Video: Hope for Haiti telethon raises over $58 million and counting

The Hope for Haiti telethon aired live Friday night to raise money for rescue efforts; the telethon has raised over $58 million dollars and that total is still rising. The program aired on over 80 channels. Songs from the Hope for Haiti program were placed in iTunes and the album topped the charts in 18 different countries, according to MTV. ITunes sales are still being calculated. The telethon is being touted as the most successful telethon ever, according to CNN reports.

George Clooney personally organized the live telethon for Haiti and a star studded cast appeared. Ellen Degeneres, Daniel Day Lewis and dozens of other celebrities answered phones during the telethon. See the highlights video below of the telethon.

Here is a brief list of celebrities that participated in the Hope for Haiti Now telethon: Brad Pitt, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Clint Eastwood, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jon Stewart, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Nicole Kidman, Robert Pattinson, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Wyclef Jean and CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Musical performances included Madonna, Emeline Michel, Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Sting, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Beyonce, Coldplay, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, and Taylor Swift. Keith Urban, Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow will perform as a group. There was also a group performance by Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z and Rihanna.

Amazing stories of survival have come out of Haiti over the past few days, to read about a few of them click here.

An eye doctor from Utah, Dr. Branson Call returned a week ago from Haiti after an annual trip to help the people of Haiti. Dr. Call was in Haiti when the earthquake struck and amazingly survived, even though 30 medical students in the building next door all died. For several days he was unable to contact his family or friends because there wasn’t phone service or internet. His family wasn’t even sure he was alive. He spent several days trying to help the wounded before getting onto a plane to the Dominic Republic and contacting his family, according to ABC 4.

The country of Haiti has approximately 9 million people and is a mostly desperately poor country. In 2008, the mayor of Port-au-Prince stated that about 60% of the buildings there were built poorly and were unsafe under normal circumstances. An estimated 45,000 Americans are estimated to be in Haiti.
The Salt Lake City based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has responded and said that no missionaries from the US are in Haiti, but that an immediate relief project has begun to provide aid. In Haiti, the Caribbean Area Presidency of the LDS Church also provided immediate relief to the people there. To donate to the LDS Church aid for Haiti, go to LDS.org. For more ways to donate to the relief efforts in Haiti, click here.

To see a slideshow of photos of the earthquake damage in Haiti, click here.

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