No joke today, folks – this is as serious as I can get.
In case you’ve been living under a rock somewhere, Haiti was recently struck by a massive earthquake. In a country already hard hit with poverty, corruption and lack of access to things that many of us take for granted, this event’s destructive qualities are terribly magnified. The situation currently is, for a lack of a better word, abysmal – and it’s not bound to get better any time soon.
For a lot of us, going to Haiti to help directly is not an option – with my lack of real life, survival or practical skills, you could possibly make things worse or stand in the way. But there are ways to donate and help out. As I put in a donation to the Red Cross yesterday, I decided to put one of my few actual abilities (drawing, apparently) to good use.
That’s why if you donate anything to Haiti between now and February 15th, through any organization of your choice (there’s a lot of good options out there — see below for some pointers) I’ll personally send you a sketch of any character of your choice as an extra incentive for you to open up your heart. All you have to do is send me proof of your donation to armando@atomiclaundromat.com (you may hide the donation amount to protect your privacy if you so wish) with your mailing address. DON’T SEND ME ANY MONEY. To avoid any confusion, I’m deactivating my own “Donate” page — I want you to go put your money in the hands of the people who can action in Haiti ASAP and just let me know when you’ve done it. By the way, if you donate in a way that has no obvious “proof” – dropping off a sack of canned food at a collection center, or depositing money at your local church – email me anyways. I think that for something like this, we can do the honor system. Although a picture of a reader with a sack of cans would be awesome.
Donors in the USA
- American Red Cross. The American Red Cross is taking donations via text message – text “haiti” to 90999 to make a $10 USD donation (major cell carriers are waiving additional text messaging fees). You can also donate on their homepage.
Donors in Mexico
- El Universal has an excellent page on all collection points and bank accounts for aid to Haiti.
Donors elsewhere
- UNICEF. They are collecting funds for children in need on their homepage.
- American Red Cross. They accept contributions from everywhere on their homepage.
- Canadian Red Cross. They are accepting contributions from everywhere, so visit their homepage. (thanks Elliott!)
I know that maybe a lot of you were already planning on donating anyways, so this is a small thank you on behalf of those whose life you may be changing. If this whole thing pushes just one person over the edge to make a donation, I’ll call this whole little effort a success.
This “offer” is open to anybody around the world..
Got my sketch of Bob today with eyebrows:), it’s awesome, Thanks.
[...] that has come forward and donated to different organizations supporting Haiti as called for in Friday’s comic – to date, I have no less than 30 submissions in my inbox, waiting for me to start cracking [...]
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by webcomix: Help Haiti http://bit.ly/7psVNA
#webcomic…
Well, thanks for that. There goes my day. I came here in the hope to escape reality for a little while, by reading something fictional and funny. Instead, you had to make me aware of some horrible disaster.
I didn’t ask to have my awareness raised. I don’t read newspapers and don’t watch TV because I prefer to stay unaware of such things. Unawareness is the true key to happiness; I believe that our ancestors were much happier people, simply because they were blissfully ignorant of the horrible catastrophes on the other side of the planet.
I know that most people feel different about this. They hunger for sensational news, the more victims the better, and get an additional kick out of donating money, which makes them feel like decent people again. Not me though. I really feel for those poor people. It deeply hurts and saddens me. And parting with my hard-earned money would only serve to deepen my sadness about the sorry state of the world.
Besides… haven’t those poor haitian people been through enough? They’ve just barely survived a horrible earthquake! Our money is the last thing they need right now. Let’s leave those people alone, for God’s sake. Give them some time to mourn and rebuild.
¡Wow! Suelo ser una fan silenciosa, pero esta vez sí merece que opine: neta muchísimas gracias por este esfuerzo tan padre y ojalá todos se pusieran las pilas para ayudar no sólo a Haití sino a todo el que lo necesite.
Un abrazo y ojalá tengas mucho que dibujar por todas las donaciones que se hagan por este medio.
Didn’t read the “between now and” part and sent you proof of a donation made on Wednesday. Will that still count?
It sure will sir.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Becky Boyer, Webcómics mexicanos and Armando Valenzuela, El Isma. El Isma said: RT @webcomix: Help Haiti http://bit.ly/7psVNA #webcomic [...]
Take me! Lol
Wyclef Jean has also set up “text to” donation. I will locate the information and post it here.
as per http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,582902,00.html,
you can text YELE to 501501
“On Twitter, musician Wyclef Jean, a native of Haiti, notes, “Haiti needs your help and $5 will go toward earthquake relief.”
Yele Haiti is a grassroots movement Jean has set up to inspire change in Haiti through programs in education, sports, the arts and environment.”
Por un momento creí que la fecha limite era hoy 15 de enero xD
pero despues lei bien y vi que tenia un mes
estuve apunto de rogarte que me dieras un poco mas de tiempo xD tomar una camara y tomarle fotos a una alcancia que hicieron en el trabajo de mi papa para recaudar fondos justamente para Haiti
Ire al banco cuando me den mi paga y donare algo… espero que puedas enviar los bocetos por correo a mexico
No hay problema viejo y con gusto los envio a Mexico. Un abrazo!
Awesome idea man! Mind if I promote it?
By all means, please do so… after Monday, I’ll keep this strip up in the “news from the laundromat” section, so it’s always in the front page.
Bravo.
Is this an inapropriate time to say I *really* like the glasses?
hahaha… not at all Malcolm! I actually took the chance to play a bit with the design – she might use them in a court setting.