How to Help in Haiti

The blog, The Pursuit of Harpyness, posted links to lists of organizations who are accepting aid for Haiti. One of those lists is on MSNBC.


And the American Red Cross is raising funds right now for Haiti via cell phone charges. Here's the info from The US Dept of State's official blog: For those interested in helping immediately, simply text "HAITI" to "90999" and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill.

We can't all go to Haiti to help, but we can send money to support those who can.

As you can see, I got my blog working again (thank you for the advice today). If only helping those in Haiti was so easy.

Sasha and Malia

This morning I watched President Obama's swearing in ceremony live via Hulu with a very sick Queen Teen on my lap. I cheered and wiped her nose in between pointing out various people and images on the computer screen. I explained that what we were seeing on the screen was happening at that very moment in a place called Washington DC, as far away from us as New York City.

"Wow, that's a long way away," she said.

"Yep. It's pretty amazing we can watch what's happening right now on the other side of the country."

Although I reminded her how important this occasion was, that not only was a new president about to be sworn in, but the first BLACK president was being sworn in, she was a little bit bored with the whole thing. A blurry view of crowds, more blurry, mostly white faces in the official bleachers, banter from the commentators... and then Sasha and Malia arrived!

"Look! Those are President Obama's children. Shasha is about the same age you are."

Queen Teen sat up straighter and peered at the screen as the First Daughters arrived and took their seats in the front row. "Wow."

"Yeah. Isn't it neat. They're going to live in the White House with their parents. Can you imagine what it would be like to have your dad be president?"

She nodded and stared at the girls. "That's cool."

Then it was more boredom as more people she didn't know arrived, until Michelle Obama entered. I pointed at the screen. "That's their mom, Michelle."

"Pretty. I like her dress." Mrs. Obama wore bright yellow, a color my daughter has no trouble seeing. "Where are the girls?"

As past presidents and vice presidents and George Bush arrived, Queen Teen wiped her nose repeatedly and drank her juice. Then at last Barack Obama entered. I bounced in my seat excitedly and cheered.

"There he is! That's our new president!"

She squinted at the screen and smiled. "Cool."

"Remember we've never had a black president before. When I was a baby, a black child couldn't play with white children in some parts of the country."

She scowled. "That's silly."

"I know! And now we have a black president! And not only that, he's smart and knows how to be a president. I think he's going to be great."

Queen Teen nodded and smiled. Then she peered at the computer screen again. "Where are the girls."

She didn't stick around for the ceremony. When it was obvious the girls wouldn't be shown again, she hopped off my lap with her tissue box and went back to her room to play. Presidents are boring when you're thirteen. But Sasha and Malia, THEY are rock stars.

How can I Help?

I watched Obama's acceptance speech last night, stunned and weeping with joy. This is an incredible moment in history and I am so thankful I'm here to see it. Think about it. When I was a baby, Martin Luther King Jr was murdered. 40 years later, a black man has been elected to be our president.

His message, though, is important for us to grasp. We can't rest on our laurels and wait for him to "fix things." With two wars, a global economy on the brink of collapse, and anti-America sentiment vocally high, we all need to step up and ask, How can I help? Everyone must work for the change we desired when we voted for Obama. Even people who voted for McCain did so because they believed he was the best person to lead us out of this darkness. No one person, even one president, can get our country back on track and prosperous. It takes a village.

What can you do? Here's an example...

'Good Samaritan' saves crying woman's foreclosed home


Tracy Orr sat in the back of the room and prepared to watch her foreclosed home go up for auction this past Saturday. That's when a pesky stranger sat down beside her and struck up a conversation.

Tracy Orr faced losing her home to foreclosure when Marilyn Mock, a stranger, stepped in to buy it.

"Are you here to buy a house?" Marilyn Mock said.

Orr couldn't hold it in. The tears flowed. She pointed to the auction brochure at a home that didn't have a picture. "That's my house," she said.

Within moments, the four-bedroom, two-bath home in Pottsboro, Texas, went up for sale. People up front began casting their bids. The home that Orr purchased in September 2004 was slipping away.

She stood and moved toward the crowd. Behind her, Mock got into the action.

"She didn't know I was doing it," Mock says. "I just kept asking her if [her home] was worth it, and she just kept crying. She probably thought I was crazy, 'Why does this woman keep asking me that?' "

Mock says she bought the home for about $30,000. That's when Mock did what most bidders at a foreclosure auction never do. Watch why a woman would buy back a stranger's home »

"She said, 'I did this for you. I'm doing this for you,' " Orr says. "When it was all done, I was just in shock."

"I thought maybe her and her husband do these types of things to buy them and turn them. She said, 'No, you just look like you needed a friend.' "

"All this happened within like 5 minutes. She never even asked me my name. She didn't ask me my financial situation. She had no idea what [the house] looked like. She just did it out of the graciousness of her heart, just a 'Good Samaritan,' " Orr says. "It's amazing."

Not many of us have the cash to buy someones home back, but there are things we can do every day to help our neighbors, even something as simple as dragging the garbage cans out to the curb for the little old lady with arthritis who lives across the street. Our own food cupboards hold less than last year, but if we each give just one thing to the food bank their shelves won't be empty. Actions small and large are what it will take to create the change Obama talked about.

Queen Teen is currently going through her clothes and toys to find the things she doesn't play with or wear anymore so that "another child can have something new." This is a person who doesn't have a clear understanding of who the president even is. All she knows is that she wants to help someone.

Regardless of who you voted for, lets keep the flame alive and help Obama bring about the change we all hunger for, one tiny step at a time.