#Best charities to donate to haiti how to#

So we invested in other housing solutions-like rental subsidies, home repair, and home expansion to increase the country’s rental stock. When land upon which to build was not readily available in places accessible to services and livelihoods, the Red Cross made it a priority to help move the most people possible out of camps. Like others, we had hoped to find land to construct new permanent homes. Haiti has been one of most challenging and complex disaster responses ever, and this has required flexibility from humanitarian organizations like the Red Cross. So the Red Cross has spent the past 10 years investing in Haiti’s medical capacity, water systems, infrastructure, economic sustainability, disaster preparedness, and availability of safe housing. We know from experience that families affected by a disaster as devastating as the Haiti earthquake need more to help them recover than the lifesaving supplies delivered in the immediate aftermath. See more about our work in that first critical year.

#Best charities to donate to haiti how to#

Less than ten months after the earthquake struck, a severe cholera outbreak occurred-and the Red Cross helped save lives again by distributing soap and water purification tablets, educating people about how to prevent and treat cholera, and providing 70 percent of the funds needed for the country’s first cholera vaccine. In the first six months, the American Red Cross spent $148.5 million of these donations to help keep people alive by providing food, water, medical care, emergency shelter, cash grants, and other essentials to people in need. Only nine cents was spent on overall management, general and fundraising. The money was placed in a restricted account and 91 cents of every dollar donated for the earthquake was invested in programs to help the people of Haiti. Gifts to American Red Cross’s work in Haiti totaled close to $490 million. Children took up collections, customers gave at the cash register, corporations made contributions, and people donated by text message. It didn’t take long for the island’s heart-wrenching images to reach America’s shores, where people opened their hearts and donated generously to help save lives. The challenges were immense: damaged ports and runways created barriers to bringing lifesaving supplies to Haiti, rubble-filled streets made it nearly impossible to deliver relief items to cut-off neighborhoods, and 25 percent of the country’s civil servants were killed-leaving the Government of Haiti critically limited in its ability to respond. Infrastructure was destroyed, schools collapsed, and the country’s medical capacity was badly broken. More than 200,000 lives were lost and 1.5 million people became homeless. When a massive earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010, it devastated families and communities.