In response to the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, two Clay County, Fla., residents teamed up with

Brian Graham helps unload supplies in Haiti.

The Relief Foundation and the Red Cross to rebuild a demolished orphanage that has left many children homeless in that country.

Brian Graham, the state chairman of the Florida young Republicans, and Clay County School board member Charlie Van Zant spent several days in Haiti last month rebuilding the orphanage. They arrived Feb. 19 and returned Feb. 22. They were joined by many political leaders, including the mayors of Miami and Coral Gables, as well as members of the state Legislature.

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If you were watching the Hope for Haiti Now telethon (and if you were watching television Friday night, you didn’t have much choice) you had to be impressed with the professionalism, the classiness and the passion with which the fund raiser was carried off.

The stated goal was the raise $1 billion. I’ll be surprised if they don’t achieve that milestone. The stars assembled alone would be capable of donating that much without so much as causing a ripple in their collective bank account statements. From multigazillionaire organizer George Clooney, to Leonardo DiCaprio, Julie Roberts, Mel Gibson, Robin Williams, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Beyonce, John Legend, Madonna and on and on, the list of performers and celebrity telephone operators read like a who’s who list of mega stars and moneyed personas.

I hesitated over the idea of watching it because I wasn’t in the mood for some maudlin tear-fest with the goal of tearing your heart out and taking the money out of your pocket. But it wasn’t like that. It was subdued, straight forward, exceedingly well done and heart-rending. We have seen a lot of the images already on television and the simple faith and dignity that most of the Haitian people have shown in this latest of tragedies to befall the tragedy-ridden country is enough to make you wonder, why God? But ours is not to wonder why, but to to say why not now in our effort to salvage some of the decency of those who are on the brink of death and total destruction.
Sure, there has been looting and people crying into the television that they need help now, but you really couldn’t expect anything else, could you? I mean after hurricanes in the United States knocks out power and disrupts essential services, we become outraged when our questions remain unanswered within a few days.