MTV Tracks 'Hope For Haiti' Telethon Funds

The Hope for Haiti Now Telethon proved very successful -- donations raised over $65 million for Haiti earthquake survivors. You may be wondering now though, how are the funds being spent?

The Hope for Haiti Telethon proved very successful -- donations raised over $65 million for Haiti earthquake survivors. You may be wondering: how are the funds being spent?

MTV traveled to Haiti to answer that very question. The urgent need in Haiti right now, they discovered, is food. Funds from the telethon were given to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to supply 25,000 metric tons of food to families in need.

Rice is the only food being distributed at the moment, because of how easy it is to cook, store and feed large numbers of people. According to the WFP's Louis Hamann, "The reason that it's only rice right now is to make sure that we reach everybody quickly and efficiently [and] calm down the food situation in Port-au-Prince." The WFP will soon start supplying a "more traditional basket" of food for victims in the next few weeks once the hunger situation is under control.

MTV's Sway went to the Sylvio Cator Soccer Stadium near Port-au-Prince and watched thousands of people line up to receive bags of rice. About 3,000 families -- more than 20,000 people -- will receive bags of rice daily.

MTV followed one of those 20,000 people, Myrthile Joseph, back to her home, which was decimated by the quake. Joseph lost her husband in the earthquake and now must cook her bag of rice in a small makeshift stove next to where her kitchen used to be.

Despite everything that has happened in the last month, Myrthile expresses her gratitude. "Thank you to everyone that donated for Haiti from all over the world...Thank you for the distribution that is going to the people in need."

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