Charity Navigator (www.charitynavigator.org/
) is a site that rates American charities. They have tips and ratings of many charities that are providing tsunami aid.
I found this site helpful when my husband and I were looking for the best charity for our donation in the days immediately after the earthquake and tsunami.
If you are looking for ideas, the guy from Save the Children was on the Today show this morning talking about how they are one of the established groups for people to donate to and that their cause hits closer to home for children. It sounds like they are wanting people to do their adopt a child program but they will send you info on what your money has done even if it is just a one time donation. You can get more info on their website or the one for the Today show if you are interested.
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris
We did a coin drive in January one year for our playground. I wasn't expecting much after the holidays and we are a small income school. We raised $1200! Right after 9/11 our principal challenged everyone to bring in $1.00 which went to the ARC. I can't remember how much that raised but it was more than the challenge. We have done fundraisers that allows students to wear a hat for a dollar. I think that monetary donations are what is needed at this point.
I think the website is called usafreedom.gov, it has a list of sites that are credible if you are not going to use the American Red Cross. I got that info from Fox News.
Our PTO along with our school's principal has sent out a flyer for donations to the American Red Cross' Tsunami Relief Fund. We asked that all checks be made payable to the Red Cross. If any children send in cash or coins, we will get a bank check for that amount. This saves any funds being moved through the PTO account while providing a way for the kids (and parents) to be able to help in the relief effort.
Our PTO President sent the flyer out to all the other PTO/PTA groups in our town and a number of them are joining in as well.
We did this type of collection a few years ago after the earthquake in Gujurat, India since we have a large ethnic Indian population in our area and got a tremendous response from our families.
Today we instituted a coin drive at our elementary school for the Tsunami Crisis. We are going to run it for about a week and then donate all the money to one of the major charities that are collecting relief money.
We could not think of anything other to do with the kids other then a coin drive and it is fine and I am sure we will raise a decent amount of money. I am just curious if anyone is doing anything more creative then a coin drive?
