HAITI EARTHQUAKE

Easy Options:

  • Participate in a local meal-packing event such as Feed My Starving Children.  Here, you will pack bags of food for starving people.  Since the earthquake, Feed my Starving Children has organized special events specifically for Haiti.
  • Donate money to any of the organizations listed below.
  • Donate shoes to the HUP Helping Haiti Foundation.  People in Haiti often do not have shoes, which means that they may get their feet cut and infected on earthquake rubble or other bits of trash. HUP 
  • Text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts.
  • Go to FREERICE and play the FreeRice online vocabulary game.  Every correct answer donates 10 grains of rice to starving people, including those in Haiti, through the United Nations World Food Programme.
  • Tell your friends and family about the situation in Haiti.

Issue:  Haiti Earthquake

On January 12, 2010, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale struck the impoverished island nation of Haiti.  Now, the country is in an even more desperate situation than ever.  More than two hundred thousand people were killed directly by the earthquake, and hundreds of thousands more were left horribly wounded.  Three million people in Haiti are in need of some sort of relief services.  Only half of the nation’s population has safe water available for drinking, and more than half live on less than a dollar a day.  In some areas, 40% of kids are constantly malnourished.  Over a million displaced people live in camps in Port Au Prince (the capital), and 600,000 have fled the city entirely, crowding into poor rural regions that barely have enough food to keep themselves alive.  The situation in Haiti is very desperate indeed, and the lives of its 9,035,536 depend in large part on aid from foreign nations like the United States.  Haiti needs our help, and millions of people are banding together to deliver it to them.  So do your part and pitch in to save Haiti!

Organizations & More Information:

  • This website shows a list of a LOT of charities that are helping in Haiti.  You may find one that interests you!  HAITI
  • Feed my Starving Children:  FeedHaiti
  • Catholic Relief Services:  CRS Haiti
  • Red Cross:  RedCross Haiti
  • Americares:  AmericaresHaiti
  • MINUSTAH:  MINUSTAH Haiti
  • United Nations World Food Programme:  UN WFP Haiti
  • Amnesty International:  Amnesty Haiti

In-depth Projects:

Unfortunately, at this point there are no opportunities for long term projects in Haiti, since organizations are not sending volunteers to Haiti.  Haiti is still in a critical situation, which means that untrained volunteers might actually get in the way of professional relief efforts, becoming a hindrance, not a help.  However, there are still ways to increase your involvement and help those in Haiti.

  • Start a donation drive at your school for any of the listed organizations.
  • Raise awareness and funds by holding a fundraising event in your community or school.  This could be a concert, bake sale, dance, ice cream social, or any other such activity.
  • Start a fund-raising club or group at your school which would host multiple events like those described above.
  • Hold a collection contest at your school.  Have a sponsor provide pizza for the classroom which collects the most money for Haiti.