Everyone is emotionally touched by the news and images coming out of Haiti. We want to do something besides just sitting. But God has called us to be good stewards in all we do. It is hard to keep our emotions out of our finances in cases like this but let me put it this way:

Wanting to help the people of Haiti: GOOD

Being swindled while doing so: BAD

I was flipping through the twitter hashtag #Haiti last night and I was really surprised at the amount of tweets that were re-tweeted multiple times for people to text such and such to such and such to donate such and such amount of money. There were no links to verify who these texts were going to or anything. I'm not saying any or all of these text numbers were bad but how can we know if we aren't provided a way to check out their legitimacy?

I'm a Christian. I know my denomination (Southern Baptist Convention) does great work with disaster relief. I would rather donate through them because I know where my money is going.

Most denominational charities are better to give to for disaster relief efforts because more of the money goes toward the actual effort instead of overhead costs. I know NC Baptist Men are already coordinating efforts for our area to help. All of the people who go will pay their own way and are volunteers so there isn't much overhead costs in efforts like this. As nationally recognized and great of an organization as it might be, the Red Cross has lots of overhead. They are your best bet for donating blood at your local blood bank. They might not, however, be your best choice IF you want the highest percent of your dollar amount donated to go specifically to a relief effort. I have nothing against the Red Cross. They do great work! Please don't send me hate mail because you think I'm insulting them... I'm NOT! I just choose to give money elsewhere in times like this. You might consider giving elsewhere as well.

The following is a list that I've put together after checking out Christian denominational related websites. I will try to update this post as I get more information.

Also, you can check out specific charity organizations with the Better Business Bureau before donating: http://www.bbb.org/us/charity/

Denomination Specific Relief Organizations:

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief: https://www.kintera.org/site/c.9qKILUOzEpH/b.238330/k.942/Disaster_Relief_Fund/apps/ka/sd/donor.asp?c=9qKILUOzEpH&b=238330&en=lqKMLONAKiIIIPOzEfJHIWNELjKZL1NAJfJKLVMxFbIQL6PQH

Reform Church of America: http://www.rca.org/Page.aspx?pid=2225

Catholic Relief Services: https://secure.crs.org/site/Donation2?df_id=3181&3181.donation=form1

North America Baptists: http://www.nabconference.org/pages.asp?pageid=737

Episcopal Relief And Development: http://www.er-d.org/index.php

United Methodist Church: http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=2433457&ct=7800627

Evangelical Lutheran Church: http://www.elca.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Responding-to-the-World/Disaster-Response.aspx

Baptist Haiti Mission: http://www.bhm.org/bhm/index.php

Christian Relief Organizations not related to specific denominations:

Samaritan's Purse (Franklin Graham ministry): http://www.samaritanspurse.org/

Salvation Army: http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/www_sa.nsf

World Vision: http://www.worldvision.org/home.nsf/pages/home.htm?Open

***Edited to add the following organizations:***

Bright Hope: http://www.brighthope.org/

Compassion International: https://www.compassion.com/contribution/giving/disasterrelief.htm?referer=105910

If you know of a specific Christian organization that I can add to this list, please send me an email at salmander_son@yahoo.com

In Christ,

Sallie