Make a financial donation to the American Red Cross International Response Fund:

How is our community helping?

The community is coming together in amazing ways to support the American Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti. We applaud the individuals, corporations, schools, faith-based organizations, retailers and so many more groups and agencies for their most generous support!

• Air Products has made a $25,000 corporate donation.
  
• Allentown City Councilman Julio Guridy is rallying the Latino community to make financial donations.
  
• The Allentown Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority is supporting the option of donating $10 by texting "Haiti" to 90999.
  
• American Bank in Allentown is holding a dress-down day and the bank will match 100 percent of employee donations.
  
• American Legion Band is holding a concert.
  
• Apollo Grill in Bethlehem hosted a martini night on Jan. 28.
  
• Officers and members of the Bethlehem Branch NAACP donated $500.
  
• Bethlehem Christian School collected funds.
  
• Bridals by Sandra will give a free gown to anyone who donates $20 to the relief efforts at their shop.
  
• Butz Company is conducting an employee-giving campaign.
  
• Calypso Elementary School collected funds at their school.
  
• Carbon County Technical Institute is collecting funds.
  
• Condoms Galore is collecting funds.
  
• Crayola is matching employee donations, dollar-for-dollar up to $5,000.
  
• Crocodile Rock Café in Allentown sponsored an “Aid for Haiti” Concert on Jan. 28.
  
• Dan's Camera is collecting funds at its store.
  
• Daniel's BMW is matching employee donations.
  
• Dieruff High School teachers are donating funds thanks to Master Sergeant Willard Jones of the ROTC
  
• Elizabeth Anthony Beauty Salon in Allentown is collecting funds.
  
• Fisher Clinical Services collected $320 from an employee-giving campaign.
  
• F.L. Smidth is having a dress-down day to raise funds for Haiti.
  
• Follett Corporation of Easton is conducting an employee-giving campaign.
  
• GEICO of Whitehall will donate $5 per auto policy sold between Jan. 18 – 31, 2010.
  
• Guardian Insurance Company is planning a dress-down day to raise funds for Haiti.
  
• Highmark Blue Shield has set up an online employee donation campaign and is matching employee donations dollar-for-dollar.
  
• Hopewell Elementary School is collecting funds at their school
  
• Java Joint in Trexlertown is collecting funds.
  
• Latin American Motorcycle Association in collecting money for club members.
  
• Legends of Allentown at the Comfort Suites raised $1,375 at a January 22 event.
  
• Lehigh Gas Corporation is collecting donations at their gas stations throughout the area.
  
• Lehigh University Nursery School is collecting donations.
  
• Lehigh Valley Academy Middle School, is holding a fund-raising event.
  
• Lehigh Valley Grand Prix held a team race to raise funds.
  
• Lehigh Valley Wrestling is collecting funds.
  
• Liberty Mutual Group is holding a dress-down day and donations will be matched by the company.
  
• Lincoln Elementary School is collecting donations and holding a dance on Feb. 11.
  
• Marvin Elementary School is collecting donations.
  
• Molewski Financial Partners is conducting an employee-giving campaign and matching up to $100 per employee.
  
• Molly Maguire's Restaurant and Pub in Jim Thorpe is collecting donations.
  
• Nitschmann Middle School is collecting donations.
  
• North Seventh Street Market in Allentown is collecting funds.
  
• Northampton County Juvenile Detention Center is holding an employee collection.
• Carbon County Commissioner Wayne Nothstein is collecting donations at the Jim Thorpe Court House.
  
• Olympus will be donating $10,000 and is launching an employee-giving campaign.
  
• OraSure is making a $10,000 corporate donation and is holding an employee-giving campaign.
  
• Palmer Park Mall stores are collecting funds.
  
• Panther Valley Elementary School is conducting a dress-down day at its school.
  
• ParenteBeard is holding a luncheon and collecting donations.
  
• Pawsome Pet Parlor is collecting funds.
  
• Pennsylvania School of Business students in Free Enterprise are putting together a Charity Ball to raise funds.
  
• Yvette Pleasant is hosting a "Poker for Haiti" event.
  
• Philip F. Lauer Middle School students are collecting.
  
• Pig Pen Sports Bar held a family concert to raise funds.
  
• Pitcher's Sports Bar and Grille, The Lehigh Valley Music Awards 12, Women in Art PA, and The Lehigh Valley Music Conference hosted a "Benefit 4 Haiti" on Jan. 29.
  
• Porters' Pub & Restaurant in Easton collected and matched server tips on Jan. 21.
  
• PPL Corporation is matching employee donations dollar-for-dollar, up to $50,000. That could mean a $100,000 donation.
  
• Ramada Inn is collecting funds.
  
• Rascal's Food & Fun in Allentown donated funds through percentage of dinner sales, special entertainment and more.
  
• Red Robin restaurants donated 10 percent of all food sales on Jan. 31, from noon to 2 p.m. and from 6 to 9 p.m.
  
• Riverside Family Practice in Laurys Station began a canister collection and many physician offices are jumping on-board.
  
• The senior class at Roberto Clemente Charter School held a dress-down day where students wore clothing in Haitian colors to raise funds.
  
• Teresa Roeder, an 11-year-old from Easton, is collecting money because her family wanted to express their appreciation for local Red Cross assistance when their home was flooded.br>
• St. Joseph's School in Jim Thorpe collected and donated $301.
  
• The congregation at St. Paul Baptist Church in Bethlehem donated $654.
  
• Saucon Valley Middle School eighth-grade students and staff collected $1,558.
  
• Sayer Day Care Center collected $123 for Haiti relief efforts.
  
• Selective Insurance collected about $2,000 from multiple office sites.
  
• Shaffer Elementary School in Nazareth is collecting money from students.
  
• Star Pontiac Buick GMC in Palmer Township hosted reality star, Snookie from MTV, to raise funds.
  
• Starters Riverport is hosting a Happy Hour collection and bartenders are donating their tips.
  
• Steckel Elementary School second and third graders had a hat and jean day to raise money.
  
• Tinh Thuong va Tu Thien (Love and Charity), a non-profit organization created to support the at-need people in Vietnam, collected $1,600 from its members and donations.


• Third Street Alliance swim team is holding a Swim-A-Thon to collect money.
  
• Union Terrace Elementary School students collected money from cookies that their teachers baked.
  
• Washington Elementary School students are collecting funds.
  
• Whitehall Middle School's, student council collected $537 in donations.
  
• Secretary Clara Rojas is baking her special homemade cake for a raffle at William Allen High School.
  
• Zeta Kappa Psi Sisterhood of Northampton Community College is making a donation.
  
  

How to reach loved ones

For inquiries about relatives living and who have citizenship in Haiti, please be patient and call repeatedly until the lines clear or contact other family members who live nearby. Telephone, Internet and other communication lines are often disrupted in times of disaster.

If you're trying to reach a U.S. citizen living or traveling in Haiti, you should contact the U.S. Department of State, Office of Overseas Citizens Services, at 1-888-407-4747.

Can I volunteer to go to Haiti?

We are not accepting volunteers to travel to Haiti. If you would like to volunteer for the local American Red Cross, please call 610-865-4400.

Can I donate clothing and food?

The Red Cross discourages donations of collected goods and individual items for disaster relief.

• The cost of processing and transporting these types of donations often outweighs the cost of the donated items themselves. Donations of collected goods require time, money and personnel to accept, clean, sort and distribute them.
• The influx of unsolicited donations distracts relief workers on site from critical emergency response activities - feeding and sheltering the affected population.
• In addition, because we cannot anticipate what these spontaneous donations of collected of items will include, we cannot ensure that the donated products will be appropriate for the relief effort or that there will be enough of a particular item to distribute them equitably.
• Shipping donated goods is costly and particularly difficult in the aftermath of a disaster. Routes into disaster sites are often damaged or impassable and can be clogged easily with shipments of non-priority items.
• The Red Cross makes every attempt to procure items locally, which minimizes transportation and storage expenses. By procuring goods locally, the American Red Cross can also ensure the items distributed to disaster victims are appropriate for the culture and diet.