Wikinews:Tsunami Help/Aid Agencies/Volunteering and Specific Requests

Thursday, December 30, 2004 

WARNING: Due to the Wikinews's open and collaborative nature, it cannot guarantee the veracity of outside links or the absence of possible scams involving charities, thus the potential danger of fraud exists. In particular, beware of bogus organizations that have names similar to those of well-known aid agencies. Also beware of unsolicited emails that ask for your donation online. For those who want to make a donation, the most secure channels are established web sites and well-publicized telephone hotlines.

Volunteers

For Forensic Experts

• Dr.Pornthip Rojanasuand and a team of Forensic experts from the Central Forensic Institute in Bangkok are racing against time in collecting DNA/hair samples of unidentified bodies before burial or cremation. She has vowed to not let a single body be cremated or buried without proper DNA collection for further identification. The sheer number of bodies in various states of decay have made their task all but impossible. The team has issued calls for help to forensic specialists from outside the country. So far, a team of specialists from the United Kingdom has answered the call for help. Please email us (mailto:chezpim@gmail.com) if you are a forensic specialist and would like to offer help.

Volunteering In Chennai

If you are volunteering in Chennai, then we have the following teams set in place for the immediate relief work:

• • Collection and Information Team: This team will handle calls,

receive donations of money, clothes, medicines, blankets and vessels and send receipts, give information on the current status of relief work. This team will also give out press releases, send out email reports and call for further donations based on the needs. This is the team that people from outside must contact.

• • Allocation and Distribution: This team will get the needs from

various field locations, sort the materials collected, divide it up for different locations based on the need and send it to the field coordinators for distribution.

• • Field Team: In each area we have a team of volunteers who will be

coordinating the relief efforts and distribution of materials.

• Please figure out where you fit best, and give us a call. We urgently

need all the volunteers we can get.

• The people to contact are:

Bharati/Manohar/Hari (AID office) 044-28350403 Ravishankar (IIT Prof) 94440-84910 Chandra Anil 9382330752,044-28350403 Smitha Kalyani 98401-73800 Vibha Ravindran 98402-63275

ADDRESS : AIDINDIA , 20/34 , Rathinam Street , off Avvai Shanmugam road (near Besant Street) , Gopalapuram , Chennai

• College Students / Office Workers Can also volunteer after college/office hours , full time help preferable

Donations

Airline Miles

Thanks to our reader (http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/), here's how you can donate your airline miles to help Tsunami Victims:

Feeling a little cash strapped and still want to help? Got airline miles kicking around? You can donate airline mileage to The Red Cross,OxFam, Unicef and others through links provided below:

[1] Continental Airlines] Accepts donations for American Red Cross, AmeriCares, Careforce and Healing the Children. They make it really easy, you just log in and donate.

DeltaDelta: Accepts donations for The United Way and CARE. They have an automated telephone system you an call, at 1-800-325-3999. You can also email them at delta.bids@delta-air.com. You need to include your SkyMiles account number, the amount of mileage you wish to donate, and the name of the organization you want to receive your donation.

Northwest Airlines: You can donate your WorldPerks miles to the Red Cross, AmeriCares, Habitat for Humanity, OxFam and Unicef by contacting Northwest directly at 1-800-327-2881. Minimum donation is 5000 miles.

United Airlinesaccepts donations to the Red Cross. To donate, call Mileage Plus Customer Service at 1-800-421-4655.

Asia Mileswill let you contribute your miles to Unicef. Click on the link and download a donation form. Minimum donation 10,000 miles.

American AirlinesAllow you to donate AAdvantage miles to provide transportation for children who require medical treatment. You can donate online or call Customer Service at 1-800-421-0600.

C'mon. You know they're only going to expire.

In Kind Donations

All proceeds go to disaster relief

• Bradbury Software - From Nick Bradbury: Buy FeedDemon or TopStyle software (until the end of the month) and send the amount you pay to the disaster relief.