Is The Donation Reaching The People?what We Are Giving For Haiti Relief? People are dieing due to hunger?Where is the Money Going?

[satish_gsk 0]

We are donating money for the Haiti Relief...............Is the money reaching the people over there who are living? If yes then why are the people ready to kill each other for the FOOD??Is Donation a Good cause??I think this topic must be taken forward and we can have a good debate on it.........

[evilsmiley25 0]

Of course donation is good...why would it not be?They can't afford to feed EVERYONE, it depends on how much donations they collect

[Zagubadu? 0]

Yes unfortunately there are not enough donations to feed everyone thats been hurt by the tragic event. Really things have already gotten that bad? We really need more people donating. There is a chance to donate at every lunch at my school right now. Lots of kids don't do it. I'm going to admit that I don't do it either. I don't get a lot of lunch money so I think its normal. Other kids spending loads of money on junk food and other stuff they don't need they should be the ones donating.

[sheepdog 10]

That is an excellent question. And I'm sure that most of the donations are actually going to what they are supposed to be used for. However, in every event like this there are going to be con artists who will take advantage of the kind hearted people who want to help. In the case of Haiti, one big rip off has already been nipped in the bud. The Humane Society of the United States was solisiting for funds for Haiti dogs when it was pointed out to them that there were no dogs in Haiti that needed rescued, they had already been eaten by starving Haitians. Have to wonder how many $$$ they conned people out of before they got caught though.

[Quatrux 4]

I always also wonder do all those donations get to the people needing it? I know some money goes to expense to some services through which the money comes from, but usually when I donate through SMS or a call, I always wonder where will that money go..I saw some shows how some people cheat to get that money, even when we donate locally, to those food stocks which needs to go to poor people, sometimes that food goes to quite average people, for example, the people who work there, gives away it to their friends and etc.Donations which comes from west to east, usually better things are also divided to friends and worst stuff goes to other people and etc. So I guess there will always be cheating if possible, it depends on the people who works there and maybe even on the country and control how those donations work.

[anwiii 17]

oh. i have no doubt money is getting sent over there. the question is HOW MUCH since it does cost money to run a non profit corporation and the board can set salaries pretty high in some circumstances.personally, i feel bad that i couldn't help. i have very limited funds. i went through the northridge earthquake when i lived in northridge at the time. fema came in to help. i remember driving and taking pictures of all the rubble, broken bridges, and even a train wreck(not a passenger train). stores were selling watter for 10 dollars a gallon, the grocery stores were empty, and the one fast food place that actually stayed open(in and out) had a line 2 miles long. inside houses, there was debri up to our knees. it took about a week before things started getting back to normal and for the most part, most of us didn't lose our homes. i cannot imagine what haiti has gone through and i really hope the charities and people aren't being taken advantage of. more importantly, i hope haiti isn't being taken advantage of during a time of crises.but yea, i feel for them. they need some HELP! i am just sorry i couldn't contribute financially.

[princeofvegas 0]

This is a topic that I am glad that someone has finally started! This is an issue that needs to be addressed, especially by Americans. I know that by now all of you are seeing the commercials several times a day with Michelle Obama asking for the $10 donations. That commercial has been running on every channel since this tragedy happened. And yes it is a tragedy. However there are some points that I would like to bring up.Do any of you remember what happened when the tsunami hit Indonesia? Just as many people lost their lives, however it was out of the news in a matter of weeks and almost no one remembers that it ever happened. This was just as tragic and not given as much international attention. Where was their $10 donation from everyone in America? Ohh wait.. thats right.. our finances were tied up saving the banking system that failed anyways and fighting the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.Now what about hurricane Katrina? Does anyone even remember when an entire major "United States" (and yes even though I am proud to be an American I use the term loosely) city was displaced. What happened to their financial AID? What about the people on our own soil who need help? There are still people living in FEMA trailers from hurricane Katrina.Does anyone even know how much money the Red Cross has officially raised from their texting campaign? Why have they been so elusive to release these numbers to the public. Do you realize that we would only need 100,000 people to donate $10 for them to reach a even a million dollars. I am sure that they are well over that because I personally know at least 10 friends who have donated $10 and I am just one of millions. If you ask me, giving $10 to Haiti is just a cop out for people to feel better about themselves that they are helping someone in need. Dont get me wrong, the people in Haiti are in need, however we have our own domestic issues and homelessness that we need to address before we start delving into these international affairs.

[anwiii 17]

yea, let's think about ourselves first. that is just plain SELFISH! yea, we need to think about ourselves, and we DO. thank god we think about other people too. the $10 is not coming from our government, but for people who care. it's not any cop out. giving is giving no matter how you give....wether directly or indirectly. i am sure the same people who cared about the tsunami and what happened in haiti cared about the devestation on our southern coast.

so exactly what issue needs addressing? that we need to take care of our own country and let other countries worry about their own selves? well, countries are made up of people. just because people live in other countries don't make them different from you or i because we live in the united states.

i think it's ridiculous how people think sometimes. right now we aren't going through anything life threatening. the homeless? they congregate in the big cities because that's where the free shelters and food are. they are fine. the ones who aren't are too drunk or drugged up to know any better. we have programs for the homeless but the homeless will have to want to enter those programs. i used to volunteer to help them so i know all the programs out there that are readily available.

bottom line is that our country is doing fine. better than most and i am PROUD to hear all the donations coming in to help support a life crises in another country. that's what MAKES ME PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN.

This is a topic that I am glad that someone has finally started! This is an issue that needs to be addressed, especially by Americans. I know that by now all of you are seeing the commercials several times a day with Michelle Obama asking for the $10 donations. That commercial has been running on every channel since this tragedy happened. And yes it is a tragedy. However there are some points that I would like to bring up.
Do any of you remember what happened when the tsunami hit Indonesia? Just as many people lost their lives, however it was out of the news in a matter of weeks and almost no one remembers that it ever happened. This was just as tragic and not given as much international attention. Where was their $10 donation from everyone in America? Ohh wait.. thats right.. our finances were tied up saving the banking system that failed anyways and fighting the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now what about hurricane Katrina? Does anyone even remember when an entire major "United States" (and yes even though I am proud to be an American I use the term loosely) city was displaced. What happened to their financial AID? What about the people on our own soil who need help? There are still people living in FEMA trailers from hurricane Katrina.

Does anyone even know how much money the Red Cross has officially raised from their texting campaign? Why have they been so elusive to release these numbers to the public. Do you realize that we would only need 100,000 people to donate $10 for them to reach a even a million dollars. I am sure that they are well over that because I personally know at least 10 friends who have donated $10 and I am just one of millions. If you ask me, giving $10 to Haiti is just a cop out for people to feel better about themselves that they are helping someone in need. Dont get me wrong, the people in Haiti are in need, however we have our own domestic issues and homelessness that we need to address before we start delving into these international affairs.

[mahesh2k 0]

Many times it is hard to find out that the donation reaches to people or not. In my country, pick any religious charity and donate and poof money will never reach to where it is supposed to reach. So i avoid those charities as much as i can. I see if i can make direct donation or help. There are many ways to do that if we are close to such people. Other than that, many celebs have spent their money on haiti, so we can expect money is reaching to the place where it is supposed to be. Still i'm skeptical as well about the haiti donation and similar donations.

[longtimeago 0]

I heared that there are some phishing scams going on on these Haiti donations . Example just imagine you get a email stating please donate to Haiti , and you are such a kind hearted person and you just follow that link and you make a donation. Unfortunately you might be in a fake web page giving your credit card information thinking that you are in a legal donation website .There is a sad thing over here , these crazy hackers not only flick your information, they will also do the same donation which you intended to do to Haiti so that in your credit card statement it reads fine. Later on , on some fine day they will take your information and sell it off . Beware !

[salamangkero 0]

I think this is a very touchy issue and there are bound to be a lot of sentiments regarding how people approach this. For one, allow me to clarify that I do sincerely believe that there are those of us who sincerely want to help and, no matter if their methodology is either sound or foolish, they have done whatever they did with the best of intentions. So much for the good part.

For some, if not most, I dare suppose, Haiti is a very convenient feel-good mechanism. Oh, a lot may not acknowledge harboring such negative thoughts and, probably, few would even realize what they are doing. There are those who, consciously or otherwise, donate to Haiti relief efforts in order to feel good (or, heaven help us, smug) about themselves. There would be bragging veiled under "sad" conversations in hushed tones about Haiti's plight: "I mean, I saw those starving people there and it just broke my heart. I mean, girl, I've donated my clothes and <insert a sizeable amount here> <insert currency here> but it still doesn't seem enough. Oh, those poor, poor people." Clearly not an example of subtlety, that, but a rather realistic example of human nature.

Far worse, some could be exploiting Haiti. I personally cannot bear witness to any actual exploitation but allow me to tell you a little about my home country.

On September 25, we were visited by a rather moderate typhoon. There was not much respectable wind as we usually get during the stormy season. However, it did bring us the worst rainfall ever recorded by our weather agency, dumping immense amounts of rainfall over our mainland. Areas that were not at all flood-prone submerged, main thoroughfares were rendered impassable and thousands were stranded on offices, malls and other commercial establishments. Worse, thousands more were stranded right in their very homes as rapidly rising waters forced people to their rooftops. These are no shanties we are talking about here (a lot of them have been swept away by swelling rivers or sheer floodwater), no, these are concrete two-story houses of middle-class to high-class people. It has been said that damage has been suffered by everyone from all walks of life.

Enter the aftermath. There was an outpour of support from people, also from all walks of life. Celebrities reached out to the peons, the masses helped rescue TV stars stranded on their rooftops. There suddenly was a lot of food to go around, curiously including some food in styrofoam packages, bearing a small political logo and a short note: "A little help from Senator XXX" A quick look at several plastic bags of relief goods turned up a rather familiar name. Unofficially, the campaign period for the 2010 presidential elections has begun. Worse, there turned up some shirts that had the words, "Where I'm from, everybody is a hero," proudly emblazoned across the chest.

Generally speaking, not just for the Haiti earthquake but for a lot of tragic disasters, people usually extend a helping hand. A few of these hands bear food, clothing, basic needs, money or any assistance its owner can provide. Some of these hands are coated in honey; the moment one poor soul brushes against it, it swiftly grabs a sticky hold on its victim's arm all while its owner hollers, "Behold! I AM HELPING PEOPLE!" A substantial part of these hands were forced to give by other hands. I mean, everyone's giving, it is only right that I should give too, right?

WRONG! As negative as it sounds, I'm going to have to agree (a bit, but not entirely) with princeofvegas. Think of your own! Put yourself first! Can you really afford to give? More importantly, do you really want to give? Oh, sure, go ahead and put on a front in the name of "ethics" or "what's right"... in the end, what it all boils down to is not how many people you have saved but whether you can live with the convenient lie you keep telling yourself. So what if your friends are giving? Do not sully the name of charity by simply treating it as a fad. Pragmatists will disagree with me, explaining how, in times of need, it matters not where help comes from, so long as there is help. I say, nay! We have evolved and risen above animals because of our intelligence but also, of equal importance, because of kindness. It is our ability to care for another being, regardless whether it is from our bloodline or not, that we are able, as a species, to protect each other and mature into who we are now. Where kindness disappears, we degenerate into nothing more than machines, following a set of social rules against our will.

Will giving deprive you of anything? Will it reduce your financial capability as a person? Will it put you in a situation not too far from those you are rescuing? If so, don't give! What use is it to rescue one man from poverty if it reduces another into begging? How different is it from the relationship between predator and prey where one dies so that the other may live? Leave charity to those who are actually able to part with their resources. Martyrdom is only for those who are either stupid or have a strong faith in their principles. I personally know a lot of stupid people but I don't know too many principled ones; most of their profound, astounding and charitable philosophies unhesitatingly wilt at the mere thought of their credit card companies.

Remember that even before the earthquake, Haiti is in a terrible, impoverished condition. To answer the original question, I sincerely doubt ALL of the relief efforts actually reach Haiti, given its corrupted state.

Forgive me this impudent analogy, but I am seeing a street urchin, eating from dumpsters and, generally, ignored by everyone. On an otherwise ordinary day, he stubs his toe and, all of a sudden, everyone is all over him, throwing him their money. "Oh dear, help the poor kid!" they say. "Give! Give! Give! It is only right to give," blared the media. "He needs medical assistance!" cry the doctors. "His toe needs immediate treatment... eh? Pneumonia, you say? I'll get right on it as soon as I fix this toe right!"

Hypocrites.

I admit, I did nothing for Haiti. I have my own reasons, which I will not bother explaining. After all, I do not think I have done anything wrong that will require any sort of justification from me. No, I'm not poor (I'm not rich either) and I have a steady job. I play bowling or badminton every week. I also sleep soundly at night.

Don't get me wrong. I bear no hatred towards Haiti and, personally, I will not wish any such devastating earthquake upon anyone. I am just not inclined to help them.

[webishqiptar 0]

I thinks it is a moral duty to rich people to donate money for this poor and homeless Haiti people. I think that all of us can make a difference only by donating small amounts, but that help too. Governments and big companies like(google donation was open in their main page at the day of the disaster happening) those get millions of dollar profits can really help those people. You may not know if the money you send will really arrive at the destination. I can believe that in this world there those kind of people who make money from other disasters.