<p>^^^ silverestersmom how does PIH (Partners in Health) rate ?</p>
<p>And Oxfam:
[Haiti</a> earthquake: Emergencies - :: Oxfam GB](<a href=“http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/emergencies/haiti-earthquake.html?ito=3489&itc=0]Haiti”>Oxfam in action | Our work around the world | Oxfam GB)</p>
<p>Extremely reputable and conscientious</p>
<ol>
<li><p>People halfway around the world who have been killing each other for centuries, and who hate us.</p></li>
<li><p>People a few miles away who are suffering through no fault of their own.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to send a large number of troops and support personnel to help #2? Too bad they’re too busy f-ing around with #1.</p>
<p>For those of you who may not be familar, Partners in Health is an extremely reputable organization, rated 4 stars by Charity Navigator. </p>
<p>PIH has also been given multiple grants by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation who scrutinize where their money is going - and would never give a second grant if the money were not being used appropriately.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>PIH has an excellent reputation in the charity/non-profit world. Traditionally, you will find that 95+% of donations go directly to their programs.</p>
<p>mantori - we are sending troops. The US Coast Guard is enroute as is the Navy. The USS Carl Vinson is now rereouted to Haiti and look for either the Comfort or Mercy - the Navy’s two hospital ships to be headed that way. Look for the US Southern Command from the Army to mobilize troops for humanitarian assistance as well.</p>
<p>apparently pih.org is clogged up. it’s just spinning and spinning.</p>
<p>Thank you for the information on Charity Navigator, Silvervestermom. What a great site! I didn’t know about it before.</p>
<p>This is the direct link for Partners in Health’s earthquake relief fund:</p>
<p>{edited it out; didn’t come through properly}</p>
<p>The link is not responding now (which makes me very happy). I donated early this morning to their general fund. At that time, they didn’t have an earthquake fund set up. In general, I don’t make restricted donations. I’d rather allow the organization to decide how best to use the money.</p>
<p>The PIH website is slow, but I did just manage to get a donation processed. It’s encouraging to hear that there’s a huge amount traffic (and hopefully donations) to the site.</p>
<p>I worked in Petion-Ville (suburb of Port-au-Prince) for 5 years (1998-2003) and every one of the photos looks so familiar to me. We did get in touch with one friend via email. His family was OK, but he said that things were very bad. Now that daylight is here, we can see just how bad.</p>
<p>The thing to understand is just how difficult it’s going to be to help. Every rescue effort initially will be by hand. There is just no heavy equipment there, and almost no infrastructure. For a while, everyone is on their own.</p>
<p>It’s interesting how, in the midst of such devastation, the mind goes to small things that you know. I wonder how my apartment building there did. Is it still standing? I wonder about the 4-story office building we built in Petion-Ville. It was such shoddy construction in the first place. The day we moved in, it was raining, and the roof (and windows) leaked so badly we had to put a tarp over the computers and the first floor had several inches of standing water.</p>
<p>I don’t know how the rebuilding can go, nor even how all of the rubble can possibly be cleared away.</p>
<p>[PIH</a> News](<a href=“http://www.pih.org/inforesources/news/Haiti_Earthquake.html]PIH”>http://www.pih.org/inforesources/news/Haiti_Earthquake.html) is the link for earthquake donations</p>
<p>^ just donated via this link (Thanks Scualum)
Easy as pie to donate (30 seconds!)—Let’s record at least 25 donations from CC’ers by the end of the day!</p>
<p>Count me. </p>
<p>(10char)</p>
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</p>
<p>Good, thanks. This is the kind of thing the richest nation in the world should be able to do for its neighbors.</p>
<p>Six members of our church are currently in Haiti. They have gone down in partnership with New Missions delivering over 10,000 Christmas shoe boxes. Apparently, they were in the new missions compound – five miles from the epicenter – when the earthquake hit. Thank God they are all uninjured, although the new missions compound has sustained considerable damage as have the schools and village they minister to that is near them. The group quickly went to higher ground last night when the Tsunami alert went out as they were close to the beach. After spending the night outside, they returned to the compound and have begun distributing bulghar and beans to the village population. They are getting updates out via twitter and other social media, including a facebook page where they videotaped themselves (including youth from several of our area high schools who were there) so that their loved ones can see that their families are safe. </p>
<p>New Missions is another wonderful organization. In full disclosure it is faith based. This is their facebook page if you’d like to be kept up to date what you might be able to do through them. </p>
<p>[Welcome</a> to Facebook | Facebook](<a href=“Facebook - log in or sign up”>Facebook - log in or sign up)</p>
<p>Zebes</p>
<p>Count me too.</p>
<p>(musicamusica - do you volunteer for PBS? lol)</p>
<p>Great idea, musicamusica. Include me; I donated early this morning.</p>
<p>I am glad that your friends are all right, zebes! </p>
<p>From what I’ve read, there is a desperate need for food and water. I wonder whether the relief efforts will begin with helicopter drops? I don’t even know whether this is possible at this point - what is the range of helicopters?</p>
<p>Thanks for the link to PIH, which indeed does very good work. Add me to the count of CC donors.</p>
<p>OK 5 total and counting.
I am going to forgo lunch out this week and will donate another $25.
If you donate, you get a point for your school.
UCLA 2 --------everyone else ?</p>
<p>if I do not see a USC donation by the end of the day…</p>
<p>I was trying to decide where a Haiti disaster relief donation could be put to best use when I ran across this thread on CC. Thanks to all for the PIH recommendation. You can count me in the list of CC donors.</p>
<p>NYMomof2 -
The military will take care of this. The Coast Guard and Navy are moving into the area. They will use their ship as a platform from which to drop supplies by helicopter if necessary.
The Army will move in with troops on the ground and heavy equipment. They will provide security and direct assistance in the rescue effort</p>
<p>Here is an article from the Navy Times:
[Carl</a> Vinson, other ships headed to Haiti - Navy News, news from Iraq - Navy Times](<a href=“http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/01/navy_vinson_haiti_update_011310w/]Carl”>http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/01/navy_vinson_haiti_update_011310w/)</p>