I just received an email from a friend of a friend (Emily) that I would love to share with you. Emily worked for the Peace Corps for three years in the Dominican Republic and has friends still working there. She has been in touch with them and, as we can all tell from the heartbreaking news coverage, the situation is dire. Emily shared the names of four solid organizations that are on the ground and ready to immediately put donations to work. Here is the information she sent.

Haiti Reborn: An NGO with representatives in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. Emily said donations to their organization will reach locals quickly. Donations to help earthquake relief efforts can be placed at http://www.quixote.org/earthquake. You can visit their website http://www.quixote.org for regular reports and updates.

Doctors Without Borders: Another organization already in Haiti and working directly with victims of the earthquake. Visit http://doctorswithoutborders.org for information and donations.

Partners in Health: Based in Boston, Partners in Health (PIH) have been working in Haiti for many years to establish rural health clinics to address HIV/AIDS and TB as well as other issues plaguing the country. PIH staff in Boston and Haiti are working to collect as much information as possible about the conditions on the ground, the relief efforts taking shape, and all relevant logistics issues in order to respond efficiently and effectively to the most urgent needs in the field. At the moment, PIH’s Chief Medical Officer is on her way to Haiti, where she will meet with the leadership and head physicians for Zanmi Lasante, PIH’s partner organization in Haiti,  who are already working to ensure PIH’s coordinated relief efforts are leveraging the skills of more than 120 doctors and nearly 500 nurses and nursing assistants who work at Zanmi Lasante’s sites. Visit http://www.pih.org for more information.

Yéle Haiti: Wyclef Jean’s organization. Emily said that this organization does fantastic work in general – she had a chance to work with them when she was in the Peace Corps. They have many directly-linked projects to community groups in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. There are two ways to donate to Yéle Haiti: you can send the text message “YELE” to 501501 to donate $5 (this will appear on your phone bill) or you can visit the website http://www.yele.org

I am not affiliated with any of these organizations and have not worked with any of them. Please feel free to do your own research and then help how you see fit.

Love and prayers to all the people of Haiti and their loved ones.