# Is it possible for the average citizen to help in Haiti!? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 19, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-the-average-citizen-to-help-in-haiti/525489 "2010-01-19T00:01:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-the-average-citizen-to-help-in-haiti/525489/1 "2010-01-19T00:01:47Z")
Say that I feel called to go over to Haiti and help. Would I be allowed if I didn’t really have any special skills other than a desire to help? What’s the process? Is it even possible? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-the-average-citizen-to-help-in-haiti/525489/2 "2010-01-19T01:18:55Z")
You might be able to find a group that will accept new volunteers - most likely a small group. I think big groups like the Red Cross probably have enough people already. You can fly to the Dominican republic on your own and I guess from there you could make your way to Haiti. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-the-average-citizen-to-help-in-haiti/525489/3 "2010-01-19T04:32:02Z")
There was a [thread on MetaFilter](http://ask.metafilter.com/143121/Aid-agencies-sending-people-to-Hatti) on this very subject recently. The general consensus was that unless you already have experience in disaster relief, the best thing you can do is volunteer locally, helping to coordinate donations and working with in the organization; but you won’t be sent to Haiti for a few years. Some particularly informative posts:[ul][_]“[[W]illing-but-unskilled people](http://ask.metafilter.com/143121/Aid-agencies-sending-people-to-Hatti#2048504) will be desperately needed a year from now, when the sexy news teams have gone home and the world’s focus is somewhere else. Haiti will be recovering from this disaster for decades to come — your friend could play a tremendously important role in some piece of that recovery. Right now, however, Haiti needs self-contained field hospitals, search and rescue teams with heavy equipment, and the kind of large water desalination equipment carried by military hospital ships. Send money today, and make plans to go and help with long term recovery when Haiti recovers to a point where a volunteer won’t be siphoning resources from the people most affected.”[_]["When I went through disaster relief training](http://ask.metafilter.com/143121/Aid-agencies-sending-people-to-Hatti#2048566) with the Red Cross in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, they were very explicit that neither they nor any other reputable relief organizations were in the habit of deploying volunteers who didn’t have extensive training and applicable skills in the various areas of disaster relief, even for domestic relief.“[\*]["We had such people show up in Sarajevo, during the war.](http://ask.metafilter.com/143121/Aid-agencies-sending-people-to-Hatti#2048807) They were — to a person — a great drag on life there for those of us without the ability to leave.”[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-the-average-citizen-to-help-in-haiti/525489/4 "2010-01-19T09:57:56Z")
Right. At this moment, the cost of keeping you alive over there is greater than the good you can do if you go there with no significant skills or equipment. Even for domestic disasters, there was people commuting 100 miles in and out of NO so there was no cost to keeping them alive. Still the traffic they created was enough of a nuisance for emergency crews needing to move around with heavy equipment. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-the-average-citizen-to-help-in-haiti/525489/5 "2010-01-19T12:15:07Z")
There are problems even getting there due to limited transportation options. For one example, here in Chicago we have a number of nurses who want to go help with the desperate medical situation there, and [few can even get on flights to go.](http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1996561,CST-NWS-HAITILOCAL18.article) ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-the-average-citizen-to-help-in-haiti/525489/6 "2010-01-21T03:53:38Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > There was a [thread on MetaFilter](http://ask.metafilter.com/143121/Aid-agencies-sending-people-to-Hatti) on this very subject recently. The general consensus was that unless you already have experience in disaster relief, the best thing you can do is volunteer locally, helping to coordinate donations and working with in the organization; but you won’t be sent to Haiti for a few years. This. What is really needed is cash. Donate directly to the [American Red Cross](http://www.redcross.org/). They can make those dollars go to the right place right away. On the other hand, texting to a number to donate $10.00 is being seen as not a good idea, even if the Red Cross and other charities helping in Haiti are recipients. > [@](#): > > **Text ‘HAITI’ to 90999** : This service was set up by the [U.S. State Department](http://www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/ha/index.htm). Texting “HAITI” to the number will donate $10 to the International Red Cross, and will appear as a charge on your wireless bill. While this approach is legitimate and safe, [the Consumer Reports blog states](http://consumerist.com/2010/01/text-message-donations-for-haiti-may-be-delayed-up-to-3-months.html) your donation will not go to the Red Cross right away, because the cell phone companies want their monthly bill they send to you to be paid first. It could take as long as three months before your donation makes it to the Red Cross. Capitalism and profits in the bank before charity. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-the-average-citizen-to-help-in-haiti/525489/7 "2010-01-21T21:01:16Z")
Short answer: Send money. [Disaster do-gooders can actually hinder help](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34958965/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/) > [@](#): > > Many agencies try to motivate donors with the mathematics of the situation. Jeff Nene, a spokesman for Convoy of Hope, a Springfield, Mo., agency that feeds 11,000 children a day in Haiti, urges cash donations that allow his group to buy in bulk from large suppliers and retailers. > > “When people give $1, it translates into $7 in the field,” he said. “If they spend $5 for bottled water, that’s nice and it makes them feel good, but probably it costs us more than $5 to send it. If they give us $5, we can get $35 worth of water.” > > That’s a sentiment echoed by virtually every aid agency. > > “I would really say at this point, honestly, right now, money is the best thing to give,” Rothe-Smith said. Don’t just fly over there expecting you can just jump into the fray and be helpful. Unless you have vital skills, can take care of your own food, shelter, and transportation needs, and can commit to a long-term stay, you’re more likely to be a problem than part of the solution. Even donations of water and clothing are discouraged because of the cost of transporting and dispensing them.