Help Haiti

What first comes to mind when you think about the country of Haiti? Most likely it has something to do with an earthquake. Haiti, a Caribbean country on the island of Hispaniola, along with the Dominican Republic, was greatly affected by an earthquake in January 2010. Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, needs help to rebuild their country. It is great to see so many nations come together as one to help. There have been so many different ways in which the world has helped out, but the help will not be over, even when this is not on the news or in the minds of people anymore. From big to small and all between, from well known to not so well known, organizations have aided in the rebuild of Haiti by providing supplies and funds.

Well established organizations have done so much to help Haiti. Two organizations in particular, Blood Assurance and American Red Cross, have helped a good bit.

Blood Assurance CEO, Rick Youngblood approved a shipment of blood products to be sent to Haiti. This was approved the beginning of last month, February 5^th. There are so many people in Haiti that are loosing blood due to wounds and Blood Assurance has stepped up to help that effort.

Also, possibly the most well known organization to help with Haiti relief is the American Red Cross. There are so many ways that they have helped. The American Red Cross website put out their progress report regarding Haiti for the last two months. To date the organization has raised approximately $354 million with about $106.4 already spent. About 52% of the money spent went to food, water, and relief supplies, 36% on shelter, 8% on health and family services and 4% for livelihoods.

A few not so recognized organizations that have helped are AmeriCares and Charity Navigator. AmeriCares, even though you may not have heard of them, has done more than you can imagine for Haiti. AmeriCares.org says that they have been helping not just since the earthquake, but since the year 1984, they have been providing humanitarian aid. For this humanitarian aid they have been partnering with health care organizations throughout the country. As of February 19, 2010, they have pledged $50 million in aid money. This aid money is going to be used to help rebuild the countries health care system.

If you would like to know some more organizations that are helping Haiti you can go to the Charity Navigator website. Charity Navigator is a non-profit organization itself, but does not directly help with aid or such. They provide ratings for charities they evaluate.

Now you have heard about some organizations that have helped in relief to Haiti. Some you may have heard or and some maybe not, but they all have something in common. They all give something of importance, be it money, supplies, or information. The main thing that they all give is their time.