Simply this: please suggest where you think donations to help in Haiti should go? Where would they make the most good. Please comment
Why? In case you missed it, there was a 7.0 earthquake near Port-au-Prince yesterday with many serious aftershocks. Thousands are missing, many dead and much damage to this poor country’s infrastructure.
French FM Koucher is saying the entire UN building collapsed killing the entire staff. This looks so big that the biggest problem will be getting a response organized enough to manage a clamity of this scale. I don’t have a clue who would be best target for donations. I think it’s going to take giving to a lot of different organizations. It’s going to take Government, US and EU, to come in manage something like this.
I would say the Red Cross or Mennonite Central Committee.
Let me go ahead and donate to the MCC.
After considering remarks here and elsewhere, I’m splitting my contribution between the Mennonite Central Committee — I trust them — and Partners in Health
We give to the American Red Cross and designate our gift to the International Relief fund when disasters strike in other countries.
My husband and I are national disaster relief volunteers with the Red Cross, and I can say that I am very comfortable with how the money is spent. Yes, they have overhead costs. But what that overhead pays for is an infrastructure that is fast and efficient. People get fed and sheltered, and that is what is needed immediately.
Other needs will come later…rebuilding lives takes time. Other organizations specialize in long term recovery. Bur right now, today, January 13th, immediate relief is the focus.
We do not have the training to be sent to Haiti (international work requires a much larger commitment of time and training than we can make), and we are a bit frustrated that we can’t be there, hands on, to help. But money helps, too, and so we donated today.