Dumbo based non-profit Choose Haiti (10 Jay St), recently launched to help rebuild Haiti. They are working to create sustainable jobs in Haiti by building demand for Haitian-made products and services. 80% of Haiti is unemployed, aid is diminishing, and jobs are needed now. Visionary and founder, Elizabeth Schaeffer Brown (also a Dumbo resident), a partner at the emerging media firm StudioE9 and Blanket America, designed a solution to help survivors–pay them to pick up littered newspapers and bottles and recycle them into wearable bracelets, and then sell the bracelets in large retail outlets like Forever 21, Footlocker, Anna’s Linens, QVC, and Beyond the Rack. Her social media skills were essential in gaining attention quickly. According to a Fast Company article,

“Choose Haiti is a newly born initiative that has already amassed celebrity support from Rachel Bilson, Patricia Arquette, and others, and Eva Longoria and Kevin Bacon are likely to join the cause in the next couple of weeks. What the celebrities do is simple–flash the bracelets at Hollywood parties and get photographed wearing them. But the impact is huge. With plans to hire 3,000 Haitians living in tents, Choose Haiti is counting on selling at least 1 million bracelets.”

Please contribute by purchasing bracelets online at blanketamerica.com/content/choose-haiti-bracelet.