Earthquake help- send direct, do not text

[Irulan]

I know the whole "text and donate" thing has gone viral but according the the website mGive.com ( the organization that handles the distribution of the texted donations) it may take up to 90 days for the money to get to where it's needed. I was unable to find a charity rating on mGive foundation but surely they'll have administrative costs too.

"The funds are collected from each carrier by the The mGive Foundation (TMF) and then sent to the appropriate charity in approximately 90 days." (from www.mgive.com/Learn_More.aspx)

I found the link to this tidbit of information on the Mercy Corps website this morning.

So, if you inclined to make a donation, please make your donation directly to the charity of your choice. The following all have A ratings from charitywatch.org

Red Cross
Mercy Corps
Doctors Without Borders

[SadieKate]

And don't forget to check if your employer gives matching contributions. You'll need a receipt for that.

[sundial]

Thanks Irulan for posting the info.

[ehirsch83]

My work deals with Haiti on a daily basis(we are a small airline in south florida and we fly to the outer island of the bahamas, Haiti, and GTMO), and Haiti makes up over 50% of our business, so this is all very close to me right now.

I would also like to suggest Food for The Poor and also For Haiti, With Love.

They are both great and have been in Haiti for decades, they know where to distribute the supplies and have people set up down there to do just so. Food For The Poor is my 1st choice for donations.

Also, if you go to the bottom of this blog post you will see an email I sent out. It got picked up and posted on this blog for The New Times.

read all the way at the bottom....

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pu...ction.php#more

[Irulan]

Emily everything I have heard or read through the last few big disasters ( the tsumani, Katrina et) says to give money as the cost of shipping things, plus the issue of getting the RIGHT things, is really an issue. I see you've got a list but care to clarify on this? I have read so many horror stories of well intentioned items that were not able to be used for any number of reasons.

I am certainly not going to send cases of food from Washington state as it's just not cost effective.

[ehirsch83]

they need food, but it has to be food that can be stored but also easily accessible. Hence, pop top cans. No need for a can opener. DO NOT send anything that needs a can opener or water to be edible.(since water is very scarce)

Medical items are needed- from OTC child and adult medications to alcohol wipes, neosporin, gauze, band aids, etc.

toiletries(soap,etc.)

Feminine products- sanitary napkins. Females in Haiti do not use Tampons, so do not send them!

BLANKETS!!

water and water purification tablets. Water is the big thing, in Port water is very scarce now, in the country- it comes from wells. The other thing is, the water isn't drinkable in Port right now, so purification tablets would be a big help for those in Port so they could drink the water that is there.

Bottled water!! it is purified and helps with the scarcity of water.

Diapers
infant wipes
infant formula

boxed milk

batteries

Those are some of the main things that are needed.
Notice, clothes are not on the list- that is not a necessity right now-it is in the 70s right now, what is needed is medical supplies,food,water, toiletries and infant supplies

[papaver]

I'm supporting these guys. http://www.msf.org/

[OakLeaf]

Here's what I read about sending goods rather than money: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/h...earthquake-aid

I'm splitting my donations between MSF/DWB and Action Aid.

[ny biker]

FWIW, the Red Cross (and other organizations) will be in Haiti for years dealing with this. They will still need the money 90 days from now.

[Irulan]

CNN did confirm the 90 day thing this am, however they said the organizations can borrow against it if they know it's coming. Or pre-spend it, something like that.

[Trek420]

Or they can have a sale I'm not kidding.

If you or anyone you know and love is anywhere on the Pacific Rim the odds are great that it's not if there will be a quake of that magnitude or greater but when. As we can see can be a while till the cavalry arrives.

We should strive to have an emergency kit at home, at work and in the car, heck even on the bike

While you could build your own kit, or get them at a hardware store .... buy 'em from the Red Cross. Heck get 3, get 3 for all your friends

They're red so get 'em for valentines day

http://www.redcrossstore.org

[bmccasland]

The charitable organizations use the money to buy at wholesale. Cases of things are easier to ship, than individual items that need to be boxed, then shipped. We had lots of STUFF - clothes donated here that eventually wound up in the trash. It was amazing the odd stuff that months later we were sorting through trying to figure out what to do with. Yes we appreciated the thought that the nation was sending aid, and didn't want to seem ungrateful, but your miscellaneous garage sale items weren't really needed.

Unless at a local level, you can pack and ship clearly labled new boxes of supplies, such as the specialized items Ehirsch mentioned - just send cash. Impersonnal, I know, but effecient. If you are sending supplies, please check the expiration dates.

[jobob]

Hi -

Rachel Maddow did a segment on her show last night discussing donations via text messaging and noting that to, combat concerns that donations via text are taking a long time to clear, "the cell phone companies are stepping up to shorten that period of time".

See the segment here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#34888357

Here's a bit more:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/0...ions-to-haiti/

Verizon is leading the pack by making the all the donated funds available immediately -- they're assuming that subscribers will pay their bills, fancy that! -- and other cell co's are following Verizon's lead to varying extents. For instance, Sprint is making 80% of donated funds available immediately.

I acknowledge that this donation method might not appeal to everyone, I'm simply passing this information on to those who might be interested.

[Irulan]

More on hoaxes/valid donations...

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/charity/haiti.asp

Snopes has a really good list of what is fact, what is not regarding UPS, texting, facebook etc.

The latest is a cut-and-paste Facebook update that says FB will give a dollar for every person that pastes a certain phrase into their updates.
Between google and snopes, this is absolutely unverified.

[KnottedYet]

I was reading comments about aid to Haiti here and there on the interwebs, and was stunned by the number of commentors who assumed that MAIL would be delivered even if AID is unable to to reach Haiti due to the airport being damaged and out of jet fuel and the shipping port being damaged and unusable.

Why, yes, the postmen are parachuting onto the island and floating over in inner tubes! Mail can magically go to Haiti without airplanes or boats! As one person said "we are a microwave society" and expect things to work and work instantly.

The concept that infrastructure can be broken just can't squeeze itself our societal mindset.