Help For Haiti Day, The Argus’s appeal to help the victims of the earthquake, has been backed by charity Unicef.

Schools, businesses and community groups across Sussex are holding events today and are aiming to raise thousands of pounds to help provide food, water and much-needed aid to the people of Haiti.

A team from The Argus will be outside Churchill Square Shopping Centre in Brighton with collection buckets today.

Celebrities Dermot O’Leary and Heather Mills are also helping our appeal and Help For Haiti Day collection buckets will be available at Fishy Fishy in East Street and VBites at Hove Lagoon for people to make donations.

Fishy Fishy restaurant has promised to double whatever is made today.

Michael Newsome, director of fundraising at Unicef UK, said: “The emergency in Haiti is a children’s emergency.

“Almost 40% of the population are younger than 14.

“The money which The Argus-Unicef Haiti Earthquake Appeal is raising is going to reach children with life-saving supplies, allowing them to survive and thrive.”

Father-of-two Anton Simanowitz has also done his bit by giving up his salary to benefit the crisis in Haiti.

The 42-year-old, of Vallance Gardens, Hove, who works at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, has worked closely with Fonkoze, Haiti’s largest micro-finance organisation, for the past three years.

Mr Simanowitz has donated £1,500 of his own money to the Haiti appeal and has helped to raise another £10,000 during the past week by emailing all his contacts.

Click here for a full list of Haiti events.