Miami, FL — January, 2010

The National Leadership of La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Inc. has partnered with Direct Relief International to support relief efforts in Haiti following the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake. The earthquake, centered off Port-au-Prince, destroyed a hospital in Petionville and damaged other buildings. Reports indicate significant property damage and deep concern about a large number of deaths and injured people.

Emergency aid is being offered to all Direct Relief International partners in Haiti to support their response to the quake. Two shipping containers of medical material aid were scheduled to arrive in Port-au-Prince as part of Direct Relief’s ongoing humanitarian and emergency-preparedness work in the country.

Direct Relief International announced it will commit up to $1 million in aid for the response and is coordinating with its other in-country partners and colleague organizations. Direct Relief’s partners in Haiti include Partners in Health, St. Damien Children’s Hospital, Christian Aid Ministries, the Visitation Hospital, and Food for the Poor. St. Damien and Partners in Health are particularly active in emergency response and last year received pre-positioned materials in anticipation of hurricane season. The pre-positioned materials become available for general use by the facilities November 30, the end of hurricane season.

In order to donate towards our relief efforts please click on this link:
http://dri.convio.net/goto/lambda82

Lambda Upsilon Lambda and Direct Relief International will continue our relief efforts in order to provide as much as we can to the victims of Haiti.

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Since its inception in 1982, La Unidad Latina has remained on the vanguard of political and community empowerment by developing influential leaders that strive to exert knowledge and power into its peers in order to attain mutual success. We commit ourselves to academic excellence, leadership development and cultural enlightenment, enhanced by a diverse cognizant membership. La Hermandad strives to preserve and promote an inclusive intellectual environment for its members, in addition to the general community.

Founded in 1948, Direct Relief is a Santa Barbara, California-based nonprofit organization focused on improving quality of life by bringing critically needed medicines and supplies to local healthcare providers worldwide. Direct Relief has provided more than $1 billion in privately funded humanitarian aid since 2000, including more than $150 million in assistance in the United States. It has earned a fundraising efficiency score of 99 percent or better from Forbes for the past eight years, and is ranked by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as California’s largest international nonprofit organization based on private support. For more information, please visit www.DirectRelief.org.