Haitian Relief: What NOT To Do

It's simple: Put down the guitars and pull out the credit cards instead.

By Fred Mills

First things first: here's what you CAN do, just in case you don't feel like wading through the op-ed portion of this news item (which I've conveniently included below, following the break). These are reputable, professional organizations with extensive experience in planning and mobilizing humanitarian aid and you can feel secure in donating to them:

The Red Cross

Go to the official site to donate and meanwhile follow them on Twitter for updates on disaster relief progress along with details on their current fundraising. You may have heard that can you make direct $10 donations via your telephone by simply texting haiti to 90999 -  you'll get a reply text telling you to confirm by replying YES, and then there will be a subsequent thank-you confirmation. What's very cool about this is that no fees will be diverted to your cellphone carrier, and to date they've raised about $5 million; this has proven an immensely popular and easy method, needless to say.  It also appears that MasterCard (and hopefully other credit card companies) are waiving their usual transaction processing fees for donations to Haitian Aid Efforts.

AmeriCares

At their official site they indicate they've amassed about $3 million worth of medical aid and have already deployed about $2 million worth of supplies from their Amsterdam warehouse.

Oxfam International

Oxfam International is a confederation of 14 like-minded organizations working together and with partners and allies around the world to bring about lasting change by working directly with the impoverished and victims of injustice, and part of their efforts involve responding to emergencies such as this.

Partners In Health

This is the group that, as we reported yesterday, the Arcade Fire is familiar with and is urging people to send in their donations. According to the Fire's Win Butler, "Partners in Health's clinics are in situated the surrounding areas and haven't been damaged, they are mobilizing their resources towards the capital, setting-up field hospitals to treat the injured on the ground. Also, Paul Farmer (the founder of PIH) is at the UN and has access to the best information on where to direct the money."

UNICEF

The United Nations Children's Fund is one of the longest-running advocacy and relief organization for impoverished kids around the entire globe. According to UNICEF, "Expert estimates suggest that 46 per cent of Haiti's nearly 10 million people are under 18 years of age," so that should tell you something important right there.

Doctors Without Borders

This is an international medical humanitarian group and they've been on the ground from the outset in Haiti, dealing with the massive surgical needs of the earthquake's aftermath. While one might think what the organization needs right now is more doctors, there's a note on their website indicating they aren't equipped to immediately send new volunteers to the country as their thing is to respond swiftly using their immediate, existing pool of medical workers. So obviously what they need from us are donations.

The bottom line is, you can choose one or more of these or any designated organization of your choice, but the important thing is to donate, and now. Click on the links above to access their websites. On to the op-ed...

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Yesterday I was talking to a couple of musician friends about the Haiti earthquake and one of them said, "We should put together a benefit concert. What do you think?"

No, I replied. Instead, just make a direct donation.

Whenever there's a natural (or even man-inflicted) disaster that calls for humanitarian efforts, the music community instinctively tends to respond, as it has been responding ever since George Harrison organized the concert for Bangladesh, through the Band Aid/Live Aid era, and as recently as 9/11 and Katrina. Benefit concerts, benefit recording projects, etc. are and in many cases should be the norm, and I've been involved in a number of them over the years. What's sometimes lost in the glow of good deed-doing, however, is the lack of immediacy these events and projects have unless they can be mounted on a fairly substantial scale - we're talking bringing in the U2s, the Springsteens, the McCartneys, the larger than life personalities who can get the general public caught up in the spirit of giving.

Today it was announced that George Clooney is getting a telethon together to air on MTV networks, and of course he's got the kind of star wattage that can make a difference. Other celebrities are using their influence to also make a difference.

Most of us are not celebrities however, and while fundraisers on a local level are appropriate precisely on that count, e.g. a tragedy or an issue that has to be addressed locally, by all means, musicians, promoters, clubs, journalists, etc. should get involved. But when there's something like what's happened in Haiti, a local benefit concert can't possibly address the immediate needs in any meaningful way, other than to make the participants feel good about themselves and possibly spur others into more extensive action. In this instance, "think global/act local" isn't sufficient - the scale is just too immense.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not blind to the fact that if it were possible to coordinate hundreds or thousands of local benefits specifically for Haitian relief, a good deal of money might be raised. People tend to get "benefit fatigue," however, and such local efforts generally fall far short of being more than panacea-effective.

So in this situation, what charities such as the Red Cross, Oxfam International, Doctors Without Borders and Partners in Health really need IS. YOUR. DONATION. NOW.

That's right now. Not later, after door receipts from the fundraiser down at the local club are tallied. In fact, if every penny that would otherwise be used on printing, advertising, overhead, gasoline... hell, beer and booze and bar tips, too!... was simply diverted to an individual donation, you'd bring in tons more money for the relief effort.

Does a public show of compassion do any good? Of course it does. And consciousness raising is important too. But seriously, to all of you out there right now trying to think of what you can do, why not just keep things simple: open up your wallet, pull out a credit card or write a check directly to the pertinent relief agencies. Then call or email and otherwise browbeat your friends and neighbors into doing the same thing. Put links out on Twitter and on your Facebook pages. Make people feel guilty they haven't done something.

And obviously, there are local relief agencies getting involved, by all means donate to them whatever they are calling for - money, water, canned food, blankets - because they are professionals and they know how this kind of thing is done. But make a direct donation, and to do it NOW.

Again, none of this is to make musicians and the music community feel like they shouldn't get involved. But it all has to be taken into perspective in terms of what the priorities at hand are, and to be honest right now the people in Haiti don't need your guitars, your songs, your on-stage platitudes, your recording studio efforts, etc. They need food, water and medical care, and that's something only the professionals can do at the moment. Those professionals don't need the guitars ‘n' tunes either - they need your dough.