As everyone knows by now, Japan has suffered a major catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. All our hopes and prayers go out to them in their time of need. The people of Japan prepared extremely well and their response has been exceptional, but this event is greater than anyone could have imagined. Their needs are great and we should help as much as we can. Short of flying over there (and possibly being part of the problem rather than part of the solution) our best means of support is to donate money. The following are a few of the places to donate. I’m sure you can find more through Google, etc.
Red Cross, Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Northern CA (jcccnc.org/), americares.org, doctorswithoutborders.org or any branch of Union Bank.
We caution you however to check out charities that you are not perfectly sure are reputable. At the minimum, you should:
1. Never give cash. 2. Find out how the funds will be used and beware of charities that say things like “100% of funds will go to survivors” 3. Don’t give credit card information to anyone you are not totally sure of. 4. Get a receipt and never give to door-to-door solicitors. 5. Don’t click on unsolicited e-mail requests. 6. Be very skeptical of requests from individuals claiming to be survivors or foreign government officials asking for large sums of money going to overseas bank accounts. In short, watch out for the many who are using this period to take your money.
