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About Jim Turner
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Jim Turner is the leader of the One By One Media and it was his vision that began the business in 2004. Jim is a well-respected social media consultant and professional blogger, mentoring others to become professional bloggers and leading companies through successful online social media campaigns. Jim is well connected in advertising, public relations, marketing and other business circles, consulting with Fortune 500 companies, large agencies and startup companies. Jim has experience in management and leadership from working in the law for more than 20 years and is taking those skills to the social media arena and making companies successful as they enter into the Web 2.0 business space. Jim serves on the advisory boards of a few companies to consult them in how to make their companies work in the social media environment. Jim lives in Colorado with his wife and four children.Pakistan NOW… Not Later
As we reported last week, more than 17 million people have been affected by the Pakistan floods, and eight million of them require immediate life-saving aid, according to the United Nations. After the first accounts of the natural disaster, there seemed to be little media attention and support rallying for the devastated country. Fortunately, a group of renowned artists and cultural influencers are raising their voices to help Pakistan NOW – not later – and forming the relief and recovery initiative, you guessed it, Pakistan NOW.
Starting today, August 31st, a number of prominent and compassionate figures including Alyssa Milano, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, P. Diddy, and others will put into motion a committed “social media wave” to bring light to the UN’s efforts in Pakistan. The social media wave will be a week-long drive with daily messages about Pakistan promoted by celebrities via Twitter and Facebook. Each day, the individuals involved will focus on engaging their fans, followers, and the public, and connecting them to the UN or other organizations making a difference.
Here’s to hoping that the number of celebrities and humanitarian organizations in support of Pakistan will continue to rise. Milano, who is a Unicef Ambassador, made this PSA for the U.S. Unicef Fund.
Any funds raised by Pakistan NOW will support the United Nation’s work in Pakistan through the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), a humanitarian funding mechanism established by the United Nations to enable more timely and reliable assistance to victims of natural disasters and armed conflicts. The CERF was created to ensure that funds are available immediately in response to disasters and emergencies. The Fund provides an easy and centralized way to support the UN’s life-saving efforts in humanitarian crises around the world. Whether in response to a headline disaster or a forgotten crisis, the CERF permits the UN to respond rapidly and equitably to save lives.
Starting today, you can use your voice online to spread the message about helping PAKISTAN NOW. We talk a lot about “social media for social good.” It’s time to walk the walk.
You can learn more about the how to help Pakistan NOW here and you can donate to the cause here.
A Lifeline for Pakistan…
Angelina Jolie recently gave $100,000 to help victims of the recent floods in Pakistan out of concern that compassion fatigue might slow donations to relief organizations.
The Washington Post quoted her as saying she understands “it is getting hard for people – they see Haiti, they see these other events … and they get exhausted by the time another big one rolls around.” But she said Pakistanis face “mass death, mass displacement, and this situation is going to get worse.”
It is hard to keep an open heart (and wallet) when so many devastating events have happened one after another this year. But that is also an easy excuse to check out.
The gross national income per person in Pakistan is $369.70. About a dollar a day. In these kinds of posts people usually compare stuff to a cup of coffee or something. But, jeez, a buck? Even mini-mart coffee costs more than that. A small donation goes a long way. (Of course, they have to rent helicopters to deliver a lot of the materials needed, so no one’s gonna turn down a large donation. Just so you know…)
In case you missed the pertinent details…
The United Nations has reported that more than 17 million people have been affected by the floods, and eight million of them require immediate life-saving aid. Pakistan said the floods have destroyed or damaged 1.2 million homes. More than one million people are living in tents and at least five million others are in need of emergency shelter. The UN has also stated that up to 3.5 million children are at risk from water-borne diseases and said it was bracing to deal with thousands of potential cholera cases. More than 1,500 people across Pakistan have been killed and hundreds of thousands stranded due to flash floods triggered by the ongoing spell of monsoon rains.
In the hope that you can find a few dollars to spare – one more time – we are listing Charity Navigator’s four-star charitable organizations currently providing aid in Pakistan. We’ve included direct links to their Pakistan-related webpages as well as info from their sites regarding what kind of help they’re providing.
We know we’re always asking. But it’s only because there are so many good people willing to do something good, tell people about it, and then do it again! Thanks. Again.
Action Against Hunger
Our first priority is to contain the spread of deadly water-borne illnesses while we work to rehabilitate water networks and distribution systems. Action Against Hunger | ACF International’s field teams will provide access to clean water through water trucking, repair water points, disinfect contaminated sources, and distribute purification tablets. Our emergency response will also include constructing emergency latrines and public sanitation facilities, distributing thousands of hygiene kits, organizing hygiene promotion campaigns, and helping communities clear the streets of rubble and debris.
ActionAid International
ActionAid is currently working in seven districts providing food and hygiene and household kits, targeting the most vulnerable.
American Jewish World Service
AJWS grantee partners in Pakistan are saving lives by mobilizing emergency support for victims of the flooding and helping to prevent the spread of disease. They are erecting temporary shelters for those whose homes have been destroyed, facilitating access to clean drinking water in government relief camps and working with local and national government authorities to expedite the relief process.
AmeriCares
The latest AmeriCares airlift contains more than $500,000 worth of critical medical aid to help survivors of the devastating floods. The shipment includes medicines and medical supplies to help people suffering from serious infections, pain, fever and injuries.
CHF International
In Pakistan we are focusing our efforts on preparing for reconstruction, for example, repairing roads and irrigation systems, and applying our expertise at agriculture, for example, helping to reduce the extensive damage done by the massive silting of agricultural land in the floods.
Concern Worldwide
Concern Worldwide is now helping 500,000 people in Pakistan. We’re working in many areas across the country, providing essential food and supplies to those people in most need.
Convoy of Hope
Convoy of Hope has sent funds to its partners on the ground to purchase emergency supplies and is deploying a relief team to the area.
Doctors Without Borders
To curb the possible outbreak of waterborne diseases, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is ramping up the distribution of clean water in larger towns and remote villages located throughout the Charsadda, Swat, Nowshera, Lower Dir, and Dargai districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. In the coming days, MSF will also start water and sanitation activities in Sindh and Baluchistan provinces as well.
Episcopal Relief and Development
Episcopal Relief & Development will be contributing through the ACT Alliance’s general appeal for those affected by the recent flooding in Pakistan. Disaster response activities will help vulnerable people in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh. ACT is working through local implementing partners to provide food and other critical items to over 86,500 people, shelter kits for 25,500 persons, and health care to 36,500 individuals.
Food for the Hungry
Your help makes a difference and supports our relief efforts in providing emergency supplies to families displaced from their homes, many whom have lost everything but the clothes they’re wearing.
World Food Programme
As floodwaters continue to wreak havoc across Pakistan, hundreds of thousands of people have been cut off from help. WFP is stepping up airlifts of food and supplies for these isolated communities and bringing in more helicopters. Three new ones arrived on Sunday.
Giving Children Hope|
Giving Children Hope will be distributing relief medical supplies and equipment to three medical centers and mobile medical clinics located in Peshawar, Pakistan, the capital of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province- one of the hardest hit by the flood.
Global Fund for Children
In solidarity with our partners, Shangla Development Society, Aware Girls, De Laas Gul Welfare Programme (DLG), and Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy (PODA), The Global Fund for Children has mobilized emergency funding for each organization, which has helped them to collect and deliver essential bedding, clothing, food, and clean water to families in northern and northwestern Pakistan.
GlobalGiving
Immediate support for 3,000 families through clean drinking water, mosquito nets, water coolers for safe drinking water, and hygiene promotion.
International Rescue Committee
The International Rescue Committee is delivering blankets and other urgently needed items to flood victims and working to thwart outbreaks of waterborne disease.
Islamic Relief USA
While more than 500 Islamic Relief staff-members work to deliver aid and supplies to flood victims, Islamic Relief USA is coordinating a $23 million aid shipment filled with medical supplies and medicines to benefit the victims.
MAP International
With a cash gift you can provide essential medicines and relief supplies to charitable mission hospitals and emergency medical teams in some of the worst affected districts of Pakistan.
Medical Teams International
Medical Teams International is responding to the disastrous flooding in Pakistan by providing essential medicines and supplies. Three containers of medical supplies have been shipped to Medical Teams International partners in the flood-affected area of the country. The medicines and supplies are enough to help hundreds of thousands of people and are valued at nearly $2 million. We shipped four more containers the week of August 9 bringing the total value of shipments to nearly $5 million. An additional five containers will be shipped in September bringing the total value of all the shipments to nearly $8 million.
Operation USA
Through a well-developed network of local partner agencies, Operation USA is working to provide critical medical aid, water purification tablets and shelter relief to those made most vulnerable by the devastation, with an emphasis on the needs of women and children.
Oxfam America
Oxfam and our partners have launched a rapid-relief effort to reach more than one million people with essential aid. Despite major damage to the region’s transportation and communication systems, we are installing latrines and water-storage tanks and delivering clean water by truck to prevent deadly waterborne diseases from sweeping through communities of displaced people.
Relief International
Since Friday, July 30, Relief International has been providing immediate humanitarian relief through emergency health services and the provision of clean water, shelter and emergency supplies to families affected by the heavy rains and floods in Pakistan.
Samaritan’s Purse
We are distributing food packages as well as hygiene items, cooking utensils, Bibles, bedding, clothing, and medicine.
Save the Children|
*Save the Children has negotiating partnerships with the World Food Program to help feed up to 85,000 families.
*Mobile and stationary medical teams provide emergency medical care to thousands of children and adults, especially women.
*We will be providing water purification tablets, which families can use to purify drinking water. Our teams will ensure that families know how to treat water to make it safe.
*We provided 11,800 people in Swat with tents, shelter kits, and other essential materials. In Dera Ismail Khan, over 9,600 people are being sheltered in tents from Save the Children.
* Save the Children’s highest priority for the coming weeks is to save children’s lives and rush food, water, shelter materials, medical care and other essentials to affected communities.
United Methodist Committee on Relief
UMCOR is responding to the Pakistan floods by providing clean drinking water, food, temporary shelter, and medical aid to tens of thousands of people in collaboration with Church of Pakistan, Church World Service, and GlobalMedic.
United States Fund for UNICEF
Food, clean water and health supplies are desperately needed. UNICEF has already
* provided hygiene kits, water tankers and high-energy biscuits;
* repaired 73 tube wells benefitting 800,000 people; and
* helped set up 24 medical camps benefitting an estimated 1 million people.
World Vision
You’ll enable World Vision to continue meeting the basic needs of flood survivors by supplying emergency food, clean water, shelter, medical care, and more. And you’ll help World Vision support Pakistan for the long-haul, through programs to improve nutrition, health care, shelter, and economic development.
Not evaluated by Charity Navigator, but certainly an excellent way to reach out to the people of Pakistan:
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) will help the Pakistan Red Crescent Society to reach over 900,000 people. This assistance includes emergency relief, tents and shelter kits, medical care, clean water and improved sanitation, as well as help to restore livelihoods in the coming months.
CitizenGulf’s National Day of Action – August 25, 2010
During this week of the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, CitizenGulf’s National Day of Action — promoted by Gulf Coast Benefit — is hosting a nationwide series of fundraising meetups to benefit Catholic Charities of New Orleans. Proceeds will go directly to education for the children of fishermen hit hard by the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. WhatGives!? pal, Andy Sternberg is one of the organizers of the gathering in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening and asked us to help spread the word.
Below is the info on the LA party – which, by the way, is actually in Santa Monica. Not to be confused with the Santa Monica party that is also in Santa Monica. You’ll be pleased to hear the the Houston party is actually in Houston. Find a party and GO!!! Or, if your social calendar is jammed, you can donate online!
CitizenGulf LA: August 25, 2010
Join us at the newly-opened The Central Social Aid & Pleasure Club, a music and events venue in Santa Monica to raise funds for education resources for children of fishing families affected by the Gulf Coast Oil Spill. The Central is a 21+ venue.
MUSIC (8:30p):
and Stranger Danger (DJ Set)
ART & FILM (5-8p):
Five Years ago… An 18-minute documentary shot in New Orleans’ lower ninth ward 6 months after Hurricane Katrina will be screened. The filmmakers will be present.
…to Today… A collection of photographs, paintings and installations depicting and inspired by the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to the present day Oil Spill disaster.
FOOD:
The world-renowned Dante Fried Chicken truck will be serving it up in The Central’s lot.
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CitizenGulf LA is a collaborative initiative between Andy Sternberg, Clinton Schaff, Citizen Effect, Gulf Coast Benefit, Social Media Club, Shelly O’Neill of Rootz Media and The Central.
Wyclef Jean, Warrior of Action for Haiti
How do you measure devastation? By how many buildings are destroyed? By the death toll? By how many weeks an incident is the top story in the news? Because of the January 12th Haiti earthquake, more than 222,570 people have died, 300,572 were injured, and at one point a 2.3 million were displaced. Still, the recent BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the World Cup frenzy have shoved coverage of conditions in Haiti to the back of the bus.
flickr, photo by DSC_7928 (w)
However, on the tragedy’s six month anniversary, musician and humanitarian Wyclef Jean is bringing attention back to Haiti relief efforts through a series of national opinion pieces. As the founder of the non-profit organization Yele Haiti, Jean is calling to action world leaders and anyone who can aid in Haiti’s recovery.
Photographs of the country’s vulnerable state may no longer be front page news, but accounts of kidnappings, rapes, and sexual abuse continue have not stopped. In his letter, Jean wrote, “women are at increased risk of violence and rape because they cannot lock their door at night. Children are at increased risk of abduction, trafficking and prostitution because they are living in the streets.“
Jean is turning to the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, which includes the United Nations and former Presidents Bush and Clinton, to ensure that the billions of dollars pledged around the world for Haiti’s reconstruction are delivered.
“I’m a warrior and can’t stand by quietly while promises aren’t kept. I won’t ever surrender,” expressed Jean. “We’ve seen the situation, and we’ve been listening to others on the ground. It’s still bleak. Rubble and collapsed buildings are everywhere.”
In a digital world where content dissemination flies before our eyes at warp speed, and today’s triumphs and failure’s are yesterday’s news until a milestone anniversary, keeping up-to-date on disaster relief developments is crucial. What blogs and publications do you read to stay on top of calls to action for causes close to your heart (other than Whatgives!?, of course 
)?
To contribute to Yele Haiti’s earthquake relief fund, go here, or text “Yele” 501501, which automatically donates $5 to the initiative.
James Cameron’s Latest Underwater Venture
The oceanic acumen filmmaker James Cameron gained while making “The Abyss” and “Titanic” is proving to be more valuable than both of his highest grossing films of all time. Considered an expert in underwater filming, Cameron joined a think tank of 20 scientists and engineers from the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies in Washington on Tuesday to come up with solutions to stop the massive oil leak that’s overwhelming the Gulf of Mexico. The Oscar-winning director recently offered his fleet of deep water submarines to assist in alleviating the spill.
Cameron isn’t the only Hollywood heavyweight putting his mind and his money to good use. As we reported on May 21, actor and activist Kevin Costner has some deep therapy in mind for the devastated New Orleans area – Ocean Therapy. Two weeks ago, BP had plans to test out Costner’s oil extracting machines that were 15 years and $24 million dollars in the making. However, there hasn’t been any word on any testing reports as of yet.
Media coverage on the disaster overall has slimmed down ever since the Associated Press, CBS, and other outlets said they were being allowed only limited access to areas affected by the oil leak, due to plane and boat restrictions on May 29. Officials are reportedly saying that some parts have been closed off to the media in order to protect the wildlife and keep air traffic under control. According to CBS, one of the network’s reporting teams was told the group would be arrested by the Coast Guard under the advisory of BP if they did not leave the area. However, the U.S. Coast Guard says BP is not controlling media access.
Whatever the reason and whoever is in charge, the fact that we’re hearing accounts of coverage restrictions is not good. If the public is to help the devastated region come up with a solution, the public needs to be informed. In the six weeks that have passed since BP’s oil rig exploded off the Louisiana coast, killing 11 people and countless wildlife, the company’s recovery efforts have fallen more than short. According to the New York Times, the government estimates that 12,000-19,000 barrels of oil are being spewed daily from 5,000 feet below the surface.
We’re hoping Cameron, Costner, and the underwater experts working toward relief will be able to prevent further damage. In the meantime, the Greater New Orleans Foundation has formed the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund to connect donors and nonprofits in support of areas that have been impacted by the disaster.
To learn more about how you can volunteer and help the Gulf Coast community, check out the Southeastern Council of Foundations and Tonic.
Photo by Jurvetson, Flickr.