Philippines relief - how to help

Responding to the desperate need of storm victims
By Will Collette

After every major catastrophe, people of good will want to do what they can to help. The problem is how.

The typhoon that devastated the Philippines is a challenge for the government and for non-profit organizations because so much of the country's infrastructure was trashed along with the homes of almost a million people.

You will be seeing ads and appeals for humanitarian aid for the Philippines. Most of it will be from legitimate charities with a few rip-offs mixed in. The Red Cross will certainly be blitzing the airwaves asking you to send money. My advice on the Red Cross is to look elsewhere. They still haven't given out all the money people donated for Hurricane Sandy relief and other aid groups have out-performed them during other emergencies as well.

I do have two suggestions for organizations that Cathy and I trust with our own money. One is Doctors without Borders who have already sent in medical teams and supplies and are mobilizing more. The other is a Filipino charity based in the United States called Feed the Hungry.

Doctors without Borders is an international medical relief organization started in France in 1971 and was originally called Medecins Sans Frontieres. Their teams of doctors, nurses and allied professionals go into the world's war zones, famine-stricken areas and sites of natural catastrophes for the sole purpose of helping the injured, sick and starving without regard to any political considerations.

They are often the first non-governmental organization (NGO) in, and the last ones out, even when the bullets are flying. Cathy and I have been supporting them for years. They deserve your support, too.

Feed the Hungry was founded in 1993 by a group of Filipino-Americans to raise money for food for homeless street children and has grown over the past 20 years to become one of the major sources of private charitable help going to the Philippines from the United States.

DISCLOSURE: Cathy and I were first introduced to Feed the Hungry by our good friend Gloria Caoile who serves on the board of Feed the Hunger. Cathy and Gloria traveled to the Philippines several times to train women activists.

Feed the Hungry has mobilized relief efforts like this before - this is the fourth recent typhoon to hit the Philippines (click here for more information). A fifth major storm, Zoraida, is due to hit the islands Tuesday or Wednesday.

Any money you send to Feed the Hungry translates directly into aid to the Philippines.

Doctors without Borders and Feed the Hungry are both non-profit, tax-deductible charities under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS tax code.

To donate to Doctors without Borders relief for the Philippines, click here.

To donate to Feed the Hungry, click here.