Jill Monroe
01-13-2010, 05:21 PM
We all remember what happened during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. I can remember Lexi and I talking on MSN together and expressing our grief, anguish and dismay over the disaster and the utter FAILURE of government (bush) response to it. We had some threads up about what was going on and places to contact if members wanted to help out with aid/relief efforts in someway.
Well, Red Cross left a BAD TASTE in my (and many other's) mouth when they came under scrutiny for the apparent misappropriation of MILLIONS of dollars donated by people who expected that money would help the Katrina victims in New Orleans and other hit areas. Red Cross' response was that the money would be used how THEY saw fit unless the person donating specified what the money was for via "certified donor letter". Ever since then, my trust for the Red Cross has decreased quite a bit.
I also know that in this ROUGH economy most of us are struggling just to get by but just remember, we all have water, power (with which i use to even type this thread), jobs (gratefull much?!) and food. These people in Haiti...a country already desperately poor are now suffering through one HELL of a nightmare as 1000s lay dead, and many buildings including the presendential palace of been flattened.
Musician (and former "Fugee" member) Wyclef Jean, a haiti native who has been working to bring imrprovement to his native country for years, has a website set up for this relief effort. It is also backed by the Clintons as well as Angelina Jolie.
Here is the website: http://www.yele.org/news/index.php
If you want to help, but dont have alot of money, you can give as little as $5.00 and its really easy to do. Just click on "take action", then scroll down the next page and find "donate now". Click on that and on the next page look at the top left hand corner, you will see how to donate $5.00 via TEXT to Wyclef's relief effort.
I did this today myself and I feel good about using this portal to donate. $5.00 is not much by itself...but just think how much it will be when you multiply it by the 100's, 1000's that will hopefully give at least that much. It will add up and it will mean something to those people down there and you KNOW its going to go TO THE GROUND EFFORT THERE, not be shuffled through beaurocrats a'la Red Cross.
You'll get a confirmation text double checking that you actually want to donate the $5.00 and once you respond to that, then you get a final text confirming that it has been completed as well as a website to go over the terms and conditions of mobile relief donations.
I just wanted to share this with all of you as we sit at our desks, our homes, or play on our phones...we still have our lives..regardless of how good/satisfying or not so good/satisfying they are.
Well, Red Cross left a BAD TASTE in my (and many other's) mouth when they came under scrutiny for the apparent misappropriation of MILLIONS of dollars donated by people who expected that money would help the Katrina victims in New Orleans and other hit areas. Red Cross' response was that the money would be used how THEY saw fit unless the person donating specified what the money was for via "certified donor letter". Ever since then, my trust for the Red Cross has decreased quite a bit.
I also know that in this ROUGH economy most of us are struggling just to get by but just remember, we all have water, power (with which i use to even type this thread), jobs (gratefull much?!) and food. These people in Haiti...a country already desperately poor are now suffering through one HELL of a nightmare as 1000s lay dead, and many buildings including the presendential palace of been flattened.
Musician (and former "Fugee" member) Wyclef Jean, a haiti native who has been working to bring imrprovement to his native country for years, has a website set up for this relief effort. It is also backed by the Clintons as well as Angelina Jolie.
Here is the website: http://www.yele.org/news/index.php
If you want to help, but dont have alot of money, you can give as little as $5.00 and its really easy to do. Just click on "take action", then scroll down the next page and find "donate now". Click on that and on the next page look at the top left hand corner, you will see how to donate $5.00 via TEXT to Wyclef's relief effort.
I did this today myself and I feel good about using this portal to donate. $5.00 is not much by itself...but just think how much it will be when you multiply it by the 100's, 1000's that will hopefully give at least that much. It will add up and it will mean something to those people down there and you KNOW its going to go TO THE GROUND EFFORT THERE, not be shuffled through beaurocrats a'la Red Cross.
You'll get a confirmation text double checking that you actually want to donate the $5.00 and once you respond to that, then you get a final text confirming that it has been completed as well as a website to go over the terms and conditions of mobile relief donations.
I just wanted to share this with all of you as we sit at our desks, our homes, or play on our phones...we still have our lives..regardless of how good/satisfying or not so good/satisfying they are.