Fundraiser for J Quake

[PistolPete]

I just wanted to post a note that the board is pulling together the details to do a ZS fundraiser to benefit the victims of the massive earthquake that affected Japan. Kyle or another board member should have details up tomorrow or Wednesday.

[Dawgboy]

Good to hear. I would like to be of help if at all possible.

[phalanx]

Good to hear. I would like to be of help if at all possible.

Ditto. This is one of those things that I care about.

[Dak Kovar]

Cool.

Count me in.

DK

[majorhavoc]

That is just a fantastic idea. Do we have a relief orgainziation in mind that will make good use of our money?

I did a fundraiser last year for Haitian relief and we settled on Doctors without Borders and Save the Children. They have very low administrative overhead, and good reputations for boots on the ground relief efforts.

[CrackMunk]

Count me it! I have a friend in Tokyo doing his best to help where he can and the lest I can do is try to help on this end.

[Dust3r]

...Doctors without Borders...

I will donate some money for this. I'm hoping that DWB might be a consideration. I'm pretty sure that donating to any reputable organization will provide some aid and comfort, but I'm more familiar with DWB than many others. Either way, just waiting on the details...

[Biggin]

I'm really interested in what ZS can come up with. I'll give whatever I can.

[kyle]

We've supported Doctors Without Border and Save the Children. I'm a fan of both organizations.

We're currently looking into supporting Direct Relief International. They've been heavily involved in the relief effort: http://www.directrelief.org/EmergencyRe ... unami.aspx

They have one of the best ratings out there as well: http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.c ... orgid=3626

We're still up for suggestions though.

We're going to do a standard dog tag drive as we've done in the past.
Every donor will get a forum banner, will be entered into a raffle for stuff we're going to give away and the first 200 people to donate $25 or more to the ZS collection will receive a special edition ZS dog tag, similar to the relief effort tags from these past drives:
Katrina Hurricane Relief Fundraiser
Greensburg, Kansas Relief Fund!
Myanmar & China Disaster Relief Fund
ZS Postal Match Charity Drive

I apologize for the delay in getting this going. I've been fighting a serious lung and sinus infection the last several days but I'll have more information later today.

[JTNieman]

Not familiar with Save the Children (how horrible does that sentence sound OOC) before now, but Doctors Without Borders is something I could -totally- get behind.

Doing a quick read on StC, it seems they are pretty reliable and efficient. It's current spearhead, Thomas Tighe, seems to have a pretty respectable background as well. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation seems to be a supporter of the charity as well. Seems like the charity had a positive impact on the preparedness of my own current State too. They seem to operate pretty leanly, from a superficial search.

I'd be fine with both of those, and don't know of anyone that serves Japan, to suggest.

[ali_marea]

I'm definitely in. So much help is needed over there right now, I'll do what I can.

[watercooled]

Thank you for doing this!
I was a little leery of giving to the Red Cross again & would rather give to organizations that people here on ZS believe in.
Keep us updated

[majorhavoc]

No worries about any delay, Kyle. Hope you're feeling better. Thanks again for doing this. ZS rocks!

[oldsoldier]

Count me in too. Every little bit helps-and, we ALL can give a little.

[Dak Kovar]

Dr. WOBs sounds fine. I hope we will be able to donate with a credit card.

DK

[KYZHunters]

In.

[CaptBrainFreeze]

Doctors without Borders had boots on the ground day two. I like em.

[Dawgboy]

I heard an interview on Sunday with a guy onsite in Japan from Save the Children. He said they are not directly involved with SAR efforts, but will be providing a lot for kids and families that lost everything. I like them a lot, and also have a friend that is a Liver specialist that does DWB work. Both are very reputable.

[Dawgboy]

So what do you folks think of shelterbox? http://www.shelterbox.org/

I donated a couple hundred bucks to them for Haiti... It may not be right for Japan, and they say right on their website they cannot guarantee your money will go to Japan. But I think what they do is right along the lines of what we do, you know, provide the tools...

[majorhavoc]

So what do you folks think of shelterbox? http://www.shelterbox.org/

This is probably a suitable topic for a different thread.

I'm familiar with the organization. And I am absolutely fascinated by the concept of a self-contained kit containing the tools, materials and pictogram instructions needed to quickly construct an emergency shelter. One that is more robust and functional than jury-rigged tarps, plastic sheeting or even some tents. I've toyed with the idea of making a home brew version just to see how compact a package I can come up with.

PS: Good on you for donating to that organization, Dawgboy.

[JTNieman]

t may not be right for Japan, and they say right on their website they cannot guarantee your money will go to Japan.

Not suitable for donations for those who wish to help Japan then.

[kyle]

I see several posts in here about Doctors without Borders. Just so you guys know, we are actually looking into http://www.directrelief.org/ for the charity.

If there are any objections, we haven't committed. I'm open for pros/cons.

I'm still in the process of the write up for the donation and instructions on how to donate.

[JerryOnly]

Just Donated through ZS to red cross

[Jamie]

According to CharityNavigator.org DirectRelief International is amazingly efficient, spending only 1% of the money they raise on administrative and fundraising expenses...

Doctors without Borders spends 13%
Save the Children spends 10.1%

I gave my money to Direct Relief International after the Earthquake in Haiti, and was impressed with how the money was spent, and also with updates they gave me about progress and programs they were involved in...JMHO, YMMV...

http://www.directrelief.org/

Jamie - nfa