Sal LaMattina
Boston City Councilor, District 1
Dear Friends:
We’ve all been moved by the news and images coming from Haiti. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of that nation, as well as their friends and relatives who are here in the United States. Greater Boston has, in fact, one of the largest Haitian communities in this country.
There are a number of ways that each of us can take action to help our neighbors to the south. First, cases of bottled water will be accepted 24 hours a day until Saturday at the Boston Harbor Shipyard Marina at the end of Marginal Street in East Boston. The water will be loaded onto a ship bound for Haiti that will set out the following day.
Beyond sending clean drinking water, donating to organizations that are doing important work on the ground in Haiti is critical. You can quickly donate a small amount that will be added to your cell phone bill by sending a short text message to 90999. Texting “HAITI” to the number sends $10 to the American Red Cross, while texting “DOB” sends $5 to Doctors Without Borders.
To make a more substantial donation, go to any of these web sites:
Red Cross
UNICEF
Doctors Without Borders
Food for the Poor
Habitat for Humanity
World Vision (salesforce to match donations up to $100,000)
American Red Cross (salesforce to match donations up to $100,000)
The Boston Foundation Haiti Fund (select Haiti Fund from dropdown menu, Ansara Family Fund to match donations up to $1,000,000)
I’m proud of the response to this disaster that I’ve seen from the American people and the US government, and I want to thank you for all you’ve done personally.
Sincerely,
Salvatore LaMattina
District 1 City Councilor
