HAYS, Kan. - People in Haiti continue to sleep in the streets, on sidewalks, in their cars, or in makeshift shanty towns either because their houses have been destroyed or because they are afraid. Thousands have died from injuries and lack of attention for their often very serious medical emergencies. Now, hundreds of thousands of the uninjured residents are in risk of dying of thirst, hunger or exposure to unsanitary conditions caused by the disaster. These deaths can be prevented.
If you're looking to give money to help relief activities, here's a good list of some of the larger, established international aid organizations responding to the disaster in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Most of these organizations, like the Salvation Army and Doctors Without Borders, are already on the ground and actively involved in the rescue and relief efforts outside the airport. To our knowledge, these organizations are not ones that are stymied by the log jam we have been hearing about at the Port-au-Prince airport:
- American Red Cross
- American Jewish World Service
- AmeriCares
- CARE
- Catholic Relief Services
- Direct Relief International
- Doctors Without Borders
- International Committee of the Red Cross
- International Rescue Committee
- Mercy Corps
- Oxfam
- Partners in Health
- The Salvation Army
- Save the Children
- UNICEF
- World Food Programme
One of the ways some organizations are collecting donations is through text message. You can text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti, charged to your cell phone bill. Or you can text "YELE" to 501501 to automatically donate $5 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund, also charged to your cell phone bill.
The list is just a starting point for you and your own research. There are a number of online tools available for evaluating charities and making donations to a broader range of NGOs, including CharityNavigator.org and NetworkForGood.org.
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