Too Much Help for Haiti
By: Michael Caffrey
“Shame on you America: the only country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment – yet we have a benefit for the people of Haiti on 12 TV stations. 99% of people won’t have the guts to copy and repost this.”
Above quote is from a friend’s status on Facebook.
In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake affecting Haiti on January 12th resulted in an outpouring of aid throughout the developing world, with Americans being bombarded by “Text ‘Haiti’ to 90999″ and the other numbers for American Red Cross and related charity and relief organizations dedicated to Haitian aid.
Lehigh University has started their own Haitian Initiative; Collecting $50,000 towards relief efforts. Despite the best intentions of the Community Service Office, is Haitian relief, efforts that have been duplicated around the world, really the best use of Lehigh Student’s time and money?
Goodwill to mankind is a noble goal, but logistical and financial concerns limit the impact that can be made. While Dr. King was a proponent of “help[ing] our neighbors across borders just as much as our friends down the street.”, when 17,000 Pennsylvanians are homeless, our efforts would be better spent closer to home, helping our friends down the street.
