Prayers for Peace and Quick Recovery in Haiti

Many prayers are with each and every person in Haiti, every man, woman, child, and the missing. Prayers are made for the obscene number of dead. The devastation that has impaled on Haiti is just...devastating. I couldn't imagine what any of them are going through, one can only try to imagine, not that you would actually want to.

I am happy to see that so many people and countries are willing and able to open their pockets, and help in a remarkable way, as money and supplies are much needed. It is also good to see all of the countries working together, disasters are costly, not just in money, but in irreplaceable belongings, loved ones, and having your deceased buried with others in mass graves, due to disease, and no time or money to bury them properly.

Here is a list of just some of the celebrities and companies that have donated money and / or in-kind donations and supplies:

^* Alyssa Milano - $ 50, 000 with a dare to match campaign on Twitter
^* American Red Cross - $ 37 Million ( $8 Million of which was from cell phone donations)
^* Amgen - $ 2 Million
^* Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have donated $1 million from their foundation to Doctors Without Borders
^* Bank of America - $1 Million
^* Cigna - $50,000
^* Coca-cola - $ 1 Million
^* Deutsche Bank AG is giving $4 million, and it will match employees' contributions
^* Direct Relief International - $ 420,000 plus needed supplies
^* General Motors Foundation - $ 100,000
^* Go Daddy - $500,000
^* Google - $1 Million
^* Jefferies & Co. donated $1 million plus all $5 million it earned in commissions Friday
^* Madonna - $ 250,000
^* Nike - $ 25,000
^* Partnership for Quality Medical Donations said 10 members have pledged a total of $7.3 million in product donations and $4.6 million in cash.
^* President Obama (on behalf of the U.S.) - President Obama has pledged $100 million in emergency aid (more possibly to come later) and over 5,000 U.S. troops
^* Tiger Woods - $ 3 Million
^* U.S. Chamber of Commerce - $ 60 Million
^* U.S. texting - $ 10 Million and counting (Over seen by The Mobile Giving Foundation)
^* UPS - $ 500,000 plus another $500,000 in in-kind services
^* Wall Street - $1 Million plus aid
^* Walmart - $500,000 plus $100,000 in merchandise
^* World Team Tennis - Clothing
^* Yummibrands Inc - $ 500,000

Huffingtonpost.com reported other countries donating:

Private (individuals & organizations) $18,251,893 ($10,000,000 in uncommitted pledges)
Norway: $4,939,341
Netherlands: $2,886,003
Germany: $2,164,502
Brazil: $5,000,000
Australia: $8,992,806
Switzerland: $1,941,748
Denmark: $1,939,394
Finland: $1,803,752
Italy: $1,548,002
Guyana: $1,000,000
Russian Federation: $700,000
Belgium: $651,876
Japan: $327,154 ($5,000,000 in uncommitted pledges)
Czech Republic: $288,600
Inter-American Development Bank: $200,000
Greece: $144,300
United Kingdom: $96,476 ($10,000,000 in uncommitted pledges)
Slovenia: $72,150
Sweden: $61,848
United States: $50,000 ($100,000,000 in uncommitted pledges)
Bolivia: $0
Canada ($4,913,295 in uncommitted pledges)
Caribbean Development Bank ($1,000,000 in uncommitted pledges)
Others: ($121,427,946)
Grand total: $57,234,845 and $258,191,241 in uncommitted pledges.

There are many people and charities who want to help rebuild Haiti; charities like The American Red Cross, who collect donations, send volunteers, and supplies such as medical, food, clothing, blankets, and even blood. TARC reports that today Haiti received "two planes carrying Red Cross humanitarian assistance. The first carries a field hospital, and the second carries tarps, blankets, hygiene items, buckets, shelter supplies and kitchen sets. Among these teams are engineers, surgeons and family linking specialists. These teams will establish field hospitals, restore water and sanitation systems, distribute supplies and restore family links facilities.

So far, the American Red Cross has received $37 million in donations, breaking records for pledges to the Red Cross made within the same time period after a disaster. More than half of the donations have been through online contributions, with strong support from corporations and record-setting activity in mobile giving.

Eric Porterfield, spokesperson for the Red Cross says , "The response to the emergency in Haiti has been impressive and moving, and the donations to the American Red Cross have exceeded the totals amounts received in the first 48 hours of both Katrina and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.''

The International Committee of the Red Cross is helping to reconnect separated families within the country. They have established a special Web site, enabling persons in Haiti and abroad to search for and register the names of relatives missing since the earthquake: www.icrc.org/familylinks.

If you're trying to reach a U.S. citizen living or traveling in Haiti, you should contact the U.S. Department of State, Office of Overseas Citizens Services, at 1-888-407-4747."

The American Red Cross has made agreements with the U.N. Mission Hospital to donate blood. The CBS News helped TARC fly the units of needed blood to Haiti. ( read full article at: http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.1a019a978f421296e81ec89e43181aa0/?vgnextoid=db30c5d233336210VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD )

Other people are raising money for Haiti as well, in great numbers too I might add. For instance, Diocese of Venice is another- http://www.bradenton.com/news/breaking_news/story/1979568.html

Redindhi has a Twitter account and she posted this:

1. You can donate SkyMiles to the Red Cross to aid #Haiti relief efforts thru SkyWish http://bit.ly/8SpYWl (via @DeltaAirLines) (via @cdecamps)half a minute ago from Twitterrific
2. Triage, stabilization of wounded, referrals for surgical needs are medical priorities in #Haiti for #doctorswithoutborders (via @MSF_USA)1 minute ago from Twitterrific
3. RT @NASA: How can you help the situation in Haiti? Check out http://bit.ly/6suTng (via @MotherboardTV)2 minutes ago from Twitterrific
4. #Haiti: 2000 treated by #doctorswithoutborders, working to expand surgical capacity http://bit.ly/5q4JD6 (via @MSF_USA)3 minutes ago from Twitterrific
5. RT @cnnbrk: Haitians in the U.S. as of January 12 can apply for temporary protected status, HHS says. http://bit.ly/70UtkS (via @cdecamps)4 minutes ago from Twitterrific

Credit card companies in Canada are even waiving fees for donations to Haiti. Canada is also sending 100 search and rescue personnel from their police and fire departments. Help is coming from all over. Even high schools are collecting money to send. But where does it end?

U.N. disaster experts say that 10 percent of housing in the capital were destroyed, which means around 300,000 homeless, but in some areas 50 percent of buildings were destroyed or badly damaged. Now, that is devastation, however, the money that was raised already will be more than enough to rebuild Port -au- Prince. What the U.S. alone would be sufficient.

We can send additional workers that know how to construct buildings, electricity, and what not, to help the workers that are healthy and strong enough to work. Less than a year and you would have a whole new town with new and brilliantly built buildings that can finally withstand earthquakes and floods. The tourist town would be exquisite compared to what it once was. They would have brand new homes that would make them feel like kings, brand new clothes, dishes, and furniture. Maybe even make a monument on top of the mass graves with everyone's name on it that was buried there, to remind them of what was lost, the torrential earthquake that changed Haiti forever.

I say they have been promised enough, the whole country isn't that big, and we are only trying to rebuild one small part. Don't get me wrong, I certainly would want the help if roles were switched, but we have many in need here, in this country. Why can't we ever just help our own people, in our own country first? We have many unfortunate homeless too, not from something as devastating, but unfortunate none-the-less.

We have poor families too. We have many unemployed too. Why can't other countries donate money to us for a change? I mean, we have helped many in need, many different countries over the decades. Why don't all these people who donated, donate to Work Force One, or also pick a family and send a check or call and see what they need and buy it for them? Why won't the rich people, and companies get lists of families in poverty and send them money, or a voucher to their business or something? Adopt-a-family for a year, that's what rich people and companies should do to help fellow Americans, at least until the economy picks up. They send off a million dollars to a charity, why not send 10 families of their choice, $100, 000.00? This can really be done, as we see, anything can be done if you really wanted to.

I could definitely use the money. If I had a hundred thousand dollars, I could put half down of what's left after Uncle Sam got his share, on a 4 bedroom house for me and my 3 children (13 y/o boy, and 5 y/o twins -boy/girl), and move out of where I'm staying. Then trade in my 2001 Jeep with maybe 5 or 6 thousand dollars and get a new car, and the rest will go in savings and CD's. If I got more, I would open one of a few business ideas I have. That would be my plan for that money. What would be yours?

Many articles and news casts are being made left and right about the horrible tradegy that Haiti recently went through, and if you google key words on the subject, you will get pages upon pages of info. I have hopefully given you somewhat of a summary of all of it, inputing my opinion of course.

Again, if you are searching for a lost loved one, go to this website and upload or search pictures for leads. http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourvoice/photogalleries/haiti/

My resources are:

Nicole Maestri
The American Red Cross
Reuters in San Fransisco
United Nations
CBS News
CBC News
and several other websites, blogs, and postings that I have read