Japan Relief: Give a little…
Posted by Michelle Moquin on March 15th, 2011
Usually during a disaster such as the recent in Japan, many people look to donate money. Whether you are donating $10 or $10,000, it’s always good to check out the organization that you are donating to. The last thing you want is for your money to get into the wrong hands when you are looking to give it to those in need. And with all of the scammers out there, they salivate at the newest disaster where they can make a quick buck relying on the sympathy of others.
Here’s 3 things you should do before you donate:
Look Up the Charity
The BBB is one of many organizations that operates a charity research tool. Other sources of information about charities include Charity Navigator and GuideStar. The Huffington Post has information and website links for several reputable charities involved in quake relief.
Don’t Click on Email Links
Avoid clicking on any links in solicitations for money, even if they appear to come from an organization you know and trust. In most cases, email solicitations are scams. If you want to give to that or any other organization, locate their actual web address and type that in, or look for them on a search engine. But also be careful about search engine results. Again, don’t give to organizations that you don’t know or haven’t checked out, regardless of how legitimate they may appear to be.
Report Fraud
If you do get what appears to be a fraudulent solicitation, report it to the National Center for Disaster Fraud. You can also report to the Internet Crime Complaint Center and to the BBB.
I found this article on the Huff Po. A good read should you want to help by donating to a disaster relief organization in support of the people of Japan:
How To Help Japan: Earthquake Relief Options
On March 11, 2011, a huge 8.9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit Japan, causing widespread destruction.
President Obama has already released a statement sending “deepest condolences” and promising support to the stricken country.
“The United States stands ready to help the Japanese people in this time of great trial.”
Additionally, many organizations and funds have mobilized to provide relief to those affected by the disaster.
In response to the quake, The Red Cross has already launched efforts in Japan. VisitRedcross.org or text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 from your phone.
Save the Children has also responded. Eiichi Sadamatsu of the organization released a statement, saying:
“We are extremely concerned for the welfare of children and their families who have been affected by the disaster. We stand ready to meet the needs of children who are always the most vulnerable in a disaster.”
The organization is currently organizing efforts and donations to its Children’s Emergency Fundwill support outreach.
International Medical Corps is responding to the health needs of the disaster’s victims. Nancy Aossey, President & CEO, International Medical Corps said in a statement:
“We are putting together relief teams, as well as supplies, and are in contact with partners in Japan and other affected countries to assess needs and coordinate our activities.”
To donate or learn about other ways you can contribute to its medical response, visitInternationalmedicalcorps.org. Also, text MED to 80888 from any mobile phone to give $10.
The Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund was launched at GlobalGiving.org to garner funds that will be given to a variety of relief organizations helping victims of the earthquake. It has already raised over $100,000, particularly from concerned Twitter users around the world. The project page explains:
We are working with International Medical Corps, Save the Children, and other organizations on the ground to provide support. Our partners on the ground are working hard to provide immediate relief.
Salvation Army personnel are organizing efforts in Tokyo and will soon send a team to help the severely damaged city of Sendai, Japan. To contribute to earthquake relief, text ‘JAPAN’ or ‘QUAKE’ to 80888 to make a $10 donation or visit SalvationArmyUSA.org.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is sending two three-person teams to the Iwate and Miyagi prefectures in Japan. To learn more about the organization’s efforts or make a donation, visit Doctorswithoutborders.org.
Other relief organizations are also sending representatives to disaster sites, including AmeriCareand Shelterbox.
MercyCorps is gathering donations for its overseas partner, Peace Winds Japan, which currently has personnel on the ground distributing emergency relief in Japan.
Along with an appeal for monetary donations, Operation USA has also announced efforts to collect bulk corporate donations of health care supplies. If you are interested in donating bulk medical items, visit OpUSA.org.
On March 15, the International Fund for Animal Welfare will be deploying a team to assess needs regarding animal rescue. Dick Green, the organization’s emergency relief manager for disasters, wrote on IFAW’s blog:
“As we saw most recently in Haiti, major disasters require long-term planning and a concerted effort between NGO and governmental ranks to ensure that the greatest number of animals and humans benefit from the intervention.”
They are encouraging support through donations, which will be used to buy pet food, veterinary supplies, vaccines and other necessities for animals needing help.
For any who have loved ones abroad, Google has stepped up to help. Along with a tsunami alert posted on its front page, Google has launched the Person Finder: 2011 Japan Earthquake to help connect people that may have been displaced due to the disaster. Google has also launched a crisis response page filled with local resources and emergency information.
Judy Chang, head of PayPal’s nonprofit group, announced that transactional fees incurred by money transfers to US 501(c)(3) organizations (or charities registered with the Canada Revenue Agency) between March 11 and April 10 will aid relief efforts in Japan.
World Vision has announced global mobilization in response to tsunami warnings. Geoff Shepherd, the organization’s humanitarian and emergency affairs director for the Asia-Pacific region, released a statement on World Vision’s website, saying:
“We’ve also alerted our Global Rapid Response Team and have put team members on standby for possible deployment to affected areas. This could be a very serious disaster in multiple countries and our staff are prepared to respond.”
…….
Readers: Donate if you can. Like like I have said time and time again, if everyone one gave $5 or $10, it would make such a huge impact. But if you donate, don’t be scammed, do your due diligence before you donate. Thank you.
Peace & Love: “Live it, Give it”
& 
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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March 15th, 2011 at 7:11 am
I thought this was a find article to post from all of the past few days mayhem…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keli-goff/of-course-she-was-asking-_b_835782.html
March 15th, 2011 at 11:25 am
Hi Michelle:
I am so glad that you posted about phony charities. I had donated to the American Red Cross. Upon pulling up my bank balance it said I was charged by “Network For Good” for the amount.
I found out that they are the Red Cross, but for a while I had thought that I had been stung. There are so many opportunists out there. Nothing is beyond someone intent on taking your money.
Good warning for your readers.
Zen Lill:
We have been blog friends for a long time, I thought it best to stay out of yesterday’s mayhem. Are you OK?
Al
March 15th, 2011 at 4:49 pm
Al, I’m great, thank you for asking. – ZL
March 15th, 2011 at 9:01 pm
Michelle, My father was almost duped by one of those bastards you wrote about. I told him to read your blog. He did. So he saved his money and donated instead to a legitimate Red Cross charity.
But now he says “This is a great blog.” What have I started?
Nora
March 15th, 2011 at 10:16 pm
The republican party has received some set backs on their plans to steal the presidential election via the electronic vote at the polls. Some of the fixes have developed consciouses.
If they can buy off those consciouses, they will simply use the software to steal the vote. They know that there is no receipt for the voters choice so there will be no evidence of the theft.
However if they can not buy off or kill the consciouses, they intend to use the financial crises they have engineered and continue to keep in place to postpone the presidential primaries or give the nominating process to the party-run caucuses.
This will benefit the republican party by preventing the negative information about a candidate that surfaces while he is campaigning against his competitors. Information that the democratic party could use to educate the voters in the general election.
That will mean that the republican nominee will be able to lie about any position he finds expedient to get elected.There will be no exposure to the press when the candidate is picked from the republican party caucus.
The health, energy and corporate powers have picked Huck as their choice. They have each committed $150 million to his campaign. The campaign began Jan 02, 2011. Unless something unforeseen arises they are confident that He will be the next President of the USA.
Each industry has pledged to keep the pressure on the economy and to keep telling the people that they are forced to raise prices because of Obama’s policies.
They have infiltrated the Obama campaign machine with ringers who will begin June 12, 2012 causing embarrassing incidents for Obama.
Several generals in the military have committed to cause international problems by sending “off-the-shelf” covert teams into various nations to cause instabilities designed to show Obama is impotent in international situations.
A campaign to put the blame on the Bush Iraq war on one man has been enacted. This has proven necessary because many countries secretly have told Mrs. Clinton that if Bush sets foot in their country they intend to arrest him and put him on trial for war crimes because he bombed millions of innocent people without provocation.
They feel they can prove in Hague that he intended to attack Iraq knowing the country posed no threat to the USA. The republicans are livid that Obama won’t tell those nations the the US will consider it an act of war if they arrest a former sitting president of the US.
The Supreme Court is waiting for some key cases to over turn many of the benefits given to the middle class, women, and OTWs. This the republicans hope will signal to the whites that the country will be safely back in their hands after the next elections.
The Chinese have knowledge of the dirty politics and the schemes the republicans have planned because they have hacked into most of the critical computers of every major company, political party, and many of the military units in the US.
The Chinese know that the republicans have weakened the international inspection teams which police the US’s international borders to appease the corporations so much that they can make $billions exporting fake medicines to the US.
They are doing it by moving their contacts through south american countries and India. There profits have opened up many opportunities for small time operators to enter the market. The small time operators have added designer labels, guns, explosive devices and fake electrical supplies to their smuggled in horde.
It is literally the wild, wild west at our borders. The republicans have concentrated all the money and man power on illegal immigrants.
As a result so much money is being made in the drug and general smuggling trade that most of the cops in the US are on the payroll of foreign thugs.
They look the other way for pay or hire out as hit men or stoppers(they arrest the competitors of their employers). Hence when you see a big drug raid, it is merely the arrest of the competitor of their employer.
The cops get a commendation from their departments, and a raise from the drug cartels. A win win because in addition the american people feel safer while wondering why there is still so much smuggled drugs being sold in this country.
While we are on the subject of drugs. Do not buy drugs from companies that sell exclusively through the net. Most are dummy companies that invest most of their money in making the packaging look authentic.
The Coke family is working with a foreign government to bankrupt the US economy. One stands to make a killing selling the US dollar short. The other plans to make its currency the new Petro currency of exchange.
Hundreds of millions will die as a result. But the republican party mistakenly believes that they will be on top to share in the spoils in a world without borders with the super wealthy the new aristocracy.
I can tell you that we have no intentions of allowing the greedy bastards even a little bit of our wealth or power.
As for Japan, we are presently carving up their market shares as I speak. I find this reprehensible. But as I have always said if anyone should have all the money and power in the world, it should be me.
Absence the ability to corner that market, I will settle for being in with the thieves rather than being robbed by them.
If I thought that an effort on my part to gather support from the people could prevent the thieves from being successful, I would go to the people and try.
But history has taught that the majority of the American people support big corporate america over the average citizen and the wealthy over the middle class because they believe they will be able to join that elite class and lord it over their less fortunate brethren.
That being the case, I see no reason to remove the delusion of inclusion they hope for. It worked so well for Madeoff. Greed and insensitivity when planned and practiced by oneself is okay. But watching another do it is distasteful at best and reprehensible at worst.
The way I see it the greedy, insensitive bastards will get what they deserve. Perhaps they are getting better because I am in the mix. I say that because I am going you one better than Madeoff. I am telling you we are about to fleece you. I am telling you the scam line we will use to fleece you.
Now if you continue to accept that scam line and willingly give your money and power over to those who I have told you they are about to fleece you, then, don’t get angry with me for joining the winning team.
Why would I want to associate with you bunch of greedy want-to-be in my wealth class idiots? Just give me your money, already, and shut the f**k up.
Looking forward to making the wedding.
Form the notes of Anonz
March 16th, 2011 at 6:41 am
Dahna are you here?
After our conversation yesterday I think I may have figured out another piece to the puzzle.
If you are able to call me after 7 pm PST so we can discuss
March 20th, 2011 at 10:22 am
[...] being on the winning side”, tells me that you are probably part of the 30% that Robert and Anonz speak of, not the 30% that are blatant racist, but the 30% that have the tinge of conscious but [...]