I am an entrepreneur, or at least that sounds better than what my wife says I do for a living. As an entrepreneur, I know that times can be up and down, and we wrestle with paying ourselves with our passion. I can only imagine what it would be like to be an entrep
reneur in a time of crisis. Many say we are all in a time of crisis now with the down economy, but my feeling is that it is actually easier now to be an entrepreneur. But what if you lost everything – your home and your business – all in an instant? I am talking about all the independent business people who were left with nothing after the Haiti earthquake. I have been paying close attention to some of the companies and organizations that are helping out in Haiti since our own relief effort back after the earthquake occurred.
The folks at Mercy Corps and their partner Mother Jones have teamed up to provide some relief to the entrepreneur in Haiti. The President and CEO of Mother Jones, Madeleine Buckingham, provided a statement on the MercyCorps site which states:
Mother Jones is committed to “smart, fearless journalism” that keeps people informed — and we’re also committed to effective real-world solutions that tackle social challenges and help people in need.
That’s why we’re proud to
support Mercy Corps’ efforts to help small and medium-sized businesses rebuild — creating jobs and helping communities. One hundred percent of your donation will go directly to this project, which will empower Haitian entrepreneurs to restart and expand their businesses – giving training and apprenticeships to earthquake survivors so that they, too, can gain good-paying, long-term employment.
I wanted to get this out this week as apparently on the site it is indicated that:
Gifts to any MPower project up to $5,000 total will be matched by an anonymous donor until 5 p.m. Pacific time on Monday, May 31.
MercyCorps does a great job of joining their community and have a Twitter presence, a place you can visit them on Facebook, and have communities started on Flickr and on YouTube. One of the things that jumps out at me is how they tell people about their cause and the very first link on their “Who We Are” column is their MercyCorps Blog, with the latest post by their founder Dan O’Neill. It shows their commitment to social media and their commitment to communication through the use of social tools. Leah Hazard heads their social media efforts and coordinates the use of social media for their social good! Great job, Dan and team! I also salute the people at Mother Jones and their CEO, Madeleine Buckingham. With a little help, entrepreneurs in Haiti might just launch a business that changes their world.
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Tags: Dan O'Neill, Haiti, Madeleine Buckingham, MercyCorps, Mother Jones
