Several Web sites are posting links with how to help. It’s boiling down to donating money. The people of Haiti need money, and they need it now. I’m hoping companies will start to match employee contributions so that we can make donations stretch further.

I’ve compiled a list of the main organizations and am listing a few that specialize in helping woman and children. As a mother, I can’t bear the thought that children are in need.

Samaritan’s Purse
A Christian-based organization, they’ve been in Haiti before and can quickly mobilize to offer help. They were there when hurricanes hit this small country. I also like Samaritan’s Purse for the work they do with Operation Christmas Child.
http://www.samaritanspurse.org

The Red Cross
This goes without saying. The Red Cross is THE organization for disaster relief. You can text the word “HAITI” to 90999 to make an instant $10 donation.
http://redcross.org

Doctors Without Borders
“MSF [Doctors Without Borders] has already treated more than 1,000 people on the ground in Haiti following Tuesday’s earthquake, but the needs are huge. An inflatable hospital with operating theatres is expected to arrive in the next 24 hours.”
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

Save The Children
The agency, with offices in Port-au-Prince. “As it has done in recent disasters in Haiti, Save the Children is preparing to provide immediate lifesaving assistance, such as food, water, shelter and child-friendly spaces. It has verified the safety of all but 16 staff members in its main office. Save the Children, which has been working in Haiti since 1985, has provided emergency relief and assistance to Haitian children and families following various recent disasters, including hurricanes and floods.”
http://www.savethechildren.org/

CARE
“CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. We place special focus on working alongside poor women because, equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty. Women are at the heart of CARE’s community-based efforts to improve basic education, prevent the spread of HIV, increase access to clean water and sanitation, expand economic opportunity and protect natural resources. CARE also delivers emergency aid to survivors of war and natural disasters, and helps people rebuild their lives.”
http://www.care.org

• Be sure to ask your employer, church or other organization if they will match funds. This is the quickest way to make your money go further.
• Watch ABC News’ How To Avoid Aid Scams, including do’s and dont’s of giving.
• Read Mia Farrow’s Opinion piece on CNN.com, “How You Can Help Haiti’s Children”
  “In any disaster, children are the most vulnerable. They are in danger of being separated from their families, and they are at increased risk of injury, disease, malnutrition and every form of exploitation and abuse. Undoubtedly, with a disaster of this magnitude, these threats will be particularly grave for Haiti’s children.”

No money to give? Give blood. We all have it coursing through our veins. Haitians need it in great supply.

Photo credit: Matthew Marek/American Red Cross 

As I drive to work each morning I pass people waiting for the bus. Orlando is not known for excellent public transportation, but transportation it is. On the bus, it could take two hours to get from one location to the next — something that might only take 30 minutes by car. Add to that, the heat and the summer showers, and riding the bus in Florida just isn’t a fun thing to do.

Many days I see families, parents with small kids and bags of groceries in their arms. Headed home, I suppose. A family without working transportation.

How lucky am I that I am strutting around in my big, red SUV? I balk when gas prices rise, but I can still afford my automobile. I have something to cart my two kids around, while others are waiting in the heat, rain or both to take a long, smelly ride home.

There’s always something to be grateful for.

Today it’s my car. But, what if I was the one without the car. Maybe I was someone taking a bike to work. But the person riding the bike to work might be grateful they have a bike and don’ thave to walk to work. The person who is walking to work, might be grateful for his legs.

What about the homeless man who sits in a wheelchair because he only has one leg? He holds a cup out for money from his wheelchair each morning at the stop light of the major intersection while passersby sip Starbucks from our large, fancy cars with air conditioning. Maybe he’s grateful that some of these people are kind enough to share their wealth with him on this day. Maybe he’s grateful he has one leg instead of none.

There’s always something to be thankful for. Take a look around.

When my son was born several people gave me bags and boxes full of little boy clothes their children had outgrown. I was ecstatic. I didn’t have to buy him clothing for most of his first year.

I saved much of his clothes in old diaper boxes and kept filling them up, saving them for baby number two. Then, three years later, came the ultrasound that proved we we’d be needing pink items.

What to do with all those clothes?

I contemplated keeping them once again, in case we have a third baby but opted to get rid of them. By the time we might have another child my son will be 5 or 6 years old and I’d need a second house to keep all the clothing he’s outgrowing. It’s just not practical. But, neither is buying all new clothes for each kid . We donated the clothes to another family who had a newborn baby boy and she has already started passing them along as well now that her son has outgrown some of the clothes.

So, the girl news started spreading and we started getting offers of donations from friends’ children who’d outgrown their baby clothes. “Bring ‘em over,” I replied to each offer. The boxes came and I haven’t had to buy much for my daughter.

Apparently, this is a new trend.

I rarely buy new clothes for my kids. The rate at which they outgrow their clothes is so fast, they don’t have time to ruin the ones they have — giving other families the chance to use the leftovers.

Consignment is hot

Resale seems to be a growing trend as well and not just on sites like eBay and Craigslist. In Orlando, we have a shop, Once Upon a Child, that pays cash for kid’s clothes that are in good shape. So, you sell some clothes and you buy some clothes. I’ve purchased several gorgeous dresses here for as little as $3.50. They would retail for at least $20. I have a hard time paying $20 for an item of clothing that is only going to last three months. Once, I sold some clothes and bought a few “new” outfits and walked out with more money than when I went in. It actually felt like they were paying me to take the clothes.

“The New York Times” wrote a great article about this trend — and it’s not just for people who need to save money. Everyone is realizing that there are great quality products and clothes out there that are hardly used. Why buy new when you can have “nearly new” for a lot less cash.

Instead of boxing up all my daughters clothes as she steadily outgrows them, I’m going to try resale and earn a few bucks, or just use the money to trade up in size so that I can outfit her for longer without having to always buy new.

Related

• Read “The New York Time’s” story, “For Firstborns, Secondhand Fits the Bill.”
• “How to Find and Sell Used Children’s Clothes on eBay.”

This summer my son participated in a lemonade stand that raised more than $400 for a local charity. We were so proud of him for taking part in this charitable act of giving. He thought it was all fun and loved squeezing the lemons to make the home-made lemonade. It got me thinking  about how we can instill in him the good will of giving.

Tonight on the evening news, ABC featured a 7-year-old girl, Isabelle Redford whose done just that. She’s found a way to take her talents and raise money for a noble charity. She makes and sells greeting cards — to the tune of $10,000. Yes, that’s $10K. Enough to purchase two orphanages in other countries.

It started with a simple act of selling the greeting cards at garage sales and turned into a much larger project.

Helping orphans has become Isabelle’s cause. It started two years ago when she was 5. Her mom, Kelly Redford of Parsons, Kan., told her a story about twin girls in Haiti whose mother died during childbirth.

“She immediately looked at me and said, ‘What can we do, we have to help,’” her mother said.

Isabelle said, “I brainstormed and I thought of a way to help them. … I thought of cards because I love to draw.”

Read the full story about Isabelle’s gift of giving. It’s inspiring and may give you an idea of how to teach giving within your own family. Who knows, it may just start with a lemonade stand.

Photo courtesy: http://www.sxc.hu

With people strapped for cash these days, it’s time to start looking for items you need from places other than stores. I recently was told about Freeclycle, a Web site dedicated to connecting people who have something to give away, with people who need that something.

It’s not new, but for many it may be. For me, it is becoming a way to get rid of things I no longer need — like an old garage door that we removed during a remodel. It’s in perfectly good shape. I could try to sell it, but would rather not have to go through all that it will take to try to get rid of it. Freecycle seems the best optoin for me. I’m willing to give it away, instead of throw it away. There’s probably someone doing a remodel that would love a free garage door.

The possibilities are endless. You can search for appliances, kids clothes, TVs, electronics, anything really. You just post a WANTED message or an OFFER message and wait for replies. Freecycle uses Yahoo Groups as its back end which makes it easy for many to use. The groups are based on geographic location which eliminates the need for shipping and allows for larger items to be given away.

Try it out.