Kelly Diels, the author of Cleavage, came up with a bloggers call to action to help the relief effort in Haiti – the Haiti Blog Challenge. While I have nothing to offer for free or sale to tempt people reading my blog to donate what they can, where they can, I want to support Kelly’s efforts.
My first thought when I realized the scope of the disaster in Haiti was to donate ostomy supplies – medical supplies are in seriously short supply, and ostomy supplies aren’t always the first thing that comes to mind during disaster relief. But as an ostomate, I know that life without ostomy supplies is a personal disaster – and I’ve got three boxes of wafers and bags that I could spare.

But shipping and distributing physical medical supplies in a disaster area is always one of the biggest issues; hard cold cash is the fastest and most effective way to help. The groups who have distribution channels (the American Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, and Friends of Ostomates Worldwide (FOW) have ways to get physical supplies to the people who need them – so I held onto my extra boxes of supplies and planned to send my dollars to organizations that can use the money to get supplies to people who need them.

Then I discovered that the company for whom I work has already donated medical and ostomy supplies to the relief effort – as well as committing to match employee donations to the relief effort $2 for each $1 donated. The only catch is that donations have to be made through the company’s charitable giving website. So now, after my initial donation (texting HAITI to 90999), the dollar value of those three boxes of extra supplies (about $200) is going to Haiti through a matching-donation corporate giving website. That way, my $200 donationwill be tripled and provide three months of ostomy supplies when i could only have spared one month.

The main tenet of my giving has always been ‘think globally, act locally.’ I haven’t forgotten that in the rush to Haiti’s aid. Ostomy supplies are something that are always in need – and by supporting the local effort to redistribute my extra supplies, I can help make it easier for organizations like FOW to respond to global needs during disaster relief efforts. I found this press release from Friends of Ostomates Worldwide (FOW) on the United Ostomy Association of America (UOAA) forum:

FOW-USA has responded to the catastrophe and sent a message today to several people who have been on their board or involved with UOAA:

No doubt you have seen the news about the situation in Haiti. The first paragraph below describes what FOW-USA has done. That paragraph will be placed on the web site. The following 2 paragraphs were placed in a message and sent to all our supporters for whom we have email addresses.

The Haitian people are dealing with the worst catastrophe in their lifetime. They need water, food, security and medical care. FOW-USA was able to respond quickly to a request for ostomy supplies. Thanks to the volunteers in Louisville, Yusen shippers and the Catholic Medical Mission Board, who have an organization in Haiti to ensure the supplies to get where they are needed, three pallets of ostomy supplies are on the way to Haiti.

Without the support of individuals and organizations, FOW-USA would not have had the ostomy products or the financial capability to provide this aid. We do not know how soon more aid will be needed in Haiti or where the next crisis might be. You can help us to be prepared to provide help where ever it might be needed by sending supplies to restock our shelves and financial support to pay for the shipping costs. Thanks for whatever role you have played in getting FOW-USA to be in position to provide this support.

Ival Secrest, FOW-USA President …………………………………………………

The message then went on to ask readers:
Please visit FOW-USA or FOW-Canada at their respective websites (the links are to their donation pages).

So I’ll put those pages here, too:
Friends of Ostomates Worldwide – USA and Friends of Ostomates Worldwide – Canada

If you have actual physical ostomy supplies to donate, consider contacting FOW, who can give you information so that you can donate the supplies in your area. To ensure that Haiti continues to receive the medical and ostomy supplies it needs, send money to FOW through their donatation pages, or contact the American Red Cross or Doctors without Borders to make a donation towards medical supplies.

Haiti needs help, now. You can be part of the effort; every bit of aid will help someone. How will you help?