Sean Penn and CORE

Sean Penn had a wake up call in 2010 when sitting at home watching news of the deadly earth quake in Haiti.

'The Roller Coaster Love Life of Sean Penn by Taylor McAdams talks about the personal life of Penn, his journey into politics, activism and CORE. The article reads in part:

Living In A Lie
“When you get divorced, all the truths that come out, you sit there and you go, ‘What was I doing believing that this person was invested in this way?’ Which is a fantastically strong humiliation in the best sense,” said Penn in an interview to Esquire magazine. Among the many profound realizations Penn had from his previous marriages, the most intense one was that he does not feel as though he was ever loved by any of his former partners.

Party Penn

Readjusting to a life on his own and the concept of being single, Penn started seeing other people. “I thought, ‘Wow, I can actually go on a date.’ And so I go out, and I strike out four nights in a row, drinking at a bar and ending up home, you know, drunk,” he explained. But this was not the life he wanted. Feeling lost and unsure of what he should do with his life, Penn started looking for answers elsewhere.

The Moment It All Changed

After the divorce, Penn had a lot of time on his hands. Among the many new changes he underwent in his life at the time, Penn also started becoming more active in politics and philanthropic work. “I said [to myself], ‘I could just go sit in the middle of the bed and watch TV at four in the afternoon, too. I don’t have anything.’ My daughter’s … doing her thing, my son’s with his mother. So I turned on the TV and there was this earthquake in Haiti.” Read the full article here on Pens and Patrons.

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Penn

CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) (formerly J/P Haitian Relief Organization) is a non-profit organization founded by actor Sean Penn in response to the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti. The organization was founded in 2010 and changed its name in 2019 to receive contracts and donations to work globally.

Read About CORE Below:

ON JANUARY 12, 2010 IN A MATTER OF 35 SECONDS, 250,000 HAITIAN LIVES WERE LOST AND THE NATION WAS CHANGED FOREVER.

WITHIN HOURS OF THIS UNPRECEDENTED DISASTER

CORE (formerly J/P Haitian Relief Organization) founder, Sean Penn, had mobilized a powerful network of doctors, emergency workers, and government officials to take immediate action. We continue to work in Haiti with a team of 150+ Haitian employees working to rebuild and re-imagine communities every day.

Our life-saving programs revolve around building healthier and safer neighborhoods to mitigate the scale of devastation caused by disaster. We see it time and time again, when a crisis strikes it’s the marginalized, vulnerable communities that suffer most—wherever they might be. Whether it’s the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, the underserved neighborhoods of Houston, or the informal settlements of Port-au-Prince or San Juan, low income communities are more likely to suffer in a natural disaster, and are too often left to fend for themselves in recovery.

UNWILLING TO IGNORE THIS HARSH TRUTH OF INEQUALITY

We developed a holistic approach that focuses on the power of being both reactive and proactive: disaster relief and preparedness, youth development and education, infrastructure and neighborhood planning, women’s entrepreneurship, reforestation and climate resilience, and community health. Together with our partners, we have scaled a one-of-a-kind, systematic approach that empowers and enables the ability to act before and beyond a disaster.

Our experience in Haiti has taught us that disaster relief and recovery requires a willingness to go where others do not, and the ability to identify and solve the deeper issues that amplify the devastation facing affected communities.

WHILE OUR EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROGRAMS HAVE EXPANDED TO PUERTO RICO, ACROSS THE CARIBBEAN, AND TO THE UNITED STATES, HAITI REMAINS THE HEART OF ALL OUR EFFORTS. IT’S WHERE WE BEGAN AND LEARNED, GREW AND EVOLVED; AND IT’S WHAT INSPIRES, DRIVES, AND INFORMS OUR EFFORTS. TODAY, CORE CONTINUES TO LEAD THE CHARGE FOR A BETTER TOMORROW.

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