Take 5 to Help Haiti

Over the weekend, while I was in Saturday’s mystery location (Philadelphia), I received a message from Kathy Mystir, a friend who knew me back in my Save-the-World twenties. (Before you attribute undeserved maturity to me, I should confess my twenties ended just two years ago and, truth be told, I can still be unbearably idealistic and naive at times.) Kathy was seeking direction for responding to the national disaster in Haiti.

At 23, I lead a 45-person disaster relief team to Ground Zero. That experience, along with coordinating the service and outreach efforts of Westwinds Community Church, became a fairly comprehensive crash course in how to organize help in times of crisis.

Over the next few days, I’ll be posting a series of blogs called Take 5 to Help Haiti that answer Kathy’s questions in stages.

Today’s post, Five Minutes, focuses on small efforts you can take up for Haiti, without breaking stride from your normal pace.

That said, I think we should challenge ourselves to step outside of small efforts, to nurture a larger, more sacrificial response than the 5 minute version. But these ideas are a start. And they can be completed, in a few minutes time, as many times as you like and in combination with other efforts.

5 Minutes

1.Pray.

Print out a photo or news articles–something that reminds you about Haiti–and stick it somewhere you pass multiple times throughout the day (think your mirrors, car dashboards, your desk etc.). Or upload a Haiti photo or map as your desktop background or screensaver. Let these reminders prompt you to pray for the country of Haiti. Operation Safe offers 8 specific needs you can pray for here.

2.Donate your profile picture.

Do you have online profiles on facebook, twitter, myspace, yahoo or other online communities? Donate your profile picture to Haiti, by right-clicking your mouse on the image below and selecting “save as”. You can then save the image on your computer and re-upload it as your profile pic.(Thanks to Shaun Groves for this idea.)

When you change your picture, please explain on your status update why you are doing so. For example, seeing these images reminds all of us not to live in isolation from suffering going on in other parts of the world. And it prompts us to think, pray and reflect about what sort of response each of us can muster to help lift Haiti’s burden during these times.

Also, use your social networking platforms (Twitter, Facebook etc.) to spread the word about various ways to help Haiti. Retweet this blog or link to it in your update. RT other people’s posts about relief efforts (after checking the legitimacy via the home websites of the leading organizations involved–there’s already been a UPS rumor that falsely suggested the company would ship donated goods to Haiti free).

3. Text a donation.

Have you heard about this yet? Using your cellphone, you can send a text which will add a pledge to your phone bill. Standard text messaging fees will apply. Not a high rolla quite yet? A lot of people in our economy aren’t swimming in dollars right now, but the average pledge of $10 had already added up to $22 million for the Red Cross by the time this Washington Post article was written.

Two organizations I’d like to personally recommend, that in addition to offering relief, offer the hope of God’s love:

• Compassion Intl: Text DISASTER to 85944 ($10 donation)
• The Salvation Army: Text HAITI to 52000 ($10 donation)

Some other organizations that offer other types of aid:

• Red Cross: Text HAITI to 90999 ($10 donation)
• UNICEF: Text UNICEF to 20222 ($10 donation)
• United Way: Text HAITI to 864833 ($5 donation)
• Intl Medical Corps: Text HAITI to 85944 ($10 donation)
• World Food Program: Text: FRIENDS to 90999 ($5 donation)
• UN Foundation: Text CERF to 90999 ($5 donation)
• Oxfam: Text OXFAM to 25383 ($10 donation)

If you live outside the U.S.:

• Salvation Army in Canada: Text HAITI to 45678 ($5 donation)
• Plan Canada: Text HAITI to 30333 ($5 donation)
• United Kingdom Disasters Emergency Committee: Text GIVE to 70077 (£5 Pounds)
• French Red Cross: Text HAITI to 80222 (1 Euro)

If you don’t use texting, you can see a list of charities and information on how to donate compiled by Charity Navigator.

4. Purchase or sell goods that profit Haiti.

Even if you don’t have a lot of extra cash to spare, you may be able to buy items you already plan to purchase via a sale that benefits Haiti.

You can also sell things you don’t need and give the profits to Haiti, via Ebay. Ebay has made the process super simple. Just visit this page to designate a certain percentage (between 1 and 100%) of your sale to the charity of your choice (all the leading humanitarian organizations are available to choose from). As of today, Ebay is reporting $497,270 donated through 1/17/2010.

5. Stay on top of news headlines so you can lobby your government officials to aid Haiti as more opportunities become available.

For example, at Sojourners, you can send a quick email to the Obama administration, asking them to grant emergency protected status to Haitians living the the United States. Or, at One.Org, you can join international organizations calling for Haiti’s wealthy international creditors to cancel Haiti’s debt. Lastly, there is also a movement calling for internationally-adopted Haitian children (who have not yet been transported) to be immediately transferred to their new families.

Lastly, here’s a quick caution against getting scammed by fraudulent charities trying to capitalize on this disaster (can you say sick?):

• When you encounter a charity, read the fine print. How much of the donation actually goes to Haiti vs. how much goes to administrative costs?
• Do not respond to unsolicited emails or click on links within them.
• Don’t open attachments of pictures, which are already reported to contain viruses. Instead, look at the masses of photos available online.
• Don’t give financial or personal information to unknown people or organizations. Instead, donate directly to known organizations.

Report suspicious Haiti efforts to the FBI: www.ic3.gov

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Tweet or post about this blog post on Twitter and/or Facebook–and let me know you did–and you’ll automatically be eligible for today’s book giveaway: A Field Guide for the Missional Congregation by Rick Rouse and Craig Van Gelder – A Field Guide for the Missional Congregation reveals seven transformational keys, using real-life case studies to illustrate each key. A reflective milestone framework, including discovery questions for each chapter, ground the book in a practical process.

Congrats, @ShelRev for being selected by Random.Org from all the Twitter and blog post entries. Please send the address where you would like your book mailed. Thanks.