Creative approach offers help for Haiti

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When Daniel Pipitone ’96 (graphic design) and a colleague learned of the earthquake that devastated Haiti in January, they could think of little else.

“We wanted to do something, ” says Pipitone, “and as creative professionals, we thought we’d try to come up with a creative way to raise money for the Red Cross.”

The result was the CreHAITIve Re/Vision Poster Project, which ultimately involved dozens of Pittsburgh professionals including members of the local chapters of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and AIGA (the professional organization for artists and designers).

Word of the project spread through social media connections and word of mouth, and just hours after sending out an e-mail solicitation, posters were being submitted. “People literally dropped what they were doing and joined in,” says Pipitone. “We put the whole project together in about a week.”

In all, 54 posters were presented for sale at a silent auction. A total of $1,050 was raised at the fund-raising event, which took place at a Pittsburgh restaurant Feb. 4. More than 200 people attended, including sisters Jamie and Ali McMutrie, who gained national attention in January when they helped bring 54 orphans from Haiti to Pittsburgh.

“We received an incredible collection of posters representing the group’s response to the earthquake,” says Pipitone, who works as a graphic designer for Carnegie Mellon University and also freelances, primarilly for non-profit organizations.

“When it was all done, it was pretty powerful to see.”