The information coming out of Haiti this week is just heart-wrenching. The stories, the pictures, the fact that aid workers from the UK couldn't even land on the island, but had to land in the Dominican Republic (at least that's what Katie Couric said on the CBS The Early Show today.)
There is one thing that stood out to me this morning, watching Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this morning, talking on The Early Show. One positive thing, I should say.
We now have a way to text our desire to donate money to relief efforts. Who would've thought? How many people always have the best of intentions to hop online to a website or call an 800-number, but never actually do it? How many get frustrated because they don't have time to sit on hold when they do call the 800-number?
But how many people are willing to sacrifice 30 seconds to send a text?
So, I've been doing a little research this morning. If you're so inclined, here are some ways to donate, via text, to Haitian aid efforts:
American Red Cross
Text "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10. The amount will be billed on your next statement.
Read the press release here. The Baltimore Sun reported online this morning that more than $800,000 had been raised via text and online donations for this disaster. One person commented that the ARC's Facebook page listed the total at nearly $3 million already. You can also donate online through a secure website. (FYI..AT&T and Verizon have both stated that customers will NOT be charged any fee for the texts and 100% of the $10 will go to the Red Cross)
Yele Haiti (there should be an accent over the 1st e)
Text "yele" to 501501 to donate $5. The amount will be billed on your next statement.
Wyclef Jean, musician and native Haitian, formed this organization in 2005 as a "grassroots movement that builds global awareness for Haiti while helping to transform the country through programs in education, sports, the arts and environment" (from the website) They also help with mobilizing emergency aid measures. You can also donate online through a secure website.
Just some ideas. If you know of any others, feel free to post them in the comments
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This work is licensed by Jennifer Turney under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
1 thoughts:
Thanks for the ideas of ways to help. It's heartbreaking to watch the news!
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