As did so many across the globe Wednesday, I sat stunned in front of my computer, trying to take in the devastation wrought by the earthquake in Haiti Tuesday night. I tried to imagine the effect a disaster of such magnitude might have on people who live in a place where disaster-like conditions describe life on a normal day, and my instinct for compassion grew more enflamed with each new photograph and video and first-hand report I saw of the developing catastrophe.

With the waves of disaster relief fundraising that soon took over every corner of my social Internet -- from Facebook to Twitter to Open Salon -- and quickly filled mainstream media news reports of the unfolding tragedy, I had this vague sense of reticence. How easy it would be to clear my conscience by texting $10 to the Red Cross or $5 to Wyclef Jean's Yeli Haiti. Was this the opportunity to turn my long-standing admiration for Doctors Without Borders into a tangible statement of compassion? There was the great work of Save the Children to consider, as well as the possibility of supporting the efforts of my new friend Shawn Ahmed and his Uncultured Project.

I turned to the world wide web to read up on intelligent things related to disaster relief. I was surprised to learn and finally understand that organizations with significant administrative overhead are not as bad or inefficient at delivering relief as I'd previously suspected. It made complete sense to learn that by far, especially in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, local relief organizations can have the greatest impact by serving victims of such an event more effectively and more efficiently than can large, globally focused institutions.

I thought about all this for a couple of days and continued to watch as the Hatian people began to dig themselves out from the rubble, as Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh made their unconscionable idiocy plain -- once again -- for all to see. And I saw the tallies grow for money raised by the Red Cross and for monies pledged by nations spanning the globe.

Then late Friday night I received an email from my cousin Laurie Nuell in Miami, Florida. I've known Laurie since I was a kid and always thought she was one of the coolest of the cool. She preceded me at Tulane University by three years and literally bailed my ass out of more than one jam during my rookie season playing in the City that Care Forgot.

I've always known Laurie to follow the great example of her dad, my Uncle Jay Weiss, who was a man of limitless compassion and great resources who, for well over half a century, dedicated his life and his success to helping people less fortunate than him. In recent years I've admired Laurie for her work with the Jay Weiss Center at the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, but I was not aware until Friday night that Laurie has been working in Haiti for the past five or six years, or that just the week before Christmas she and her daughter Molly had been in Port au Prince looking at land on which to build a school.

From Laurie's email:

The organization I have been privileged to work with and learn from is called Partners in Health, founded by our dear friend, Dr. Paul Farmer. PIH has had a presence in Haiti for over 25 years and developed a healthcare system that serves over a million people a year, all with no fees.

Partners in Health has (or, perhaps sadly, had 3500 Haitian employees on the ground and ready to continue the work of creating jobs, training doctors, nurses and technicians, of building schools, churches and homes, of supporting sustainable agriculture, providing potable water and standing in solidarity with the people of Haiti.

As Laurie said in her email,

I urge you to make a donation to Partners In Health today. At the moment, donations are the best thing you can do to help Haiti. There will be plenty of time to collect goods, but right now cash is what they need.

It may take a little more effort and a little more time than texting a number to the Red Cross or Yeli Haiti, but your visit to the Partners in Health website and your generous contribution will do more than clear your conscience, it will have a real, immediate impact on the survivors of the earthquake in Haiti.

 

 

Image © Getty Images. Filched from Financial Times.