How poor people can help Japan

Hi, folks.

Many of you are mutually friendly with the much-missed tania_sings. Since I've been generally away from the internet over the past week, I'm really, really grateful that so many of my dear ones are posting updates on her safety and the safety of her family.

One of the things she mentioned to me in one of our first email exchanges after the tsunami (well before the extent of the nuclear crisis was known) was that there are ways for those of us who are, as I like to say, "broke as a joke" to help. I'm going to list those, but I'm also adding a bunch of stuff that has become more relevant as time has gone by.

♥ Family Links of the International Committee of the Red Cross/Red Crescent. Are you looking for a family member? Might a family member be looking for you? Do you know someone in Japan who has had trouble getting the word out that they are okay? The ICRC has a website—translated into several languages—set up to facilitate the contact of missing family members. You have to click through several screens to get to the List of Names, but I'm putting out the link tot he most general page so that folks aren't limited to reading the instructions and following the links in English (the site exists in English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese.)

♥ Donate blood. And in three months, donate blood again. The Red Cross is flooded with offers of blood right now, so plan a future donation—after this rush of donations has been exhausted/has expired, blood will be needed again. You can contact your local Red Cross/Red Crescent to find out where to donate. In the United States, you can go to http://www.redcrossblood.org. The International Federation of Red Cross/Red Crescent has a page listing all the national affiliates. If one clicks on the national (or regional) affiliate and enters "blood" in its search function, one will find local information about blood/plasma donation.

♥ Talk to your children, your children's teachers, the parents of your children's friends, their Boy Scout/Girl Scout/etc. leaders. The images coming out of Japan are terrifying, and a lot of kids are trying to make sense of what's happening. Also, when they see or hear about so much suffering, many kids want to do something to help. (I know I can relate to that!) In New York City, the Board of Education is allowing bake sales to benefit Japan to be added to the calendar (we have a pretty strict no-sweets rule here these days). Penny harvests can be started. With children, even knowing that they collected a little money can go a long way to feeling connected to people in other parts of the world. And every little bit helps—not only in terms of assisting those afflicted by the tragedy but in assisting young people in growing their civic consciousness and in helping them feel part of a community (worldwide as well as local) in times that seem so precarious.

♥ The same goes for adults. For those of us stuck in much safer climes, it's horrifying to know we can't "do anything" to help. Even doing what we can, we can experience spiritual turmoil. In this, I would encourage folks to reach out to one another, to friends, to faith communities if you have them, to organizations working for causes you believe are important.

♥ Volunteer! Even if you have no other skills, you can offer to stuff envelopes at the local Doctors Without Borders, Red Cross, etc. Or work at your local food pantry; one thing that tends to happen is that folks will lower their contributions to local causes when they increase their contributions to international causes. But labor—that's always local. And it can help you as a person weather the terrible knowledge of these crises by giving you a sense of purpose and connecting you to other people.

♥ Find out if there are ways to support local folks who have family in Japan (either because they're in military service or because they're Japanese, or even are living there/visiting for other reasons). Everyone's soul can use some kindness and companionship in times of family crisis.

♥ Sign up for the Bone Marrow Registry. One of the things we're not talking about so much yet is that the long-term consequences of radiation exposure include increased risk of cancers, particularly leukemias and lymphomas. Bone marrow transplants are one of the treatments for such illnesses. In the US, you can contact Be the Match for information about registering as a bone marrow donor. Outside the United States, I'm not sure of the specifics on how to register, though there are certainly centers (I know because the BBC reported on Tuesday that "Five hundred bone marrow transplant centres across Europe are being asked to be on standby to treat Japanese radiation victims if the need arises"). I think the Red Cross/Red Crescent can help with this, too.

♥ Offer something—stories, art, baked goods, editing services, etc., on help_japan. You don't need to be a member of fandom to participate! Similarly, everyone can look through the offerings to see if they are willing to make a bid.

♥ If you're not-poor enough to collect frequent flier miles or hotel pointrs or credit card points or whatnot, major corporations have made it possible to leverage these for the good of relief efforts.

That's all I can think of at the minute, but I've been meaning to post something like this since Tania mentioned it on Saturday. Had I not been singing for days and then sleeping for days, I'd have got it up faster. Ah, well.

I'm going to unlock this post; feel free to boost the signal.