The B2I fund has been languishing in PayPal limbo for some time, so I was surprised today when I checked it to see there is $800+ in there. My apologies for not acknowledging the donations. But what I've decided to do is donate the entire amount in the account to one of the aid agencies for tsunami victims. (Probably ICRC or MSF.) Since I'm not actively soliciting donations anymore, nor blogging as much, I think this is a much better use of the donated funds than wasting them on my sorry ass in Baghdad.
I just wanted to let everyone know that that's what their donations have gone to.
UPDATE: Just to let you all know... I've sent in $885.40 to Doctors Without Borders and marked it for special distribution to the tsunami victims. I hope it can do some good.
Please, if you feel the need to donate, do it to someone who can help those folks and not me. I don't need the cash, but thousands and thousands of people do. Try the following aid agencies:
- American Red Cross
- UNICEF
- Médecins Sans Frontières International
- Oxfam
- Direct Relief International
I hope that people will help through these agencies.
Blessings.
Good for you Chris.
WHat you ( we ) do matters in this disaster of…..epic….biblical proportion that has impacted more than all the recent US hurricanes as an example.
BTW
It isn’t the amount the US govt sends. It isn’t the amount the UN asks or sends either.
what matters in this disaster is the amount contributed to the NGO’s that WE as individuals send that will turn the tide…sort to speak… to help he indivuduals in the unnamed fishing hamlets of that part of the world.
We in the US can dial 1-800- HELP NOW to send donations to the Red Cross.
imo, the planet hasn’t seen such a large disaster in recorded times that so many around the world may assist in helping.
Airedale
Cool stuff, sir. Good idea!
You’re a good person, Chris.
You’re awesome! We are trying to do something over here (I mean… In Brazil) to help them too.
Take care!
Perfect decision. Thanks. Medecins sans Frontieres is getting our collective donations here in SF; thanks for using yours in a similar way.
Ah, Chris, you’re a peach. Now I’ll have to give you some more money, whether you like it or not.
You’re sweet…
Thanks so much for doing this! I’d forgotten about the donation and here you are doing the Right Thing. Bless you!
You are a great example for all of us. Keep on the good work, all my best wishes of luck and good health to you in 2005!
Chris,
I applaud your intentions. I work in the non-profit world however, and I just could not let your post go by without remarking that although well intentioned, what you have done is a no-no. Donors give their dollars for specific purposes, and when you accept it with a specific use for it, you’re not supposed to do something different with it without the consent of the donor. I’ll admit, your situation is a bit different, but not by much. Your average non profit could never get away with doing such a thing, it would show up as a big red flag on the year end audit. Probably not an issue for you. I’m nit picking though. The money is certainly needed for the tsunami victims.
Not really an issue with me, as I’m not a non-profit or anything like that.
Irony of ironies: 100 000 reported dead due to the war in Iraq the last 20 months and no one blinks, twice. Even the lead tsunami of Fallujah was “reasonable” and “inevitable” given the choices we learn. If only tectonic plates could have restored the innocence of this man-made disaster and washed away sins, a.k.a “mistakes” to be disciplined, with divine floods of donations — like the cold gravy train now arriving at the ruined city from relatives of dead US soldiers, along with the nauseating promises of its resurrection, in the name of reconstruction. On the Lutheran balance sheet, I doubt a single credit for tsunami relief outweighs the direct debit in place for murder in Iraq. It’s never about facing actual human choices, however, always about molten masses beyond control, moving somewhere above or below the crust of the Earth.
My third graders this Christmas raised money for Doctors Without Borders instead of the usual in-class gift exchange. I can’t wait to share your story with them. Because I devote a large portion of the day to teaching writing, I know they will connect with what you are doing in a way they can’t via academic exercises.
I don’t know if the links work here. If they don’t, just go to Teachers’ Lounge and find the entires for Dec. 17 and 18. (Dec. 18 includes a picture of my class.)
Keep up the fine work, Chris.
http://consilience.typepad.com/teacherslounge/2004/12/kidscanmakea.html
http://consilience.typepad.com/teacherslounge/2004/12/imhappyto_re.html
Chris,
Feel free to point your readers to the following fundraising challenge as well The Blogger’s Tsunami Challenge.
Oops, the hyperlink did not work…here:
http://loadedmouth.com/node/136
You’re a good man Charlie Brown.
aron,
The rules don’t apply here; its that simple. When you contribute to a blog: caveat emptor. It’s up to the whim of the blog, in this case, grandstanding with a red hot tragedy rather than, like the Red Cross donors who just gave to the Fallujans, for a less sensational but more appropriate cause.
hey Chris, I have to agree with Aaron. I applaud your intentions as well, but I think the most ethical thing to do is to refrain from spending money contributed to your blog on tsunami relief. It would be more appropriate to begin a fund for tsunami relief that your readers could contribute to, or to give your own personal funds. I realize that you likely don’t have $800 to contribute, but if you view the contributions to your blog with complete integrity, that $800 isn’t yours to give either. Sorry to rain on the parade - you have the finest intentions, I know, but integrity in the little things is what prepares and sustains integrity in the big things - a journalist needs lots of both!
annieburd