Haiti-Aid.org

What’s this about.

We all know of the unprecedented tragedy in Haiti. Often in situations like this we feel helpless to know what to do or who to trust when making donations. Will it go where it’s needed most? Who can we trust?

My longtime colleague from ExactTarget, Karen Jung, recently returned from a 15 month sabbatical from ET. During her time away, she lived and worked among the Haitians, gaining firsthand knowledge of the difficulties of simple, everyday life. She also developed deep relationships with people who live and work in Haiti full time and it’s these relationships we want to leverage to aid those in need.

Karen is an amazing person who has an unbelievably compassionate heart coupled with a brilliant business mind. There is no one I would trust more to know exactly how to deploy charitable aid to help those who have been orphaned or suffered personal loss as a result of the recent earthquake.

In that light, Karen and I got together the day after this disaster and established Haiti-Aid.org. With the support of ExactTarget, Karen is able to focus energy on working with the contacts she has on the ground in Haiti to assess the situation and keep this community appraised of the unfiltered realities of the situation. With her guidance, we have assembled a list of charities that need your help today! You will not hear about these groups in the news or see any fundraising programs on television; but believe me when these are legitimate groups doing good in Haiti long before the earthquake as well as long after.

Karen Jung is unique in being part of our email & social media family but also having had extensive, personal experience and knowledge in Haiti. I ask each and every one of you to please hit the Donate Now button and give whatever you are comfortable with to the charity that most appeals to you. This is a situation where dimes and quarters matter.

We also ask for the support of the entire social media community to pass this site on and leverage what we all do best….quickly building a network of concerned marketers supporting this incredible cause.

www.haiti-aid.org   
Follow on Twitter: @Haiti_Aid

Sincerely,

Chris Baggott

About the Authors

Karen Jung

Karen Jung is a product marketing professional with ExactTarget, a leading global provider of on-demand email and one-to-one marketing solutions.

In 2008, Karen took a leave from ExactTarget to volunteer in Petite Riviere de Nippes, a small village about 60 miles west of Port au Prince.  During her 15 months there, she served as an administrator at US funded clinic and spent time working directly with the Haitians on broader community initiatives.

While in Haiti, Karen witnessed firsthand the devastating impact natural disasters take on Haiti, a country already ravaged by extreme poverty and little to no infrastructure to respond to events such as the January earthquake.  Her hope is that Haiti-Aid.org will serve as a conduit to funnel money directly to the people of Haiti – people that most likely never receive the level of assistance they need from all the aid flooding into the country.

To learn more about Karen and her experiences in Haiti, check out her personal blog at www.credosandchronicles.com.