Faith Danforth's blog

As we're reflecting on the one-year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti, I am looking at some data about all of you who supported Mercy Corps' work for the first time during the Haiti emergency. (I'm the database manager, so part of my work is helping make sure we're good stewards of donors' money by analyzing our performance across many metrics.)

It's a big number — more than 50,000 new people donated to Mercy Corps to help in Haiti. I'm just awe-struck by the number. Every one of you were moved in some way to help in Haiti. If you're one of those new-to-us-at-Mercy-Corps donors, thank you!

And if you were already a Mercy Corps supporter who reached out to help during Haiti, thank you, too!

All of your support has allowed us to respond in Haiti in the ways that people need — clean water, cash-for-work, helping kids recover emotionally, and getting the word about how to prevent cholera.

I hope you'll all take a moment to look at some of our one-year progress posts and reports — there's a lot still to be done, but also a lot that's been achieved.

I wish I could thank each of you in person.

Warm regards,
Faith

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Dear donors,

Every day my heart is touched by your overwhelming generosity and desire to help! Some of you go so far as to box up goods that you think might be useful, and send them to us here at our headquarters.

Please don't do this! Here's why: we can't use such small amounts of stuff, and the cost of shipping alone is more than the cost of the goods.

Here's a sampling of some of the recent items we've received here at headquarters from supporters. Photo: Faith Danforth/Mercy Corps

It is much more helpful for you to send us the money you spent on the stuff and on the postage to us as a cash gift.

Please do this!

Eighty-eight percent of your cash gift will go directly to support our work in the field. We'll be able to purchase 10 times as much stuff with your U.S. dollars in other countries, we won't have to pay for shipping — or spend staff time on logistics — and we'll be able to buy exactly what we need. Sometimes we do buy soap, but often we buy shovels, or sanitary napkins, or shawls, or calculators — all kinds of stuff, depending on what the local community needs.

I know that giving cash can feel cold, or somehow more distant, than sending stuff. But when you send us stuff, you're actually just helping folks in the Portland area, since we end up donating it to local relief charities.

Thank you so much, because your generosity helps us reach people in need. Just see the pictures of those we're helping in Haiti recently — all of that has been made possible by your support.

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Here in Portland, it's sunny and warm for February. Camellias are in bloom, and lots of little flowers and bushes are budding out with new leaves.

I've been helping process all the donations in support of Haiti — we've had tons of volunteers, and even hired some temporary help to keep up with the donations. It's been a tremendous outpouring of support as well as the highest number of gifts in our history.

Today, though, I broke down all the extra workstations in the gift processing area and cleaned up many of the signs of our response to the Haiti earthquake.

While I'm enjoying "getting back to normal," I keep thinking about the people in Haiti. How, even after this disaster has faded from the headlines, after our work here in the U.S. returns to our usual volume, everyone's lives in Haiti are not going to be normal for a very long time.

It's part of what inspires me about working for Mercy Corps — we stay for a long time, helping folks rebuild their lives. Many many people in Haiti will be dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake for years to come. And Mercy Corps will be right there alongside them, helping out.

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I just went to a great brown-bag lunch session here at Mercy Corps headquarters where Cassandra Nelson talked about her visit to the Central African Republic (CAR). Cassandra brought back lots of stories about Mercy Corps' work in CAR. She also brought lots of powerful pictures.

Working here at headquarters, I get to see lots and lots of amazing photos from the field. Sometimes, partly because I haven't traveled outside of the developed world, the pictures can seem beautiful but distant from me — part of a world that I will probably never know. Sometimes the photos portray worlds that seem unimaginable to me — young children holding out guns in their hand as toys, families of 22 living in a room or two, girls married at 12.

But seeing Cassandra's pictures and hearing her stories reminded me once again — every picture you see here on the Mercy Corps website, or in our Action Centers, or on anything you receive in the mail from us — is a real person living a real life somewhere else in the world. They are people that my colleagues here at headquarters have had the privilege of meeting and talking with. They are people who know firsthand what a difference Mercy Corps is making.

And they are people much like "us" in the developed world in so many ways — they want to take care of their families, make a contribution to their communities through good work, and live peacefully.

You can see Cassandra's photos here on the blog, and many other places. Each photo is a snapshot from a life that is both far away from us geographically yet also close to us and our common humanity.

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As Mercy Corps' database manager, I get to see lots of different names and gifts go by in my work, making sure our supporter records are all correct. While I'm very behind-the-scenes here, I am always excited about getting to pull together a mailing list to send out an emergency update, or help to report on our success raising money for a specific project or program. And I help all our staff here use our database well, so we are spot-on in all our contacts with donors and supporters of Mercy Corps.

I'm always touched by how many folks support our work — from all over the United States, and all over the world. The diversity of your names and gifts is astounding. It's an honor, and a reminder about how many people share our passion for ending poverty and helping those who have been struck by disaster or are caught in the midst of war.

So thank you! It's very inspiring.

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