How You Can Help Archives

Updated: How to Help

Friday, January 15th, 2010 at 1:10 am  
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  • Action Against Hunger, 877-777-1420
  • Agape Flights, 941-584-8078
  • American Red Cross, 800-733-2767
  • American Refugee Committee, 800-875-7060
  • American Jewish World Service, 212-792-2900
  • AmeriCares, 800-486-4357
  • Beyond Borders, 866-424-8403
  • B’nai B’rith International, 202-857-6600
  • CARE, 800-521-2273
  • Catholic Relief Services, 800-736-3467
  • Childcare Worldwide, 800-553-2328
  • Church World Services, 800-297-1516
  • Concern Worldwide, 212-557-8000
  • Convoy of Hope, 417-823-8998
  • Cross International, 800-391-8545
  • CRUDEM Foundation, 413-642-0450
  • CRWRC, 800-55-CRWRC
  • Direct Relief International, 805-964-4767
  • Doctors Without Borders, 888-392-0392
  • Episcopal Relief and Development, 800-334-7626
  • Feed My Starving Children, 763-504-2919
  • Food for the Poor, 800-427-9104
  • Friends of WFP, 866-929-1694
  • Friends of the Orphans, 312-386-7499
  • Habitat for Humanity, 1-800-422-4828
  • Haiti Children, 877-424-8454
  • Haiti Foundation Against Poverty
  • Haiti Marycare, 203-675-4770
  • Haitian Health Foundation, 860-886-4357
  • Healing Hands for Haiti, 651-769-5846
  • Hope for Haiti, 239-434-7183
  • International Child Care, 800-722-4453
  • International Medical Corps, 800-481-4462
  • International Rescue Committee, 877-733-8433
  • International Relief Teams, 619-284-7979
  • Islamic Relief USA, 888-479-4968
  • Lions Club International Foundation, 630-203-3836
  • Lutheran World Relief, 800-597-5972
  • Medical Benevolence Foundation, 800-547-7627
  • Medical Teams International, 800-959-4325
  • Meds and Food for Kids, 314-420-1634
  • Mennonite Central Committee, 888-563-4676
  • Mercy Corps, 888-256-1900
  • Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, 800-306-9950
  • New Life for Haiti, 815-436-7633
  • Operation Blessing, 800-730-2537
  • Operation USA, 800-678-7255
  • Oxfam, 800-776-9326
  • Partners in Health, 617-432-5298
  • RHEMA International, 248-652-9894
  • Rural Haiti Project, 347-405-5552
  • The Salvation Army, 800-725-2769
  • Samaritan’s Purse, 828-262-1980
  • Save the Children, 800-728-3843
  • UN Central Emergency Response Fund
  • UNICEF, 800-367-5437
  • United Methodist Committee on Relief, 800-554-8583
  • World Concern, 800-755-5022
  • World Hope International, 888-466-4673
  • World Relief, 800-535-5433
  • World Vision, 888-511-6548
  • Yele Haiti, 212-352-0552

The U.S. State Department Operations Center said Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti should call 1-888-407-4747. Due to heavy volume, some callers may receive a recording. “Our embassy is still in the early stages of contacting American citizens through our Warden Network,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement. “Communications are very difficult within Haiti at this time.”

For those interesting in helping immediately, simply text “HAITI” to “90999″ and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill. Or you can text Yele to 501 501 to donate $5 via your cellphone

Some of the major credit card companies, including American Express and Mastercard are waiving their usual fees so that the full amount of donation will go to the relief organization (typically, a small percentage is charged to the organization accepting the credit card).

An analysis by the Huffington Post found that credit card companies make about $250 million a year off of people’s charitable donations.

Finally, the FBI urges people who are looking for ways to help with earthquake relief to be wary of solicitations that could be from scam artists.

“Past tragedies and natural disasters have prompted individuals with criminal intent to solicit contributions purportedly for a charitable organization or a good cause,” the FBI said, in passing along these tips:

Ignore unsolicited e-mails, and do not click on links within those messages.

Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as surviving victims or officials asking for donations via e-mail or social networking sites.

Be cautious of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files, because the files may contain computer viruses. Open attachments only from know senders.

Decline to give personal or financial information to anyone who solicits contributions.

Make contributions directly to known organizations, rather than relying on others who claim in e-mails that they will channel the donation to established groups.

The FBI says anyone receipting an e-mail that appears to be a scam should forward it to this Web site: www.ic3.gov

Texting a “massive impact” in getting help to Haiti

Thursday, January 14th, 2010 at 5:39 pm  
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With Haiti still reeling from Tuesday’s devastating earthquake, the Red Cross has stated that it’s run out of medical supplies on the island nation. More supplies are on the way, but it is unknown when they will arrive. Meanwhile, on the Web, people enthusiastic to help are seeking out matchless ways in which they can help.

In the Search box, a quantity of the biggest queries are for different ways to “text to help.” For example, the Red Cross has set up a method where a mobile phone user can text “Haiti” to the number 90999. The text message will result in a $10 donation to the Red Cross. So far, the campaign has been a giant hit. According to Mashable, the texting option has already raised over $800,000.

Another popular option for mobile phone users enthusiastic to help: Text “Yele” to 501501. Doing so will result in a $5 donation to Yéle Haiti, a grassroots organization started by singer and Haiti native Wyclef Jean. Over the coursework of the day, Web searches on Wyclef and his organization have soared to record highs.

Wyclef, famous for his participation in the Fugees as well as his successful solo career, has been outspoken in seeking donations, by his Twitter account.

They could find no stats on how successful his drive has been, but based on anecdotal stories from the Web, text-to-give campaigns have the potential to make a large difference. The San Francisco Chronicle interviewed several young people who have made donations and have also asked their friends to donate by social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Even if you’d not donate by text message, there’s other ways to give your support to those who require it most. The official sites for the Red Cross, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, and Wyclef’s Yéle Haiti are all accepting donations. Searches on those organizations surged tremendously on Wednesday afternoon.

Do you have family in Haiti? We want to know.

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 3:30 am  
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Do you have family, friends, loved ones that live in Haiti? We want to know. Reply to this post to share with us their names and let us know if they are okay. Our prayers are with all tonight.

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