Member Charity Work in Haiti

The catastrophic earthquake in Haiti affected an estimated 3 million people. In a country already suffering from poverty, hunger, political instability and previous disasters, the situation is dire. Global Impact's charities mobilized quickly to provide emergency food, shelter, water, medical supplies and care. Read below for updates on how our charities are putting your donations to work to help the Haitian people and donate now to support their efforts.

Accion International American Jewish World Service American Refugee Committee AmeriCares CARE ChildFund Christian Reformed World Relief Committee Church World Service Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières Episcopal Relief & Development FINCA Freedom from Hunger Heifer International Medical Corps International Orthodox Christian Charities International Relief Teams International Rescue Committee Lutheran World Relief Mercy Corps Oxfam America Pan American Development Foundation

Project HOPE Rotary Foundation of Rotary International Salvation Army World Service Office Save the Children UNICEF Unitarian Universalist Service Committee United Methodist Committee on Relief William J. Clinton Foundation World Relief CARE

Accion International

American Jewish World Service

In response to the Haiti earthquake, AJWS is focusing on aiding populations in the crisis zone that have not already been targeted for large-scale relief, such as poor and rural areas outside Port-au-Prince. AJWS's long-standing partnerships in the region enable them to send funding directly to their grantees in hard-hit areas on the ground who have the knowledge and capacity to spend the money effectively where it is most immediately needed. Donations are going directly to supporting search and rescue efforts, providing food and shelter for survivors and providing emergency health services and education to help reduce the second wave of casualties due to wounds, contamination from corpses and human waste. Donations are also helping to clear roadways to facilitate rescue and distribution of emergency supplies, provide emergency psychosocial support to survivors and fund two mobile clinics and medical supplies.

American Refugee Committee

The American Refugee Committee's emergency response team is on the ground in Port-au-Prince, doing everything they can to address survivors' immediate needs: water, sanitation, and shelter. The response team is pulling together a team of local staff. Their approach is to work closely with and support Haitians as they struggle to respond to this emergency. Transport within Haiti is challenging, there is no electricity in the city, and cell networks and internet are just beginning to return, but the need is incredibly urgent and the effort is vigorous despite conditions. ARC has extensive experience in disaster relief, including responses to the tsunami in Thailand and earthquakes and floods in Pakistan. Each year, the American Refugee Committee works with nearly 2.5 million people in Africa and Asia.

AmeriCares

AmeriCares has pledged $15 million for the people of Haiti and has already shipped 15 tons of medical supplies to Haitian clinics and hospitals. The most recent shipment contained products donated by over 25 companies, many of which have committed to maintain inventory at AmeriCares as part of an "emergency pharmacy". The products include a wide range of medicines - enough to treat 500,000 people - as well as over 300,000 units of hospital supplies for surgeries, trauma care, and burn care. Distribution is under way today and is expected to continue throughout the coming days and weeks. AmeriCares has been providing humanitarian aid to Haiti since 1984, partnering with local health care organizations throughout the country.

CARE

CARE has been working in Haiti since 1954, with more than 130 staff in country. Currently, their disaster-response teams are distributing 600,000 water-purification packets in Port-au-Prince and coaching survivors on how to purify contaminated water. To further prevent the outbreak of disease, they are preparing hygiene kits containing crucial items, from soap to sanitary napkins, to help survivors stay healthy under the current adverse conditions. Of particular concern are some 37,000 pregnant women in the disaster zone in desperate need of food, clean drinking water and/or access to health care. CARE also seeks to address the mounting waste disposal issue, as garbage, corpses and sewage accumulating in the streets are certain to spread disease. They will also distribute food rations, tents and mattresses and are working with their partners on a plan to address gender-specific needs in Haiti. CARE knows that in emergencies like this, women and girls are at increased risk of sexual violence, exploitation and abuse when seeking food and other services.

ChildFund

To meet the needs of vulnerable children, ChildFund has committed to directing funds raised for Haiti to Christian Blind Mission (CBM). CBM has worked in Haiti for 30 years and will use the monies received from ChildFund to meet the needs of children with disabilities who are the most vulnerable when disasters occur. ChildFund is especially concerned with child protection and keeping children at the center of recovery efforts and rebuilding. ChildFund has extensive experience responding to the emergency and recovery needs of the most vulnerable children in crisis situations. The organization's priorities in the wake of disasters are to minimize the chaos and setbacks to children's development that emergencies bring and to support them in significant ways, so that in the aftermath of disaster, when the worst is over, infants are healthy and secure, children are educated and confident, and youth are skilled and involved.

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee is providing support and preparing plans for
long-term aid to earthquake victims in Haiti. The organization is setting up a logistics center in the Dominican Republic as a base for procuring and distributing aid. CRWRC's first priority is getting water, food, and medical aid to all those who need it. The organization has had a surgical team and orthopedic team working in Haiti since the first week following the earthquake. Once immediate, emergency needs are met, CRWRC's next priority will be providing temporary and then more permanent shelter to those who are homeless or whose homes are uninhabitable.

CRWRC has been working in Haiti for more than 30 years.  By partnering with local churches and community organizations, CRWRC empowers Haitian community leaders to no longer see themselves as victims of poverty, but with gifts and resources to serve others. CRWRC's immediate, emergency aid will include emergency supplies like water, shelter and food. CRWRC's response will also include long-term home repair and reconstruction. CRWRC is collaborating with other relief and development organizations to ensure that the aid efforts are coordinated and no needs fall through the gaps.

Church World Service

Church World Service is meeting emergency needs in the aftermath of the earthquake by transporting basic supplies that had been pre-positioned in the neighboring Dominican Republic. CWS is working with partners to provide water, food, temporary shelter and health assistance. Relief items, including essential supply kits and blankets are being distributed in Port-au-Prince. Vitally needed water and sanitation equipment are also being distributed as part of CWS-supported efforts by the ACT Alliance. ACT partners in Haiti are planning further shipments from the Dominican Republic. Having worked in partnership in Haiti since the 1960s, CWS plans to help support Haitian communities in the long struggle to rebuild. A CWS-supported psychosocial team from Europe is arriving in Port-au-Prince, not only for disaster survivors, but also for first responders.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières teams are treating hundreds of people injured in the quake and have been setting up clinics in tents to replace their own damaged medical facilities. Doctors Without Borders is also working to get more staff into the country. They are sending out a 100-bed hospital with an inflatable surgical unit, consisting of two operating theaters and seven hospitalization tents and 70 more staff.

Episcopal Relief & Development

Episcopal Relief & Development has reached out to its Haitian partners in an effort to determine the extent of the damage and coordinate a swift response. The organization is committed to a long-term response and recovery effort with their partners in the Diocese of Haiti. It is one of the largest and perhaps most socially engaged dioceses of the Episcopal Church with an extensive network of schools and health services.

FINCA

FINCA has set up a Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund in order to make financial resources available to their Village Banking clients. These women have been working so hard to lift themselves and their children out of desperate poverty and now may face even more desperate circumstances.

Freedom from Hunger

Freedom from Hunger urges that the most helpful response to disaster is to give money (not goods you purchase) to existing organizations that already have established working relationships with affected communities. For example, Freedom from Hunger is currently channeling donations to ACLAM (Action Contre La Misere), our trusted Haitian partner since 2000. 100% of the donation money Freedom from Hunger receives for the Haiti earthquake victims will go directly to ACLAM to fund relief and rebuilding efforts to its microfinance clients and the communities in which they operate.

Heifer International

Heifer International is issuing an emergency appeal for funds to help families in Haiti recover and restore their lives following the catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Heifer is not a traditional first responder but is preparing to follow the important work of first responders by giving people the tools and ongoing help they need to rebuild their lives.

International Medical Corps

International Medical Corps' Emergency Response Team is in Port-au-Prince assisting survivors of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti Tuesday. The team is providing medical care outside the general hospital near the Presidential Palace where hundreds of people have congregated for help.

In addition, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has entered into an alliance with International Medical Corps to engage union members in direct relief efforts. As many as 600 SEIU members, many of them Haitian nurses and doctors and native Creole speakers, have volunteered to be part of an emergency response in Haiti. SEIU Healthcare is the largest union of healthcare workers in North America. SEIU Healthcare members have a history of volunteer work, and by coordinating with International Medical Corps, their participation in the Haitian relief effort will be supported by the security and logistics support framework that are integral components of International Medical Corps deployments. The first wave of deployments will include a number of Haitian doctors and nurses who are members of SEIU Healthcare Florida, Local 1991 and SEIU's Committee on Interns and Residents (CIR). International Medical Corps has had an emergency response team on the ground in Port au Prince since Wednesday, operating at the Hospitelier de'l'Université d'Etat d'Haiti, treating crush victims, trauma and shock patients, conducting basic wound care and dealing with broken bones and rupture wounds. International Medical Corps is focused on the recovery phase even at this early stage of its operations in Haiti, which is the biggest challenge in natural disasters.

International Orthodox Christian Charities

Since news of the earthquake came to light, IOCC staff has been contacting partners active in Haiti and attempting to reach Orthodox parishes on the island to coordinate our response to the growing need. Like many Haitians who have been struggling to reach their loved ones, IOCC is finding direct communication difficult - symptomatic of the widespread destruction and ruined infrastructure that is now beginning to be revealed.

International Relief Teams

International Relief Teams conducted disaster relief and development activities in Haiti in the past through established in-country partners and will continue to coordinate its relief activities through these partners in order to respond to the needs of the community in the aftermath of the earthquake.

International Rescue Committee

The International Rescue Committee has deployed its Emergency Response Team to Haiti to deliver medical, water, and sanitation support to local relief groups in Haiti, who are overwhelmed by the scale of this catastrophe.

Our specialists are veteran first-responders who set up immediate and effective emergency programs around the world during violent conflicts and natural disasters. The IRC is also supporting members of the Haitian American community as they organize a major response.

Lutheran World Relief

Lutheran World Relief is responding to the affected communities through its partners on the ground in Haiti. The coming days are critical as teams dispatch to Haiti to conduct search and rescue efforts.

Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is lining up resources to respond and will begin deploying their team. Mercy Corps has a long history of helping earthquake survivors meet their immediate needs and recover what they've lost. They aided families after earthquakes in Peru in 2007, China and Pakistan in 2008 and in Indonesia last year.

Oxfam America

Oxfam America has nearly 200 people on the ground in Haiti and a team of 15 highly-experienced emergency specialists based in the capital who will be responding with public health, water and sanitation services to prevent the spread of waterborne disease. The agency announced that as soon as assessment teams have a fuller understanding of the emergency needs that Haitians across the region face, Oxfam America will work urgently to meet those needs now and in the coming days.

Pan American Development Foundation

Pan American Development Foundation has a long history of assisting the Haitian people to respond to natural disasters and rebuild critical infrastructure with funding from USAID and private donors. Donations will be used to purchase and transport the type of relief that Haitians need. PADF, the natural disaster relief arm of the Organization of American States, has more than 150 people working Haiti on economic development, disaster mitigation and protecting human rights.

Project HOPE

Project HOPE is reaching out to its extensive network of corporate partners to explore opportunities to gather medicines and medical supplies in country to distribute to individuals and families in need. In addition, HOPE is considering sending volunteers to help with the response effort. If you are a health care professional interested in volunteering, please visit the Project HOPE Web site for updates.

Rotary Foundation of Rotary International

Rotarians are gearing up to deliver aid to areas of Haiti as a major international relief effort takes shape. ShelterBox has dispatched about 500 containers of supplies to the affected area. A ShelterBox response team is being mobilized, with two members from the United States and one from the United Kingdom. Also, more than 100 Aquaboxes are being delivered to Haiti to provide safe water. The Rotary Foundation was in Haiti 18 months ago, delivering aid after a series of hurricanes left thousands homeless. The organization is now working closely with their contacts on the ground in the country to make sure they get aid to the people who need it most during the current crisis.

Salvation Army World Service Office

SAWSO has a long standing history in disaster response, most recently with the tsunami in Soma. SAWSO will be sending disaster response teams to the region.

Save the Children

Save the Children, which has worked continuously in Haiti since 1978 and responds to every major emergency in this disaster-prone country, is implementing a large-scale relief and recovery effort. Food, water, shelter materials, medicines, hygiene kits, and other essentials are being provided during this critical phase, when children's survival is still so uncertain.

Save the Children had also begun planning for a five-year, "build back better" program that will
address such long-term needs as health care, shelter, children's protection and education, water and sanitation, children's nutrition and family livelihoods. This work will take place in and around the city of Port-au-Prince and will be organized and informed by ongoing assessments that Save the Children staff will conduct.

UNICEF

Despite heavy damages to its own offices in Port-au-Prince, UNICEF is ready to provide immediate support to earthquake victims in Haiti. UNICEF officials estimate that half of those affected by the quake are children. In coordination with other UN agencies present on the ground, UNICEF will provide supplies to allow access to adequate sanitation, safe water and basic health care. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF has already released $500,000 to assist in the emergency response. In addition to emergency supplies and funding, UNICEF advisors and psycho-social materials have been dispatched to help reduce the traumatic effects of the disaster and ensure that children are able to continue learning and studying. The creation of safe, child-friendly recreation areas is essential for Haitian children while their caretakers turn to rebuilding their lives.

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

UUSC's disaster response in Haiti will focus on those survivors less likely to have access to aid, such as child domestic workers (restaviks), women-headed households that work in the informal sector, and people living with HIV/AIDS. Haiti has a vibrant grassroots movement with a vision of empowering people. UUSC will work closely with partners in this grassroots movement to reach those survivors at greatest risk of being overlooked. UUSC has already connected with three organizations and will be reaching out to others in order to shape their response.

United Methodist Committee on Relief

The United Methodist Committee on Relief has close ties with the Methodist Church in Haiti and is responding to the earthquake with funding, material resources and prayers. The agency is working with partners on the ground to provide immediate relief to the people in Haiti. Working with partners, Action by Churches Together, Church World Service, Global Medic and the Methodist Church, the United Methodist Committee on Relief is channeling its resources to respond effectively to the people most in need.

William J. Clinton Foundation

President Clinton has long been committed to helping Haiti "build back better" from the hurricanes that devastated the nation in 2008 and to prepare for future disasters. Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, now needs our assistance more than ever. President Clinton's UN office and the rest of the UN system are monitoring the situation. While the full impact of this earthquake is not yet known, we do know that the survivors need immediate help, which you can support through the Clinton Foundation. As the UN's Special Envoy to Haiti, President Clinton is asking everyone to give what you can to help the people of Haiti respond and recover from this disaster.

World Relief

World Relief has 40 staff in its Port-au-Prince office, previously working in the area of HIV/AIDS and micro-finance is now fully absorbed in disaster relief. The staff is supplying kits of water, blankets and essential needs. World Relief works alongside local churches in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area to combat AIDS, provide basic healthcare for mothers and infants, protect orphans and at-risk children and improve financial security for vulnerable households.