Support for Haiti continues

As the terrible scale of the disaster in Haiti unfolds, the international Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting Movement continues to deliver funds, support and thoughts to their Girl Guide sisters in the devastated country.

A member of Les Scouts et Guides de France is on the ground in Haiti, identifying the needs of the Scouts and the Girl Guides, opening up communication channels and providing support where they can. The 1st company of Aldebaran district, Guías de México, helped organizing the donations in the Haitian embassy in Mexico City (picture right).

Those not actually in country are helping just as significantly. A Girl Guide troop from Canada are doing their World Thinking Day project on Haiti, learning about its culture and about what the Girl Guiding experience there is like. They will combine this with a fundraising drive to raise money for the Girl Guides in Haiti, which will help them rebuild and to support girls and young women in Girl Guiding. To find out more about the Haitian Girl Guides, go to the  World Thinking Day website.

Messages of support, compassion and offers of help continue to be sent to Haiti via the World Association. Six and seven year old Daisy Girl Scouts from the US wrote prayers for the Haitians, including “Dear God, Help the Girl Scouts in Haiti be alive always please because I care for them. Amen.”

See more well wishes on the WAGGGS website.

The Girl Guiding, Girl Scouting and Scouting communities continue to be generous with their time and money as well as their well wishes. The Belgium Catholic Guides have recently launched a Haitian donations campaign, which encourages their members to sell handcrafts and donate the proceedings to a fund, which they will contribute to the Les Scouts et Guides de France Haiti Fund.

How to help

There are several ways Member Organizations, Girl Guides and Girl Scouts can continue to show support and compassion for their sister Guides in Haiti and the Haitian people generally.

1. Donate your time, money and other requested resources to the Red Cross as our partner organization in the Alliance of Youth CEOs and to other disaster relief agencies. A list is provided below.

1. Contribute to the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) Haiti Solidarity Fund or the Les Scouts et Guides de France Haiti Fund

1. Contribute to this year’s World Thinking Day Fund, where WAGGGS is focusing on five specific countries; Haiti, Georgia, Maldives, Sudan and Zimbabwe. The WTD Fund supports the work of WAGGGS globally, it is not exclusively dedicated to Haiti or disaster relief. However, part of the funding raised will go to Haiti in 2010 and specific projects agreed upon by Haiti and WAGGGS. You can find details on the World Thinking Day website.

1. Write your messages of support in the comments section below so that Haitian Girl Guides can receive your well wishes

Moments like these demonstrate the strong values and international sisterhood that make Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting such a unique and important Movement, ready and willing to take action to make the world a better place. Please continue, in the weeks and even years ahead to do all you can to help the Girl Guides, their families and communities in Haiti.

Disaster relief funds

Red Cross

The ICRC plans to focus on providing medical aid for survivors of the earthquake and support for efforts to recover and identify the dead. It will also support Red Cross efforts to restore contacts between family members separated because of the earthquake and its aftermath. Finally, it plans to assess the needs of the prisons where it has been regularly visiting detainees. Make a donation

WOSM and Les Scouts et Guides de France

Contribute to the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) Haiti Solidarity Fund or the Les Scouts et Guides de France Haiti Fund

Oxfam

You can donate to online at Oxfam, visit their international site for details on specific country branches. 

Save The Children

Save the Children has launched an emergency relief effort for Haiti. Donate to Save the Children

Disasters Emergrncy Committee

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), formed in 1963, is an umbrella organisation for 13 humanitarian aid agencies. DEC launched a special Appeal for Haiti and accepts online donations.

Doctors Without Borders

Doctors Without Borders has set up clinics to treat people in Haiti. Donate to Doctors Without Borders

The UN World Food Programme

The UN World Food Programme is gathering all available resources to deliver food to the recently homeless and impoverished in Haiti. Donations can be made through their website.

CARE

CARE is deploying emergency team members to Port-au-Prince to assist in recovery efforts. It’s focusing its efforts on rescuing children who may still be trapped in schools that collapsed. Donate to CARE

United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)

This fund is used for emergencies like the earthquake in Haiti. Donate online.