January 20, 2010
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The Most Direct Way to Help Haïti
I’m just posting this letter, with the additional comment that Fonkoze is an incredible organization, run with just a handful of people Stateside, and hundreds of staff in Haïti, so that any dollar you donate for their efforts goes where it’s needed most. They are far more effective than most other aid organizations, who spend up to 85% on overhead.
January 19, 2010
Dear Friend,
All of us at Fonkoze USA appreciate all the prayers, phone calls, emails, and especially donations that we have received in response to the major and tragic earthquake that ravaged Haiti just a week ago today. We have been in touch on a daily basis with Fonkoze’s leadership in Haiti which is now working feverishly to design a strategy to respond to this unprecedented natural disaster.We update our website at least daily. So, please continue to visit the website at www.fonkoze.org for the latest information about the situation on the ground with Fonkoze and to contribute to the “Relief and Rehabilitation Fund.”
Donations are urgently needed. The courageous staff of Fonkoze are ready to move forward with a major relief effort followed by an aggressive rehabilitation program. The staff themselves have, however, been significantly impacted. Fonkoze leadership met with some 50 staff members on Sunday, and half of them lost virtually everything they own. (At least three staff were killed in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake.) We are planning to give these impacted staff some immediate resources to stabilize their lives so they can focus on the clients. Another major funding need is for Fonkoze to establish an Emergency Operations Center and re-build branch structures in order to serve the branches and our clients throughout Haiti. The costs related to doing so are being calculated as we write this update and appeal.
The ultimate priority is to serve our borrowers and clients by helping them re-establish their homes and families and their businesses. This will take time and will build on the successful client rehabilitation efforts following natural disasters earlier this decade.
To date, we have received a little over $80,000. While we don’t have a good grasp of our overall financial needs as yet, we anticipate that we will need more than $1 million dollars in the next few weeks in order to meet the needs of Fonkoze’s clients and staff.
Please make a donation now to our “Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Fund”. Please do it today by mailing a check to Fonkoze USA, 50 F St., NW, Suite 810, Washington, DC 20001, or make a donation online at: www.fonkoze.org.
We also encourage you to continue keeping up with Fonkoze’s progress on the web site. There is new updated information on sending money to Haiti, the status of some of our personnel, the status of branches, and other information.
Please continue to PRAY, PHONE, PARTNER, and PITCH-IN FOR HAITI.
Sincerely,
Alex Counts, Chair, Fonkoze USAJohn Mercier, President, Fonkoze USA
Comments (5)
Lets join in One Mind.
God blessed the good deed.
The best way to help is stop sending money. what they need is leadership. 3 million people fleeing from the island while a hoard of foreigners are pouring into the country. people of haiti need to have order.
@supsoo - You have a point, but I would just mention that Fonkoze has been very successful on that level as well, as a grassroots organization. Quiet, and in the shadows of the bigger environment, but highly effective.Your argument comes across a little bit as letting a drowning victim drown first, so as to simplify the rescue. I could not fault the logic, but I would still suggest that at this moment it is time to do both, according to one’s ability, both on the level of practical assistance, and anything you can do for the long term future. Everyone according to their means and their ability, of course, but I assure you, that an organization such as Fonkoze is tremendously effective at organizing people at the grassroots level.
@RogierFvV - i don’t think you can equate them to a person who is drowning. more like a person in a sinking boat. by giving them a means they can save themselves from the situation. but at this moment we are just mending the hole. when worms are eating at the hull. i’m all for aiding them. i just don’t want to be their welfare provider.