Wyclef Jean leads giving to Haiti

By now everyone knows about Wyclef Jean‘s texting campaign, calling on fans to donate $5 each to his Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund charged to their cell phone bills by texting “Yele” to 501501.

The campaign has raised more than $2 million so far for the disaster relief effort and is in Haiti “giving aid and assessing the situation,” according to yele.org.

Wyclef in Haiti

Actor George Clooney will host a commercial-free telethon called “Hope for Haiti” presented by MTV next week to raise funds for victims of Tuesday’s earthquake, the music network said on Friday.

The event will be in Los Angeles and New York and be broadcast on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, HBO and all MTV Network channels next Friday. Clooney will be joined by Wyclef and as yet other unnamed pop music and movie stars.

Grammy-winning Latina pop singer Shakira asked her fans for donations to help rebuild Haiti to be channeled through UNICEF and Jean’s foundation.

Tyler Perry has also partnered with Wyclef’s organization, and is calling for donations at his website.

Other artists are giving through other organizations.

Actress Alyssa Milano, a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, donated $50,000, and used her blog on The Huffington Post on Thursday to challenge U.S. corporations to match her donation. She said the funds would go to buy medical supplies, tarpaulins, food and water kits for Haiti.

Chris Martin of Coldplay called for donations through Oxfam, whose global ambassador, actress Scarlett Johansson, also appealed for contributions for Haiti.

Oprah Winfrey got involved on Wednesday by asking viewers of her popular show to donate to the Red Cross.

Actor Ben Stiller, who has been raising money for a school in Ceverine in Haiti through Save the Children, also made an appeal on CNN’s “Larry King Live” for $10 donations charged to phone bills by texting “Haiti” to 90999.

First lady Michelle Obama made a public appeal for the texting campaign, which had raised $5.9 million for the red Cross by late Thursday.

Cycling legend Lance Armstrong‘s LiveStrong Foundation pledged $250,000 to help Haiti’s recovery, according to its website. The money will go to Doctors Without Borders and Partners in Health, which is founded by Harvard professor Paul Farmer.

In New York’s Times Square, magician David Blaine began performing 72 hours of tricks and magic for pedestrians and said: “We have so much here and that country has nothing. Just the thought of it is horrific.”