Following the violent earthquake that hit Haiti last week, Make That Change has decided to create a fundraising team on the UNICEF website for all the Michael Jackson fans who want to come together and help the victims of this terrible earthquake: Team Michael.

The effort is critical in Haiti, where almost half the population is under 18 years of age. UNICEF is there to help save children by providing health care, water and sanitation, and adequate nutrition.

UNICEF is also there to bring immediate protection to children who have been abandoned or separated from their families. And UNICEF works to get children back to school as soon as possible, to help them recover from the psychological distress associated with emergencies.

Life-saving supplies and equipment are already arriving to help ease the suffering of a people whose history is already too full of hardship. Getting those supplies to the children and families who desperately need them is UNICEF’s highest priority.

Team Michael is a UNICEF fundraising team for the relief efforts in Haiti. This team was created by and for Michael Jackson fans to continue helping those in need during this crisis.

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(CNN) — A major earthquake struck southern Haiti on Tuesday, knocking down buildings and power lines and inflicting what its ambassador to the United States called a catastrophe for the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation.

Several eyewitnesses reported heavy damage and bodies in the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince, where concrete-block homes line steep hillsides. There was no estimate of the dead and wounded Tuesday evening, but the U.S. State Department has been told to expect “serious loss of life,” department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters in Washington.

The magnitude 7.0 quake — the most powerful to hit Haiti in a century — struck shortly before 5 p.m. and was centered about 10 miles (15 kilometers) southwest of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. It could be felt strongly in eastern Cuba, more than 200 miles away, witnesses said.

Because of the earthquake’s proximity to the capital, and because the city is densely populated and has poorly constructed housing, “it could cause significant casualties,” said Jian Lin, a senior geologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

(more on CNN.com)

Help the people of Haiti by donating to one of the following organizations:

United States

• American Red Cross – Text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti.
• Yéle Haiti – Text “YELE” to 501501 to donate $5 to Wyclef Jean’s foundation for relief in Haiti.
• UNICEF USA – Visit www.unicefusa.org/haitiquake to help the children of Haiti who are victim of the earthquake.
• Doctors Without Borders – All their facilities were devastated by the earthquake, but they are still trying to treat hundreds of injured people. They need all our support.
• More ways to help the people of Haiti.

International - Donate online by visiting the Red Cross, UNICEF or Doctors Without Borders websites of your country. You can also donate to Yéle Haiti from anywhere in the world. Follow @MichaelsChange on Twitter for more information on your country.

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It all started with a conversation with my friend Marion while we were standing in line for the premiere of “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” last October.

I was thinking about the fact that this Christmas would be our very first Christmas without Michael Jackson, it would also be exactly 6 months to the day he died, and I felt it would be the worst Christmas of my life.

Christmas is traditionally a family event, but my family doesn’t really celebrate it. But I love Christmas so every year, I spend it with the family of one of my friends. However, this year, I wanted to do something different, something that would keep me busy enough to avoid thinking about sad things. My friend told me that in 2008, she volunteered at a Christmas Eve dinner for the elderly and lonely people. I asked her if she would do it again this year, and this is how our project was born.

I told my friends on Facebook about our idea, and three other friends were interested in joining us. Most of us were Michael Jackson fans, and we felt this was something he would be happy to see us doing. But little did we know how much we would be able to pay tribute to Michael thanks to this!

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