Sometimes It's Hard
1/14/2010 07:06:00 PM Posted In charity , ink Edit This 2 Comments »
I've been sick since last week and haven't done a bit of art. Hence I haven't posted anything on my blog. As I'm sure all of you know, Haiti has suffered a catastrophic earthquake killing thousands of people. At times like this it's so hard to know how best to help. I'm a registered nurse (retired), but whenever I see and hear about things like this I feel like I should join an organization that sends nurses into disaster areas to assist. I know that for a number of reasons, this would not be a good thing to do - not for those who need help, and not for me. So, what I can do is send a bit of money.
There is a website that rates charitable organizations to help donors decide which charity will make the best use of the money they receive. It is www.charitywatch.org There you can check out any group you are considering to make sure that the maximum amount you donate will actually get to the people who need it. If your mailbox is like mine, not a day goes by without some organization asking for money. The problem is that most of them are very worthwhile causes. We have narrowed our charitable giving to a few select groups, as I'm sure most of you have. Haiti is one of, if not The, poorest country in the western world. They are desperate and need all the help we can give them. If you can spare $5 or $10, you can make a difference. There's power in numbers. Please help if you can.
I hope I haven't offended any of you with this request. This is the first time I've ever asked anyone to do anything like this. But the magnitude of this tragedy is more than I can comprehend and I just felt compelled to do something. Thanks for taking the time to read this long post, and thanks to all of you who are able to help.
There is a website that rates charitable organizations to help donors decide which charity will make the best use of the money they receive. It is www.charitywatch.org There you can check out any group you are considering to make sure that the maximum amount you donate will actually get to the people who need it. If your mailbox is like mine, not a day goes by without some organization asking for money. The problem is that most of them are very worthwhile causes. We have narrowed our charitable giving to a few select groups, as I'm sure most of you have. Haiti is one of, if not The, poorest country in the western world. They are desperate and need all the help we can give them. If you can spare $5 or $10, you can make a difference. There's power in numbers. Please help if you can.
I hope I haven't offended any of you with this request. This is the first time I've ever asked anyone to do anything like this. But the magnitude of this tragedy is more than I can comprehend and I just felt compelled to do something. Thanks for taking the time to read this long post, and thanks to all of you who are able to help.
2 comments:
It's no problem to post like this. This is not politics (although politics may have made Haiti worse off over the years than they should have been) or religion. This is a disaster! I have heard through my Catholic Relief that some mothers have mixed butter with dirt to feed their children - and that was BEFORE this disaster. Of course we sent off some money. We sent it off to Catholic Relief as they are already there and have been for years. They are rated with an A on your link. President Clinton used them to coordinate help when we had the Bosnian/Serb crisis. I sure don't want to waste the money I give so providing your link was a good measure. Many are putting the Red Cross on their blogs but your way gives everyone a link to choosing their own. I think it was good of you. I'm afraid it didn't cross my mind to make a blog post about it.
I visited Haiti in 1993 with my church group. People have no idea how poverty stricken this place is until you go there. My church is associated with a church group in Haiti. We support their work with the poor. We just found out this Sunday that the pastor and his family were spared.
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