Haiti Quake and September 11, 2001

On September 11, 2001 my family discovered how really easy it is to help others, even if you have very little yourself!

The day started like any other, but by the end of the day, September 11, 2001 would stand out for a very long time, as one of the worst days in history for lives lost. Now some 9 years later, we have yet another large loss of life that will again be remembered for a very long time to come, as the worst loss of life yet!

On September 11, 2001, people came together from all over the world to help out with the disaster. Now with Haiti having a major earthquake that has taken more lives than September 11, could shake a stick at, we once again are seeing the people of the world coming together to help those in need.

In September of 2001 my family found that even those of us who have next to nothing where money is concerned, can still find ways to help out. We are a very crafty family, so when our oldest daughter came home with a little thrown together set of red, white and blue ribbons, i saw a way to take the money we had to send to the relief efforts and we bought ribbon! Red ribbon, white ribbon, but blue ribbon was not to be found, so i found a way to create a blue ribbon out of a blue fabric. Thus my fabric and satin awareness ribbons were born.

Awareness ribbons was the way i found to help out after September 11, 2001. I was able to take very little money and turn it into hundreds of dollars that we were able to send to New York. It was much greater help than our original small amount and it was very easy to make the ribbons, it also gave us an escape from what we were feeling because of what had happened and was happening.

So what do you know how to do? Can you make awareness ribbons? Black would be a great color ribbon for the Hati quakes. They are very easy to make and almost every shop in your town will happily sell them for you. Just make a nice flyer size poster of what they are and what they are for and where the money will go. When we made our ribbons, we had all the convenience stores and gas stations selling ribbons for weeks. More than 1000 ribbons sold at $1.00 each. People don't think twice many times about spending a $1.00, especially when it is going to help out with a disaster relief effort.

Don't know how to make ribbons? How about baked goods? Get your church or women's group together and have a huge bake sale. Have a garage sale and donate the money raised. Place a jar at your sale too with a sign on it for donations to go to Haiti quake victims.

Do you sew or do other crafts? Have a craft sale in your front yard to raise money. For those living in warmer states, this and a lemonade stand would be great money makers to raise money to help Haiti.

What can be done on a small budget, or even no budget at all, is limited only by your own individual creativity and imagination. We can do great things, if we just put our minds to it!

So, what can you do to help the Hati victims? Put on your thinking caps and see what ideas you can come up with. You can take a little and turn it into a lot and without too much effort. So let's all get up, put on those thinking caps and start coming up with ways to help. There are millions of people who need all the help they can get, so let's do something, anything and help them out. It will make you feel good about yourself too!

Carmella Mae Dunkin will be happy to give instructions on how to make awareness ribbons. Just send her a private message and ask for "Awareness ribbon instructions".