PLEASE NOTE: We just received an update about donating breastmilk for Haiti. Apparently the World Health Organization (WHO) has NOT requested breastmilk donations specifically for Haitian babies at this time. Here is a statement from Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA): “In order to support HMBANA to be prepared to provide donor milk if UNICEF, the Red Cross, WHO or other international organization involved on the front lines were to contact us please call your nearest HMBANA bank(found at www.HMBANA .org) and become a donor so that we will have the needed processed donor milk.”
The best thing to do at this point, it appears, is to donate money. We’ve pledged to match all donations up to $1,000 (for a total of $2,000) to Mercy Corps for Haiti Relief when you donate on our Mercy Corps Page.
A WORD OF EXPLANATION BEFORE YOU VISIT THE PAGE: We were eager to get the money flowing as quickly as possible, so we donated an initial $500 when we set up the page. Because of that, the “total raised so far” includes our $500, so please KEEP DONATING past the $1,000 mark. We’ll match donations until the “total raised so far” reaches $1,500.
Even if you’ve already given money to a Haiti relief effort, we ask that you reach deep and give a little more. Every little bit helps and the people of Haiti are going to need a lot of help for a long time to come in order to rebuild their lives and their country.
Mercy Corps relief workers are converging on Haiti from Africa, Asia, and North America, focusing first on immediate needs including water, food, temporary shelter supplies and much more. As soon as they can, they’ll expand their work to three additional areas: clean water, post-trauma support for children and job creation.
The needs in Haiti are immense. Its capital lies in ruins, as many as 200,000 may be dead, and survivors are increasingly desperate for food, clean water and shelter. Please give what you can to help families recover.
Follow the latest updates at mercycorps.org/haiti.
January 20th, 2010 | Category: Charitable Giving
