In January, I began following the 442 students of Charlotte Middle School in Charlotte, Tenn. who had decided to partner with UMCOR, one of the world's largest relief organizations, to provide "hands-on" support for Haiti by making 442 health kits.
Once they knew what each health kit needed to contain -- a hand towel, wash cloth, comb, bar of soap, nail clipper or file, toothbrush, toothpaste, and six adhesive bandages -- the Charlotte Tigers took their January focus on the positive character trait of generosity to great heights. All the students pitched in. It was reported that Ms. Richard's sixth grade homeroom students brought in 1293 items for the kits, and Ms. Baldwin's eighth grade homeroom students brought in 965! By the end of February, there were enough supplies to complete 525 kits, and the remaining items were donated to the Dickson County Help Center.
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March 11, 2010
Alternative Spring Break: College Students Spend Week Off Volunteering
At colleges and universities across the nation, students are ditching plans to relax on sun-drenched beaches, opting instead to spend their spring breaks on service trips both within the U.S. and around the world. Some schools have organized their own 'Alternative Spring Break' trips, while others are sponsored by the United Way. Whether it's rebuilding hurricane-ravaged communities in New Orleans or spending a week volunteering abroad, the popularity of service-based spring break trips has been growing in recent years.
Many students, emotionally affected by January's devastating earthquake in Haiti, were eager to spend their spring breaks volunteering on the island nation. Aid organizations, however, have warned student groups that the situation in the country is too fragile to permit student volunteers to lend a hand.
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Many students, emotionally affected by January's devastating earthquake in Haiti, were eager to spend their spring breaks volunteering on the island nation. Aid organizations, however, have warned student groups that the situation in the country is too fragile to permit student volunteers to lend a hand.
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March 10, 2010
Aid Agencies In Chile Say Much More Help Is Needed
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has revised its appeal for emergency aid in Chile, asking for a further $13 million to address communities which have still not received adequate help.
Mirroring the situation in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, Chile's rainy season will soon present considerable problems to the many thousands throughout the nation who lost their homes in the 8.8 quake that hit on February 27.
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Mirroring the situation in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, Chile's rainy season will soon present considerable problems to the many thousands throughout the nation who lost their homes in the 8.8 quake that hit on February 27.
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March 8, 2010
Clearing the Rubble, Including the Old Plan for Haiti
Yesterday was the Oscars. Last year's Best Actor Sean Penn made the morning's headlines, donating a million dollars to Haiti's relief / reconstruction effort. Collectively U.S. citizens have donated $1 billion so far. Two questions arise: one, which I and many others have asked numerous times, where is this money being spent, how, and what plan? A second, related question is where Haiti will get the funds for the rest of the effort conservatively estimated at $16 billion.
Private charitable donations can only go so far. Where is the rest of the reconstruction coming from? What is the plan of these other actors? Generally speaking there are two sets of actors: the "public sector" and the "private sector." I put both in quotes because there is considerable slippage between governments and private, for-profit investors or companies, in the U.S. as in Haiti. Both sets of actors have a planning conference coming up, one in Miami and the other in New York.
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Private charitable donations can only go so far. Where is the rest of the reconstruction coming from? What is the plan of these other actors? Generally speaking there are two sets of actors: the "public sector" and the "private sector." I put both in quotes because there is considerable slippage between governments and private, for-profit investors or companies, in the U.S. as in Haiti. Both sets of actors have a planning conference coming up, one in Miami and the other in New York.
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March 5, 2010
World Vision Warns Haiti’s Rural Communities Risk Chronic Food, Water Shortage as Burden to Care for Displaced Grows
Port-au-Prince, HAITI, March 2, 2010 - World Vision warns Haiti's rural communities are at risk for chronic food and water shortages as the burden to care for the displaced grows. Families in these communities are struggling to cope with the influx of people seeking refuge from the destruction in the capital city. The aid agency is concerned that these communities are at risk of increased chronic food and water shortages and lack of adequate shelter as the rainy season approaches, burdens that could lead to more displacement and deeper poverty as resources are rapidly depleted.
"Haiti's rural communities were already struggling to make ends meet before the earthquake," said Jean-Claude Mukadi, the relief response manager for World Vision in Haiti. "Now, as people continue to arrive in these communities, joining the hundreds of thousands who have already fled, they are all looking for food, water, and shelter. It's critical that efforts are put into place to help the families who were already living in these areas as well as those who are displaced from their homes."
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"Haiti's rural communities were already struggling to make ends meet before the earthquake," said Jean-Claude Mukadi, the relief response manager for World Vision in Haiti. "Now, as people continue to arrive in these communities, joining the hundreds of thousands who have already fled, they are all looking for food, water, and shelter. It's critical that efforts are put into place to help the families who were already living in these areas as well as those who are displaced from their homes."
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Haitian Small Businesses Hurting: Is Aid To Blame?
In the wake of the devastating earthquake that shook Haiti in January, international aid has been pouring into the island. Aid efforts organized by the United Nations, the U.S. and other countries have brought food, water and other supplies to earthquake survivors in need. While the nature of the disaster required that immediate response, now, almost two months later, the aid strategy hasn't changed. What cost does this type of aid have on Haitian business owners trying to get back on their feet after the earthquake?
The Wall Street Journal reports that small business owners aren't able to sell their products when competing with free foreign aid. With these local businesses not able to turn a profit, they aren't able to rehire their employees, leaving Haitian workers without a vital source of income that could help their families rebuild their homes.
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The Wall Street Journal reports that small business owners aren't able to sell their products when competing with free foreign aid. With these local businesses not able to turn a profit, they aren't able to rehire their employees, leaving Haitian workers without a vital source of income that could help their families rebuild their homes.
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March 3, 2010
Taking Back Time
I'm here in San Francisco at day two of the 4A's Transformation 2010 conference, and most of the speakers here agree - that this is the best time to be in the marketing industry. Why? Because technology has enabled a whole new kind of creativity and innovation, the potential of which has only begun to be explored. This was certainly apparent when watching Dr. Frank Rijsberman, Program Director of Google.org, who demonstrated how insight from data can be brought to bear with life saving results in Haiti and other nations in need. But this epic industry opportunity also comes with a big caveat...if we don't act fast and we don't do the right things, we will miss big. Well how hard can that be? What are the right things? Well, according to a range of speakers from Yahoo! to Time Inc. to various Advertising agencies and client organizations such as Unilever and Kodak, the right things are as follows: don't be in digital denial, deliver engagement, empathy, enthusiasm, energy, enriching experiences, engaging experiences, immersive experiences, personalized experiences, educate, evangelize, execute, build trust, act with integrity, deliver ROI, create new organizational structures, hire and cultivate better talent, have purpose, be fearless, persuade, influence, perform, leverage technology, forge partnerships and gasp - do it all NOW before it's too late!
Quite a list. And quite a challenge. So the big question then becomes...how do we get all of this done?
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Quite a list. And quite a challenge. So the big question then becomes...how do we get all of this done?
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Oxfam Raises $3,500 Total For Chile, 1/8th Of 1 Percent Of Haiti Donations
According to USA Today, Oxfam America has raised a total of $3,499 for relief in Chile since an 8.8 earthquake hit the South American country on Saturday morning. Compare that to the $2.9 million raised in the same time period following January's earthquake in Haiti. That's less than one-eighth of one percent.
While the Haitian earthquake undoubtedly caused more damage and inspired a humanitarian crisis that captivated people around the world, Chile will need far more aid to rebuild and provide resources for many of its poorest citizens. If you leave out the huge disparity in casualties, the two disasters are more similar than they would initially appear. Two million are now homeless in Chile as a result of Saturday's earthquake. Though the numbers are estimates, this figure is greater than the estimated 1.2 million Haitians left homeless after their own quake.
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While the Haitian earthquake undoubtedly caused more damage and inspired a humanitarian crisis that captivated people around the world, Chile will need far more aid to rebuild and provide resources for many of its poorest citizens. If you leave out the huge disparity in casualties, the two disasters are more similar than they would initially appear. Two million are now homeless in Chile as a result of Saturday's earthquake. Though the numbers are estimates, this figure is greater than the estimated 1.2 million Haitians left homeless after their own quake.
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March 2, 2010
Will Global Natural Disasters Compound Global Financial Disasters?
Every enduring agrarian society learned to store surplus harvests for infertile times. Conversely, during the last global credit bubble, most countries followed an unwise philosophy of simply spending more.
As the global economy has somewhat stabilized for the moment, the global environment has not. Recent large-scale tragedies include earthquakes and tsunamis in Haiti, Chile, China/Russia/North Korea, Hawaii, and Japan. All of these damaged regions require aid from those more fortunate.
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As the global economy has somewhat stabilized for the moment, the global environment has not. Recent large-scale tragedies include earthquakes and tsunamis in Haiti, Chile, China/Russia/North Korea, Hawaii, and Japan. All of these damaged regions require aid from those more fortunate.
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