Off Topic · Help Hati (page 1)

Text 'HAITI' to #'90999' to donate $10 to the Red Cross relief fund.

Text "Yele" to 501501 to donate $5 to YELE HAITI (Wyclef's charity)

Two simple ways to help.....both donations get tagged on your phone bill.

Add more info if you like....

I know some people whose whole families town was destroyed. They haven't heard from anyone still. I can't imagine that happening. That country needed help as it is. Damn shame

You can also visit www.whitehouse.gov where there is a link to the Red Cross donation page. That's what I did this morning. They desperately need funds. It's a total catastrophe down there, way beyond what happened in New Orleans. Shyte is completely fubar.

Another thing you can do is check with your local churches to see if they are organizing any relief efforts. Many churches may be setting up to gather canned food, water, and clothing to send to Haiti. Also, dry goods such as rice or pasta are usually welcomed.

Trust me, donating these types of goods will make an immediate impact on starving and thirsty people. Dirty water accounts for proliferation of disease more than anything.

I'm going to check with some people and I will get back to you with some possible outlets to donate.

Thanks.

oohah

I cannot vouch for my care but Habitat for humanity is well known:

https://www.habitat.org/cd/giving/donate...

https://my.care.org/site/Donation2?df_id...

I'll add more to this post as I find them.

oohah

from what I hear from other reputable sources, Kim Ives - journalist with the newspaper Haiti Liberté, and Edwidge Danticat is a Haitian American novelist who's book Brother, I’m Dying won the National Book Critics Circle Award, who mentioned these on Democracy Now! this morning:

Haiti Emergency Relief Fund, HERF http://www.haitiaction.net/About/HERF/HE...

Dr. Paul Farmer’s Partners in Health - http://www.pih.org/home.html

the Lambi Fund - http://www.lambifund.org/

Doctors Without Borders - http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

on its way.

let's all do whatever we can.

also you can go to this website:
http://www.clintonfoundation.org/haitiearthquake/

Google has set up a portal dedicated the to relief effort: http://www.google.com/relief/haitiearthq...

oohah

I wonder just how much money will get ripped off here--this will put a new meaning to charity. It sounds good but the way this should be handled is directly through government[s]--and even then they will get jobbed. It's tough F situation--horrible beyond what we can imagine--but this is perfect haven for the unscrupulous to meaningfully profit while the common Haitian will be on the outside looking in.

A lot. Donating money to Red Cross or CARE or Unicef.... there is no guarantee your dollar will go to the exact cause you want it to. I think the Red Cross makes this clear. They are under no obligation to do so. For all you know you're paying for Sally Struthers' lunch!

You are best donating to the well known charity in Haiti.
Or other local smaller charities of people you know who specialize in such things.

The Lambi Fund of Haiti would be a good choice.

As would as I said smaller highly dedicated funds such as http://portlight.org/ - a fund I can vouch for. They did a lot of small relief for Katrina, Rita, flooding in Florida, etc. They're sending medical supplies and water filtration units to Haiti. They're just fine with giving 5 or 10 bucks.

I would never donate to those "text this on your cell phone!" charities. I would ignore ANY AND ALL EMAILS or TEXTS I get.

Go directly to the source. Those two I mentioned, absolutely do.

Did you guys see where it was found out that major credit card companies were skimming fees off of the donations to the Red Cross and others? 3% at that! After getting called on it they said "Oh, okay, yeah, we'll refund that fee!"

Uhm, yeah... gotta be careful here!

Cosmic wrote:A lot. Donating money to Red Cross or CARE or Unicef.... there is no guarantee your dollar will go to the exact cause you want it to. I think the Red Cross makes this clear. They are under no obligation to do so. For all you know you're paying for Sally Struthers' lunch!

You are best donating to the well known charity in Haiti.
Or other local smaller charities of people you know who specialize in such things.

The Lambi Fund of Haiti would be a good choice.

As would as I said smaller highly dedicated funds such as http://portlight.org/ - a fund I can vouch for. They did a lot of small relief for Katrina, Rita, flooding in Florida, etc. They're sending medical supplies and water filtration units to Haiti. They're just fine with giving 5 or 10 bucks.

I would never donate to those "text this on your cell phone!" charities. I would ignore ANY AND ALL EMAILS or TEXTS I get.

Go directly to the source. Those two I mentioned, absolutely do.

Did you guys see where it was found out that major credit card companies were skimming fees off of the donations to the Red Cross and others? 3% at that! After getting called on it they said "Oh, okay, yeah, we'll refund that fee!"

Uhm, yeah... gotta be careful here!

Good post, but dont let it discourage you. Its dire in Haiti right now.

If anybody has Discover credit card, they are matching dollar for dollar the cash back money you have accumulated if you donate to red cross through the account.

Wow..These people keep getting hit time and time again...This country just can't catch a break...
Let's all say a prayer and give what we can at reputable sites...

What a tragedy...Truely, truely disheartening...Kind of put things in perspective...I stare at my kids a little longer...

One good thing about UK is that you can get away if just for a moment to talk about your favorite team, just to forget the
realness and seriousness of life...Props to the moderators(Andrew and Martin) for their efforts to keep this going...

Let's try to support our brothers and sister in Haiti...On 9/11 a french newspaper declared we all now all Americans after that tredegy..

Let's all now become Haitians showing our love and support...

sebstar wrote:

Good post, but dont let it discourage you. Its dire in Haiti right now.

Absolutely. I can't give much but since I know of portlight and know what they are doing right now I gave them a small donation.

yeah, i agree with cosmic about giving to a direct reputable haiti charity (of course, part of the problem is there are 10,000 charities working in the nation, while there is little government...part of why you see such a gap...where the charities/un look for their people first).

anyway, I decided to divide the donation to the 4 I listed.

Some are directly helping with medical and rescue, while others address underlying, long term issues that led haiti to be in a position where they are hit so hard by such an earthquake.

while something of this magnitude would cause damage anywhere, it hurts that much more because of other problems the nation has faced since it gained its independence from the french.

i implore folks who are not very aware of haiti's history to check some of the good articles out there (here are two):

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/opinio... - Country Without a Net

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/... - Our role in Haiti's plight

that are showing how haiti's problems are not simply their own, but due to outside factors that have kept them in such a terrible situation for centuries.

you can also see (as I watch CNN now) why there is such skepticism from haitians from the un and other outside groups like the u.s. military being truly altrustic in helping (a report was being made that haitans thought they were being given expired food by un soldiers because it had an old date on it, 2008, which was the date it was made, although there was also an expiration date which was november 2010).

apparently bodies are being dumped into mass graves without identification...meaning no one will know if their loved ones have died or are just missing...this is terrible.

Guys, thanks for the pointers to organizations helping in Haiti. I donated to Partners in Health and the Lambi fund. I hope it helps.

I may or may not be the only member of this board who has a very personal connection to Haiti in that my mother immigrated to America from Haiti in the 1960's.

A little good news...I posted in the thread King started that my Grandmére, who is 91, was supposed to travel to Haiti on January 12th but was here in New York because she fell and broke her hip on December 4th.

My cousin, whom my Grandmére was supposed to be traveling with, actually landed in Haiti 4 hours before the earthquake. We had not been able to get in touch with her until a few hours ago...she is fine! She is safe and in a city named Pétionville. However the conditions in Pétionville are pretty bad.

***

My Grandmére reported to me today that the house she built 45 years ago is rubble...this is sad, but it is only a house and she probably would have been in it during the quake had she flown to Haiti a few days ago. Her entire neighborhood has been hit very hard. Her neighbor, who takes care of her when she visits, had his home destroyed too, and lost at least 1 family member.

***

Conditions are unbelievable and getting worse: Roadside amputations with no anesthesia or pain medication. Hunger and disease are starting to take hold. Additionally there are still aftershocks hitting the city.

There are bodies everywhere and many are being buried in mass graves, or have to be burned. Many people will never be able to pay respects to their loved ones. Thousands of children are orphaned.

The effect on Haitians here in America is very tough. The statistics say that there are between 500,000 and 600,000 Haitians in America but I assure you there are more.

***

I implore you to look into your heart and give. If you have no money to spare, you can donate clothes, water, canned food or dry goods such as rice, pasta etc., they are immediately helpful to starving people. As Cosmic stated, do a little research to make sure your donations are being used properly, but as Sebstar said, don't wait!

I can't tell you for sure which organization is better, but I have a good feeling about Wyclef Jean's and Samuel Dalembert's organizations.

Wyclef Jean, Yele Haiti: http://www.yele.org/donation/

Samuel Dalembert, Dalembert Foundation: http://www.dalembertfoundation.org/donat...

Supposedly all these organizations have been vetted by CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/01/13/hai...

***

It only takes a little sacrifice to help. I personally have given up on some discretionary activities and donated some money. To donate goods, I recommend you contact your local church. Look in your closet and donate some clothing that you no longer use.

The time is now.

***

Thanks,

oohah

EnySpree wrote:Text 'HAITI' to #'90999' to donate $10 to the Red Cross relief fund.

Text "Yele" to 501501 to donate $5 to YELE HAITI (Wyclef's charity)

Two simple ways to help.....both donations get tagged on your phone bill.

Add more info if you like....

I know some people whose whole families town was destroyed. They haven't heard from anyone still. I can't imagine that happening. That country needed help as it is. Damn shame

I hear ya
thanks !
it is real tragic and my spouse family is all from HAITI

Its a tough time now, we plan and sending what we can

to any of you guys who have been effected by this, my prayers go out to y'all.

I meant to post in this thread earlier. As TMS said my heart and prayers go out to all survivors and family members of the missing and dead. Also, as Cosmic indicated be careful of who you send donations too. Among those who are taking advantage of this tragedy or also those who work in "legit" charities that are very slow to react. Keep in mind that when you donate that you need to be specific about donation and your expected intentions. Most donations will be subject to a minimum 10% administration allocation. Also keep in mind that there is a need for blood donations as well.

Thanks for the link. I donated $20 to Red Cross. Those people need it more than I do.