How You Can Help the People of Haiti

On January 12th, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck about 10 miles outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital city, causing massive destruction and the loss of thousands of lives.  The images of carnage and despair caused by this disaster (like the one below) have affected millions and moved them to contribute in whatever way they can to the relief effort.

If you haven’t yet made a contribution, but want to, here are some ways you can do it:

Image courtesy of The Huffington Post

1) Text “HAITI” to 90999 to have $10 added to your mobile phone bill;

2) Go to the Red Cross web site and click the “Donate Now” button to make a donation;

3) Call 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) to donate, or 1-800-257-7575 for a Spanish speaking representative.

4) Text “YELE” to 501501 to donate $5 to Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund. (There has been some question as to the accounting practices of this group. I just want you to be aware of it, I’m not passing judgment. See Wyclef Jean’s response here.)

5) Go to Yele’s web site to make a donation;

6) Support Doctors Without Borders in their efforts to assist the humanitarian effort in Haiti. (Go to Doctors Without Borders or click the widget in the first sidebar over to the right of this post.) Actress Sandra Bullock donated $1,000,000 to this organization.

7) Go to one of the many web sites listed on Interaction.org to find alternative ways to assist in this massive effort.

While not a donation site itself, if you’re on Facebook you can become a fan of the Global Disaster Relief fan page. (There is a meme running through Facebook that said copying a certain status to your own profile would donate $1 to the relief effort; this is NOT true.)

There are many more ways to make a donation of money or time to this cause, this is only meant to be a sampling of the more visible ones. Please help if you can; if you can’t then please keep the people of Haiti in your thoughts and prayers.

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