The Salvation Army will be there, only you won’t hear about it because it won’t run commercials to get more donations it can hold on to for years beyond the incident.
It doesn’t pay it’s staff deep into the six figures either.
This is not breaking news.
Perhaps AIT could make suggestions...or ping those that can.
Glad to see you are safe and sound, AIT. Have been checking on you this week via user search.
http://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/j/anzen/jishin_message.html
The Red Cross is probably the best shot and is the first thing on the list. They need help in large quantities immediately and from what I read, aid has been slow in getting organized.
Caritas information was posted yesterday, with a story about how the church is mobilizing relief in the Sendai area
http://www.caritas.org/activities/emergencies/MassiveEarthquakeHitJapan.html
Catholic Relief Service is another good charity, very low overhead, most of the donations go to the field
Religion is not used as a criteria of offering aid
The Japanese Red Cross (as opposed to International Red Cross) mighty also be a good one to check out
They all need cash money to buy and transport supplies locally as they can, donating goods is a huge problem with shipment
costs and disruptions
Look into Samaritan’s Purse. They are boots on the ground in Japan delivering aid and taking donations for it.
Excuse me for being blunt.
Send as much aid to Japan as they did during Katrina. Meanwhile take your money and employ an American. Have him or her paint your home, or build your car or grow your food. Charity begins at home.
The Japanese government has a bunch of US bonds they can sell to fund their own rebuilding, and since they’ll have $ they can buy stuff from us for a change. Like rice. And wood products to build homes. And so on.
日本 ピング (kono risuto ni hairitai ka detai wo shirasete kudasai : let me know if you want on or off this list)
Samaritan’s Purseshalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
here’s the BEST choice. The first ones on the ground and 100% goes to the relief effort...0% to admin.
https://secure3.convio.net/ldsp/site/Donation2?df_id=1280&1280.donation=form1&s_src=15205&JServSessionIdr004=3241vappn8.app333a
Japan is a very rich country and prints money like we do. Plus, they can always sell US Tresury Bonds which was a fear, but Geithner has assured us they will not do:
“Japan is a very rich country and has a high savings rate and has the capacity to deal not just with the humanitarian challenge but also the reconstruction challenge [have already begun] they face ahead.”
If really interested: Organizations like the Red Cross or Save the Children will find themselves with important and useful roles to play in Japan. They determine what roles to play all over the world.
And you may want to stay updated through the MIT info then a panic causing media which plays into the hands of scam artists worldwide.
Updates to catch up MIT NSE
The Rev. Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse.
I have read through this thread and several previous threads for the various disasters (Haiti, Katrina, Chile, Japan, etc.)
The Salvation Army always seems to get high marks, but The Red Cross doesn’t.
I have made donations to the SA. The one thing I do appreciate is not later being flooded with expensive want-more mailings. SA has an opt-out checkbox on their website.
Once I donated to a seemingly small military service related fund. I got inundated with expensive mailings. It took three requests to finally get off their list.
Salvation Army is my first choice.
Having personal experience as a Red Cross Volunteer, I would never, never, NEVER give them a penny.
Ever
SA gets my seal of approval. I’m familiar with most if not all big charity organizations and SA is consistently excellent.
I’m sending my public high school’s donation to the “Samaritan’s Purse,” Billy Graham’s charity, that way it goes through local churches and hopefully some people get saved.
When your house’s wiped away, but you have Jesus, you don’t need the house.