appeal.

[substitute]

Famine in Niger, war and famine in Sudan, famine and disease after the tsunami, predatory landlords, dirty drinking water, the abuse of women and children, yet more war everywhere, AIDS, hurricanes, the impossible life of the subsistence farmer, drought, endless cycles of poverty and corruption, malaria, and still more war.

What's a person to do?

Give a few bucks to Oxfam if nothing else. 77% of their donations and 90% of their emergency fund donations go directly to operations. They help in emergencies and crises, and they fight the root causes of the world's miseries too. They do it locally, with global reach.

For those outside the U.S., the donation link is this one.

Comments

[eyeteeth.livejournal.com]

The Red Cross claims it only sells the blood to cover the cost of handling it and testing it for diseases and stuff. Do you think that's a lie or an oversimplification? Because if it's true it doesn't seem so bad, except for the part about the middlemen.

[substitute.livejournal.com]

From my understanding it is simply a lie. They get way more blood than they can ever use when they make an appeal, and then it's just another way to make money for their chosen purposes, including their huge overhead and their executives with six figure salaries.