and left three times that many homeless. And it’s why she is on a renewed quest to remind the rest of us that the restoration work there is far from done. “It is so important to keep Haiti in the hearts and minds of people,” she said. As a librarian…

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About Town

Lawn Job

Is a manicured lawn everything it's cracked up to be?

Evanston resident Janet Doroba just forwarded this New Yorker article (aptly titled Turf Wars by Elizabeth Kolbert) which includes some interesting highlights you might be interested in, such as: --Americans spend $40 billion on their lawns --The anti-lawn movement’s been around for decades and began as a (no joke) grassroots effort (get it?) --“…lawns in the United States cover nearly fifty thousand square miles—an area roughly the size of New York State.” --According to the Environmental Protection Agency, almost one third of Americans’ residential water use is for landscaping purposes. Wow. Do these facts make you feel a little guilty, especially when cholera threatens to kill millions in Ethiopia, not to mention outbreaks in Haiti and …

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Unedited: Eve Ensler, Author of The Vagina Monologues

Author and activist Eve Ensler gave a riveting speech at Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky's 10th Annual Ultimate Women's Power Lunch, speaking of the "horrific atrocities" against women and children she witnessed in the Congo and the "embarrassment" of the lack of support the U.S. has provided for Haiti. You can read the full article here.  Patch caught up with Ensler after the event. Here she speaks of the struggle of unraveling patriarchy, the growing movement of women warriors and how opening yourself to the despair of others can ultimately set you free.

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Evanston Librarian Rebuilds Libraries in Haiti

Deborah Lazar, an Evanston resident and New Trier librarian, recently traveled to Haiti to help build libraries, and plans to go back again soon.

When Deborah Lazar is asked about Haiti, it's immediately clear that it's a subject she's passionate about. She waves her hands as she speaks and pulls out a computer to show off a series of pictures she took on her latest trip to the hurricane-stricken country. Lazar has gone to Haiti twice now, once before the earthquake and once after, but even when she is back at home the country is constantly on her mind. She runs a fundraising website for Haiti, sends money to help a young boy there attend school, and she is raising money to build new libraries and repair the ones that were destroyed. "One question people ask me, especially when they've seen pictures (of the country post-earthquake) is if the basic needs are so great, why do you …

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Evanston Residents Bring Humanitarian Relief to Haiti

The second and final part of a two-part series about how Evanston residents are helping Haitians months after a devastating earthquake.

The news cycle has moved on from Haiti, there are no more large telethon fundraisers or pushes to donate to relief efforts through cell phone texts. Some people, however, have not let the relief efforts move to the back of their minds. Evanston Alderman Lionel Jean-Baptiste said his group, Haitian Congress to Fortify Haiti, has sent seven containers of humanitarian relief to Haiti, including one 40-foot container of medical supplies. "We have engaged in the initial phase of trying to gather humanitarian relief," Jean-Baptiste said. He also said the last container sent in July included old waterproof sails, which are now being used as tents. The 2nd Ward alderman also emphasized the need of "building capacity" in many of the devastated …

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Evanston Parish a Wellspring of Hope for Haitians

Part one of a two-part series on how Evanston residents continue to help Haitians long after the devastating earthquake.

Rosalie Selinger Murphy, 45, is a familiar face at Evanston's St. Nicholas Catholic Church. Her kindly smile and unassuming demeanor conveys goodwill; her calm yet jovial voice, reassuring. On Sunday, Sept. 12, eight months to the day a powerful earthquake struck Haiti and killed 220,000 people, Murphy will fly to the capital Port-au-Prince, and travel 80 miles north to Limonade, to bring what she calls "hope for the future" to many poverty-stricken families and students. Murphy, a wife and mother of two, is the chairman of St. Nicholas' Sharing Committee, a group that has organized micro-lending and scholarship programs for Haitians since 1998. In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake, Murphy's organization has taken on much greater…

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