2011 — HAITI COMMUNITY CENTER
In our inaugural year, 2011, Washington West partnered with a team of emergency relief workers in Haiti. Led by partners and RYOT filmmakers David Darg and Bryn Mooser, your contribution to our box office proceeds were dedicated to the construction of a community feeding center. The feeding center also functions as a school and cinema house. Actress and activist Olivia Wilde, who plays an instrumental role in many RYOT productions, was in attendance to help launch the center on opening night.
Operation Blessing
Operation Blessing was founded in 1974, is headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and serves as a catastrophe and critical care early-response organization all around the globe. OB was one of the very first organizations on the ground following the earthquake in Haiti, the tsunami in Japan, and in New York and New Jersey following Hurricane Sandy. Operation Blessing team members will often spend months in locations of critical need, and lived in Haiti following the earthquake for over two years.