Haiti Relief & How YOU Can Help

Happy Sunday! All week I have been thinking about what happened in Haiti, the pictures we're seeing and all the devastation. As someone who lives on the gulf coast, in what many fondly refer to as "hurricane alley", I am keenly aware that natural disasters occur. When I "forget" about them, I am reminded in a big way.

Hurricane Ivan and Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast while DH and I were living up "north". Luckily, we did not have to endure the water shortages, power outages, and unspeakable fear that accompanied them. Not to say we weren't affected, believe me, we were. Between those two storms, we lost our place on Dauphin Island - a barrier island off the coast of Alabama. My parents condo was rendered useless for what would turn out to be years. My aunt and uncle left New Orleans and moved north to Oklahoma. But looking back, we WERE the lucky ones. Our families were SAFE. I didn't have to worry about watching the news in Charlotte and seeing a loved one pulled out from a building.

The situation in Haiti is soooo much more desperate than what the Gulf Coast suffered, and just think - the Gulf Coast is STILL recovering. Haiti will deal with this for what I imagine will be decades, not years. The poverty in Haiti is absolutely unimaginable for the vast majority of us. I know we have FUN here, we shop, we laugh, etc. But today I wanted to take a moment to reflect on Haiti, say a prayer for them and tell you what I plan to do to help.

In my humble opinion, recovery would have been much more difficult on MY coast without the assistance of the American Red Cross. There are many ways you can donate to the disaster relief fund. Probably the easiest for most people, directly from the site:

TEXT "HAITI" to 90999


This mobile fundraising initiative is a partnership between the American Red Cross, Mobile Accord and the mGive Foundation that is supported by the U.S. State Department.

Customers of participating wireless carriers can text message "HAITI" to 90999 and make a $10 donation to support the American Red Cross Haiti relief efforts. Donations will appear on customers' monthly bills or be debited from a prepaid account balance. Message and data rates may apply. To opt-out, send "STOP" to 90999. To see the terms applicable to donations, please visit www.mgive.com/A. Receipts for donations are available at www.mgive.org/receipt.

Participating Carriers:

Alltel
AT&T
Sprint
T-Mobile
U.S. Cellular
Verizon Wireless
Virgin Mobile
Cellular South

If you're not a texting queen (I'm not there either, don't fret), you can donate via the American Red Cross website HERE.

I do have another option for you to make a difference. One of Shopaholic's favorite Lilly Speciality stores and FRIEND, Village Palm in Michigan, is very generously donating 10% of total sales from January 18 - January 29 to CARE for Haiti relief. You can access the CARE website HERE to read more about their program.

Please, if you plan to shop during this time, consider shopping with our felllow Lilly lover Sarah at Village Palm. You can visit the Village Palm blog HERE. Store information:

Village Palm
17110 Kercheval
Grosse Pointe, MI 48230
(313) 882-7256


Sarah provides excellent service, and Village Palm has great sales, so I know you will be pleased if you choose this route. Be sure to tell her Shopaholic sent you!

Most importantly, just do something. Whatever you can afford to do is ok - can you imagine if every single person in the US just donated $5? (Let's face it, we won't miss one Starbucks run this week!) Shopaholic is not very good with math, but even I know that would be a HUGE chunk of change and would go a very, very long way.

I'm off to donate online to the American Red Cross. Later in the week, I just may shop with Sarah. In the meantime, my thoughts and prayers go out to all the people of Haiti and their families; as well as the emergency responders and relief workers. Have a great day and take a moment to count your blessings!

p.s. I would like to thank my friend Whitney over at The Preppy Pink & Green Puppy.  Earlier this week, she blogged about Haiti and the American Red Cross, as she works in their headquarters. Her post made me really think back and reflect on things, and I knew exactly where I wanted to send my $$. Thank you, Whitney!


p.p.s. Sarah didn't pay me or comp me in any way to tell you about what her shop was doing for Haiti. I just wanted you to give you another option of how you can make a difference, Shopaholic Style. :-)