Our partners in health: Arcade Fire, rock stars
Posted on 02/13/10
Arcade Fire, a Canadian rock band with Haitian roots, has taken their support of PIH to a whole new level.
In partnership with the National Football League (which has also made a donation to PIH’s Haiti relief efforts), the band agreed to license their hit song “Wake Up” to the NFL for a series of commercials, which were first aired at the Super Bowl last weekend. All proceeds from this licensing will benefit PIH.
Watch one of the commercials below.
![]() |
|
|
Regine and Win visiting PIH's projects in Haiti in 2008. |
The band has supported PIH's work in Haiti for years. After reading Tracy Kidder’s book Mountains Beyond Mountains, the group contacted PIH to ask how they could help. Since then, their support has included organizing special fundraising events, giving a portion of ticket sales from recent concert tours to support PIH’s work, and donating proceeds from special merchandise sold at their shows and on their website.
In addition, the band’s relationship with Haiti runs deep. Founded by Win Butler and his wife Régine Chassagne in Montreal in 2003, the pair has always remembered Régine’s Haitian roots—her family emigrated from Haiti to Canada before she was born. Fans know that Win sometimes decorates his guitar with the Haitian proverb “sak vide pa kanpe”—”an empty sack cannot stand up”—as a reminder of the crushing poverty that afflicts Haiti.
In a recent interview, Régine discussed Haiti and her support for Partners In Health. Watch the interview below.
Recent Headlines
- CBS Evening News reports on PIH’s rehabilitation work in Haiti
Two years after the earthquake, tens of thousands still suffer the long-term effects of…
02/06/12 - NPR asks if vaccine can break cholera’s deadly hold on Haiti
On All Things Considered, NPR's Jason Beaubien documents the situation in Haiti as PIH…
01/30/12 - NPR’s Morning Edition reports on impact of Mirebalais Hospital
Paul Farmer says hospital is a "model for effective international aid"
01/27/12 - Health experts call for special UN session on mental health
PIH’s Director of Mental Health advocates services and rights for patients with mental…
01/20/12 - Christy Turlington Burns reports on her visit to Haiti
The model and activist pens a 5 part series in the Huffington Post.
01/20/12 - More Posts









