Hi again, Everyone:
A couple people have asked me about which particular organizations to donate to for the Tsunami relief effort. I have a couple of strong feelings and a warning. But first the warning.
There have been reports of lots of new web sites and organizations popping up and claiming to help out in the relief effort. Many of these are reported to
be scams, and that none of the money you donate to them will actually make it to the needy. So I encourage you to be weary of any organization that you might not have heard about before. Instead, we suggest that you direct your donations to:
Red Cross at www.redcross.org (for emergency relief)
UNICEF at www.unicef.org (for longer term relief, such as building schools, health clinics, and orphanages - services that will help the affected children)
One important thing to be on your guard for is the increasing number of adoption agencies. The governments in the affected countries all have very strict adoption policies, and some governments have even TIGHTENED the restrictions on adoptions since the Tsunami. You should probably stay far away from any organization claiming to provide "emergency" adoption services. Legitimate adoptions take anywhere from several months to a few years, from what I understand, to match children with families, and they will require the host families to travel to the child's country to register and be interviewed.
And finally, I just wanted to share my opinion about certain faith-based relief agencies. While any agency that provides help in a time of need is a blessing, there are certain agencies that make their relief contingent on the recipients learning about, or converting to, the religion of the donor organization. Whether you want to donate to such organizations is up to you, but you should at least be aware of how some of their practices affect the people they try to help.
If you are in any doubt but want to help, I would suggest donating to a non-faith-based organization.
Thanks again and see you again soon,
Ms. Jay
|
