As many of you have already heard, Haiti was rocked by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake last week with the epicentre approximately 10 miles from the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince. In the past week the international community has been rallying together sending supplies, volunteers, aid and funding to the country to not only help with the rescue and recovery but also to help the imminent rebuilding this country will so desperately need.
This tragedy has touched many. Sometimes when things like this happen it can be overwhelming trying to figure out how we can help. With the many contributions of friends and colleagues I have put together a collection of different ways you can help our Haitian brothers and sisters. Perhaps you are limited in your ability to help at this time…however, please do remember that help will be needed for a while so any contributions further on are also needed.
The Canadian Government has agreed to match all donations up to $50 Million….let’s hold them to this and make sure we get to that $50 Million!
Here is a list (and links) to organizations accepting donations (thanks to cbc.ca and Kneale Mann for these links):
- Action Against Hunger Canada
- Adventist Development and Relief Agency
- B’nai Brith Canada
- Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace
- Canadian Red Cross
- Chalice
- Christian Children’s Fund of Canada
- Combined Jewish Appeal of Montreal
- Health Partners International of Canada
- Hôpital Albert Schweitzer
- The Humanitarian Coalition
- Médecins Sans Frontières Canada (Doctors Without Borders)
- Mennonite Central Committee
- Oxfam Canada
- Plan Canada
- Salvation Army in Canada
- UNICEF Canada
- United Jewish Appeal-Federation of Greater Toronto
- United Nations World Food Programme
- World Vision (you can either direct donate or participate in the 2010 30-Hour Famine where you can select that your funds raised go towards Haiti Relief efforts)
- Yele Haiti
- Partners in Health
- Direct Relief
- International Medical Corps
- Youth Challenge International
Text to Donate:
Text Haiti to 45678 to donate $5 to the Salvation Army in Canada (Bell/Rogers).
Text Haiti to 85944 to donate $5 to Rescue Union Mission and MedCorp International.
Text Haiti to 25383 to donate $5 to the International Rescue Committee.
Text Haiti to 30333 to donate $5 to Plan Canada.
Text World to 45678 to donate $5 to World Vision.
Text GIVE to 45678 to donate $5 to UNICEF.
Text REDCROSS to 30333 to donate $5 to Candian Red Cross.
Give a Haiti relief charity gift to a Facebook friend.
When you give a charity gift on Facebook, you are buying a specific item needed on the ground in Haiti. We have several new gifts in the Facebook Charity Gift Shop, including:
- Water for Haiti from Oxfam
- Light a Candle for Haiti from UNICEF
- Food for Haiti from CARE
- Shelter for Haiti from the American Red Cross
- Survival Kit from World Vision
Haiti Debt Forgiveness
One International has a great initiative…this organization has started petition to ask Haiti’s creditors to act quickly and cancel Haiti’s $890 Million debt. They are looking for at least 100,000 signatures. You can help Haiti just by putting your name on the petition!
For those of you in Calgary looking for a way to get involved with helping Haiti…. (thanks to Japman Bajaj for this)
Alex Ruiz (who you may know from FlamesTV and CalgaryFlames.com) is hosting a fundraiser that she and two other popular media personalities in Cowtown are putting together on Jan 28th at Flames Central. All money raised goes to relief for Haiti. Donations are welcomed, but there’s also going to be a silent auction. A couple of the items up for auction include a 20-person corporate team training session at Shakers, and multiple six-month fitness memberships to Fitness Plus, as well as all sorts of really cool autographed and official NHL gear. Canadian Olympian and Gold-Medal Winning Gymnast Kyle Shewfelt will also be a part of the evening!!
There’s a website for the event, but it’s not really developed yet. Over the next couple days, check out http://www.yyc4haiti.com. There’s also a Facebook group about the event, so share that with all your Facebook friends too!
Volunteers
If you’re looking to help in another way international volunteers of varying backgrounds will be needed over the next 12 months at the very least to help with the relief and recovery.
If you are a medical volunteer, you can contact those who are coordinating medical efforts at Catholic Relief Services at mbroemme@crs.org or mfarmer@crs.org.
Global Volunteer Network is accepting applications (as well as donations) to help in Haiti. GVN is the organization that I went to Uganda the first time with…they tend to partner with grassroot organizations.
GVN’s experience from the December 2004 tsunami indicates that volunteers will be required over the next 12 months to help in the following areas:
- Working with Children
- Teaching
- Health/Medical
- Building and construction
- Counselling
- Business development
If you are interested in joining a GVN volunteer team in Haiti over the coming 12 months, please complete this online applications form.
GVN will provide all who have registered with regular updates from the advanced team, along with details of the program as information unfolds.
Get information from people who are on the ground…
Here are some great people to follow on Twitter who are either in Haiti and have been posting updates or are providing great updates:
- LouisOxfam
- MSF_Canada
- voiceteam
- LindsayBranham
- followDTJ (Discover the Journey)