Thursday, January 14, 2010

How you can help....

As we posted before, we have some good friends who live and have family in Haiti.  We know our friend survived her work building collapsing around her.  However, her family has not fared as well.  We know that part of the family has perished as they were sitting down for dinner and their house collapsed around them.  Some who were not hurt are afraid to go back into their houses for fear of collapse, and many are still missing.  The devastation is almost absolute.  At the very least, we are asking that you send your prayers out for those who are living in Haiti, the doctors and rescue personnel there and on their way, the injured and the missing.  We just found out that most neighborhoods are coming together every night at 10:30 p.m EST for a neightborhood prayer service.  Please, take a moment to do the same.

If you are so inclined to do more, there are many organizations who are taking donations of money, clothes, medical supplies,  and time.  Before you donate, always check out the organization with the Federal Bureau of Investigations or the Better Business Bureau to make sure it is legitimate.  Unfortunately, there are people out there who wait for the chance to take advantage...

If you are local to us (East Central Illinois/West Central Indiana), we have the names of several churches taking donations of items who have permanent missionary bases in Haiti.  If you worry about your donation making it to where it was intended, these people will make sure it gets there.  Please e-mail me at stephani.wyatt@att.net  or you can find me on Facebook  (Stephanie Wyatt) and I will pass on the information. 

To all of our friends who have medically involved children and family members, if you are like us, you have a little stockpile of medical supplies that you either don't use anymore, were the wrong size or models and the companies will not take them back once they are in your home.  This goes for formula as well.  This is the time to clean out those items that are no longer needed.  As long as they are still factory sealed - maybe not full cases or boxes - but the individual item still sealed, here is your chance.  If you cannot find a national organization to take those items, try a local church with a missionary.  They are usually more than happy to take those items.  Their regulations are more relaxed, and I have it from a reliable source that when times are tough, places like Doctors Without Borders get those items from where ever they can find them.  If you have any medical equipment, old wheelchairs, walkers, afo's, pulse ox machines, feeding pumps, suction machines, nebulizers, etc  they can be used as well.

While not my favorite organization, I have added a button over to the side to donate to the American Red Cross for Haiti.  You can also dial 90999 on any cell phone and text "Haiti".  That will send a $10 donation to the ARC Haiti fund.

Following are more organizations to donate money, time, etc. Click on the BOLD titles for links to the organizations:
CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES: Address and mail checks to: The Archdiocese of Detroit CRS Relief Efforts (4th Floor) 1234 Washington Blvd., Detroit 48226; or call 800-736-3467. ** This is for the Detroit area.  I am sure they would take donations from anywhere, but you might want to check your local Catholic Church to see if they have a branch of this service there.


AMERICAN RED CROSS: Go to the Web site by clicking the link at the beginning of this paragraph and find out how to donate and other ways to help, or call 800-REDCROSS.


THE HAITI FOUNDATION AGAINST POVERTY: Nonprofit organization in Grand Rapids that funds an elementary school in Port-au-Prince seeks donations, food and medical supplies to send to Haiti.


REGISTERED NURSE RESPONSE NETWORK: The nation’s largest organization of registered nurses has activated its nationwide disaster relief program to recruit nurse volunteers to provide assistance in Haiti. To sign up, click the link at the beginning of this paragraph.


AMERICARES: 88 Hamilton Avenue, Stamford, Conn. 06902 or call 800-486-4357.

OXFAM AMERICA: 226 Causeway St., 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02114-2206 or call 800-776-9326.

THE SALVATION ARMY: 615 Slaters Lane, P.O. Box 269, Alexandria, VA 22313.

SAVE THE CHILDREN: Haiti Earthquake Children in Emergency Fund, 54 Wilton Road, Westport, Conn. 06880, Or call 800-728-3843.

WORLD VISION: Haiti Earthquake Relief, P.O. Box 9716, Federal Way, Wash. 98063-9716 or call 888-511-6548.

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS USA: 333 7th Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10001-5004 or call 888-392-0392.

INTERNATIONAL ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHARITIES: P.O. Box 630225, Baltimore, Md. 21263-0225. Or call 877-803-4622.

U.S. FUND FOR UNICEF: 125 Maiden Lane, New York, N.Y. 10038 or call 800-367-5437.

CURRCLICK:   Go here to donate in small amounts - $5 or $10.  Currclick will match donations.

MERCY CORPS: Dept. W, P.O. Box 2669, Portland, Ore., 97208-2669 or call 888-256-1900.  




Most of these links were found at the Detroit Free Press Newspaper.      

For those who can, thank you in advance for your time and donations.  For anybody else, prayers are never turned away.  Thank you!


Hugs!

Stephanie

3 Comments:

Blogger Lacey said...

Praying for your friend and everyone else in Haiti. Thanks for all the info. I know I have extra medical supplies. And tons of extra blankets because everytime we go into the hospital thats what they give us. I'll make sure they get sent out!

January 15, 2010 at 9:35 AM  
Blogger The VW's said...

Great job Stephanie! Our family has been thinking of ways to give these people some help.....you just gave us some great resources! They are definitely on my heart and mind and will continue to be in my prayers! Love and Hugs!!!

January 15, 2010 at 11:14 AM  
Blogger To Love Endlessly said...

great post! thank you for all that wonderful contact information. we'll be praying, praying, praying!

January 16, 2010 at 9:06 PM  

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