I hear you Jim, that is part of the reason why I gave links for three operations. If I had my choice, I would rather give the cash directly to an ethical, responsible, effective person in Haiti. Who and how do you prove it in time? The logistical and security issues opposing those who are trying to provide relief are immense in Haiti now, likely growing in the future. There is a lot more needed over there than just medical assistance right now, there's no water or likely much food either or temporary shelter with after shocks and vast destruction of dwellings. Then there are all the search and recovery people doing critical work right now. Just dealing with all the reported dead in a rapid effective, fashion will be a challenging task.
This is a massive problem, more than most organizations will be able to deal with. This is a community of 3 Million people in a very bad way. DWB is an excellent group and deserves support. At the same time, I wonder how many tons of water, food and shelter materials they are planning to distribute in Haiti or how many search and recovery teams they are staffed to send out? They fix people up once they are found, correct?
Easy answer, go with the large organization with long experience, infrastructure and staffing to deal with such a large scale disaster. It isn't perfect but right now there is no real time, the next 24 to 48 hours will make a big difference in who lives and who dies. Distribution of food, clean water, shelter and basic care from here on out for weeks, months (?) will have a huge impact on spread of disease and additional loss of life. Hopefully, the Red Cross will do the best they can with the funds we provide them with. Time for action, our cash donations are needed.
Here is a more recent update on things from today, it talks about some of the response, problems, even DWB are mentioned.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/hai...,7084067.story
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Originally Posted by Wetstuff
Rick: I think everyone should make a contribution to these sad people, but I would suggest you not give money to those very large 'charities' like the Red Cross. The first $600,000 in donations provide the annual income of the CEO (and many millions more for staff and overheads) ..before anything filters down to the poor. It seems many of these large charities spend a lot of their time keeping their logos in front of news cameras..
I would suggest the most useful group over the last few decades has been Doctors without Borders. They are already there. http://www.msf.org/
Jim |