Normally everyone forgets about tragedies a few weeks or months after they happen. Not so with this group.

Despite it being two full years since the 7.0 magnitude earthquake leveled the capital city of Port-au-Prince, more than 40 high profile personalities will use their Twitter and Facebook accounts this Thursday, the 12th, to rekindle interest in helping Haiti.

The lineup, which includes Maroon 5, Sting, Alicia Keys, Lady Antebellum, Hugh Jackman, Sheryl Crow, Tim McGraw, Martha Stewart, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Don Cheadle, Deepak Chopra and NBA stars Kevin Durant, Paul Pierce, Blake Griffin, and Chris Paul, has a combined total of 125 million social media followers.

“Before the earthquake, Haiti was already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere,” explains Hunter Payne, producer of the campaign and President of Aid Still Required. “The last thing it needed was a disaster.”

The earthquake exacerbated ever-worsening conditions on the island. The number of orphaned and abandoned children has doubled since the quake, the incidence of rape has increased markedly, and Haiti’s floundering education system took a severe hit when schools toppled.

“On our trip there this past summer it was difficult to see much progress,” says Andrea Herz Payne, Chairman and co-founder of Aid Still Required. “At the same time we saw how eager the Haitian people are to improve their situation. There was no way we could come home and forget about them.”

Haiti was once a lush, thriving paradise. A few hundred years ago it provided France with about a third of its domestic product. But after gaining independence from France in 1804, the populace turned to subsistence farming, deforesting the countryside in the process. Today 98% of Haiti is barren, and the resultant flight to the cities has left urban areas impossibly overcrowded.

When the earthquake hit Port-Au-Prince, it destroyed hospitals, air, sea and land transport facilities, and communication systems, and left over a million survivors homeless and hundreds of thousands starving and without proper sanitation or clean drinking water. Today, the people of Haiti continue to live in a state of emergency.

“The usual pattern is for the public to contribute generously in the moment of a disaster and then forget about it,” says Hunter. “But disasters don’t heal themselves – they take time, energy and resources over a protracted arc. We hope this campaign will go a long way to engendering this kind of thinking not only about this tragedy but all others as well.”

Proceeds from the campaign are funding reforestation projects, infrastructure and teachers for orphanages, and trauma relief programs for PTSD and rape victims.

Donations – http://aidstillrequired.org/donate

Campaign Sponsor – Snoball – ‘Empowering change through social giving.’ https://snoball.com/

Contact info@AidStillRequired.org for more information.

MIAMI – January 18, 2010 – A collective group of professional athletes have joined alliances to provide emergency medical supplies and essentials to those recently affected by the deadly earthquake in Haiti through “Athletes Relief Fund for Haiti”, created by former NBA All Star Alonzo Mourning.

In an effort to provide and encourage relief efforts, athletes like Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Al Horford, Michael Vick and Randy Moss have banned together to contribute approximately $600,000, with Lennar Corporation of Florida matching the fund dollar for dollar with a donation that will exceed $1 Million in aide to support the medical needs of the community.

Mourning requested individual donations from athletes like Dominican Republic native, Al Horford (Atlanta Hawks) and he stepped up by donating an entire game salary to the cause. Other contributions included $100,000 donations from NBA players Kevin Durant (Oklahoma Thunder), LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat) each.

As one of the first athletes to visit the devastated country last week with Project Medishare, Mourning knows firsthand how crucial the medical supplies are to saving the lives of the people on the island.

“The unified front that these players have shown is amazing. We are going to continue to raise funds and bring awareness to the issues of this beautiful country as they rebuild.” said Mourning.

“The situation in Haiti is devastating. I wanted to do my part, and contribute to the Athletes Relief Fund so the people of Haiti know we care and support them,” said Durant.

Funds raised will be directed to organizations on the ground, specifically Project Medishare which has actively been working to support the Haitian people for 20 years.

Fans and supporters can go the www.amcharities.org and make a tax deductible contribution to support the relief effort.

Project Medishare is dedicated to improving the health and overall well being of the Haitian people by re-establishing the health infrastructure and providing access to agriculture, education, clean water & sanitation, micro-credit in several communities in the Central Department in Haiti.

A growing list of athlete contributors include: Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors), Caron Butler (Washington Wizards), Kenyon Martin (Denver Nuggets), Clinton Portis (Washington Redskins), Michael Finley (San Antonio Spurs), Ronnie Brewer (Utah Jazz), Devin Harris (New Jersey Nets), Carlos Boozer (Utah Jazz), JR Smith (Denver Nuggets), Anthony Parker (Cleveland Cavaliers), Ben Gordan (Detroit Pistons), Gilbert Arenas (Washington Wizards), Quentin Richardson (Miami Heat), Michael Beasley (Miami Heat).