Help Haiti Through Legitimate Charities

Help Haiti Through Legitimate Charities

By Michelle C. Carr-Crowe

Haiti was already one of the poorest countries in the world, and with the 7.0 earthquake at 4:53 pm on January 12, 2010, this poor country received yet another blow.

People around the Bay Area may not realize it, but San Jose and Silicon Valley is home to one of the largest populations of Haitians outside of their native country.
The only good thing about this disaster is perhaps there is a chance to not only help but heal and put in place good infrastructure in place of the previous substandard construction and buildings. Sadly, corruption in previous administrations has been a troublesome issue for this small country.

The only good thing is perhaps there is a chance to not only help but heal and put in place good infrastructure where there had been so much substandard construction and building.

Sadly, corruption in previous administrations has been a troublesome issue for this small country.

For those wishing is most easily and quickly help, there is a text to 90999 feature, which will immediately donate $10 to the Red Cross by billing the $10 to your mobile phone bill. I did verify this as legitimate on Red Cross's official site (www.redcross.org).

Here are some helpful places to connect with loved ones in Haiti, as well as legitimate charities participating in relief efforts. At the Red Cross Family Links registry, 6,000 people connected within the first 24 hours. It is available in both English and French.

http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/WFL_HTI.NSF/DocIndex/locate_eng?opendocument

FYI, the Red Cross is not accepting volunteers to travel to Haiti. If you would like to volunteer for the American Red Cross, please contact your local chapter.

For inquiries about relatives living and who have citizenship in Haiti, please be patient and call repeatedly until the lines clear or contact other family members who live nearby. Telephone, Internet and other communication lines are often disrupted in times of disaster.

* People trying to locate U.S. citizens living or traveling in Haiti should contact the U.S. Department of State, Office of Overseas Citizens Services, at 1-888-407-4747 or (202) 647-5225.

The International Committee of the Red Cross recommends the following procedure for people searching for relatives in Haiti.

• First Consult : The List
If your relative's name is on the list, contact him/her directly (if contact information is available) or contact the nearest Red Cross / Red Crescent office for more informationt

• You want to inform your relative of your whereabouts: Register yourself
Once you have registered yourself, your relatives will know that you are alive when they check the list. They may also contact you through a Red Cross / Red Crescent office.

• You are looking for a relative whose name is not on the list : Register your relative
If your relative is not on the list and you have had no news of him/her, enter the name of the relative you are looking for. The relative might check the list from his/her new location and contact you. Someone else checking the list may have information on that person’s whereabouts which they may then send to the contact address indicated on the previous page.

To register a relative on the list, you need to fill in the attached form. It is divided into two parts, with data regarding yourself (to be provided even if you have already registered your name in the list) and data regarding the relative you are trying to locate.

If you wish to locate more than one relative, you will have to fill in one form each per person sought.

Please keep in mind the ICRC cannot verify nor take responsibility for the publication of this information, which is NOT confidential, and IS accessible by anyone.
Below are links to other relief organizations participating in efforts to help Haiti.

• American Red Cross www.redcross.org
• American Jewish World Service www.ajws.org
• AmeriCares www.americares.org
• Beyond Borders www.beyondborders.net/index.php
• CARE www.care.org
• Catholic Relief Services www.crs.org
• Childcare Worldwide www.childcareworldwide.org
• Doctors Without Borders www.doctorswithoutborders.org
• Mercy Corps www.mercycorps.org
• Operation USA www.opusa.org
• Oxfam www.oxfam.org
• Partners in Health www.pih.org/home.html
• Samaritan's Purse www.samaritanspurse.org
• Save the Children www.savethechildren.org
• UNICEF www.unicef.org, www.unicef.org/haitiquake
• World Vision www.worldvision.org

Please help, and remember to pray for the Haitians and those helping them.