What would put YOU in a giving mood?

I was going over the latest news pertaining to the 12th January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, when i came across a video on cnn.com that irked my journalistic sentiments..

Yes, I am fully aware of the need for creative journalism. I am well aware that sex sells and that different is almost always considered good. I still see no reason why and i quote "An Ohio strip club hosting "Lap Dances for Haiti," which will raise money for earthquake aid." has found a place on cnn.com.

I can imagine that the original thought process was trying to emphasise the fact that EVERYONE sympathises and empathises with the plight of the people in Haiti. It also aims at stressing that people from all walks of life are willing to do what it takes to provide them with aid in the form of money or relief supplies. I do however emphatically have a problem with the fact that a lot of unnecessary importance was placed on whether this aid would be accepted by a charity. To top it all off they even added a couple of minutes wherein Linda Green from International Services of Hope (ISO) a Christian based organization, proclaims albeit with a rather nasty smirk on her face that she doesn't have a problem with how the money is collected. When was the last time that you heard someone from a Christian/Catholic organisation say "We don’t have the right to judge someone’s heart. If somebody is doing something they have to do for a living then that's the way it is.”

Talking about relief for Haiti, I did find a useful article on the guardian.co.uk site which points out which relief organisations are functional in Haiti and would be ideal to donate to. The article is informative and to the point (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/15/haiti-earthquake-charitable-aid-donations).

With the rains beginning in Haiti and the fact that more than a million people still have no shelter, one can only hope that people with influence and power strive to provide more hands on aid in the form of making shelter and food available to the millions left stranded.

The issues confronting those without shelter – estimated by USAid at between 1.1 and 1.5 million people – were underlined last week by Care, a Christian ¬charity, which warned that the international community will not be able to ¬supply enough family tents before the rainy season begins in late-March.

Instead, the charity said, the ¬rescue effort should concentrate on ¬providing tarpaulins that can be used to ¬construct waterproof shelters. "Shipping in enough family tents for all the people in need would take months," Care said in a statement. "Most people crammed into overcrowded camps are huddled under bed sheets strung between poles or sticks – hardly enough to block out the sun, but useless against the torrential downpours of Haiti's rainy season." (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/14/million-remain-without-shelter-haiti)

The people of Haiti need more. More than anybody is doing. More than any news story can effectively portray. More than all the fashion shows (that conveniently incorporate designs by the recently deceased UK designer Alexander McQueen), and all the lap dances, and all the debates. and all the speculation about what the US needs to do. Everyone needs to help in real, literal ways that matter.