|
BCALA Executive Board Meeting: The President’s Proposal for Response to the Haitian Natural Disaster Effort --- The
BCALA Haitian Relief Fund
January 15, 2010
Colleagues:
I am confident that we have all offered our prayers for the recovery of the
people of Haiti in this time of crisis. The recent natural disaster in Haiti should
galvanize in each of us an action motivated response to bring about the
return of normalcy and a brighter future for this ravaged country. It is in this attempt to seize the opportunity for a brighter future for Haiti that I present this challenge to BCALA.
It is my proposal that BCALA step forward to initiate donations to this worthy recovery effort with a website based donation opportunity. The BCALA Haitian Relief Fund (www.bcala.org) provides a link for you to indicate your support through donation. All funds will be forwarded directly to the “Save the Children Fund” or to the American Red Cross. At the same time, BCALA strongly encourages the ALA membership -- and other organizations -- to develop a similar, website based donation strategy for Haitian relief efforts.
Accordingly, while I do not feel that we should restrict the decisions of the
American Red Cross in the dissemination of relief funds, I do feel that it is
imperative that we communicate to this organization our forward thinking
motivation: It is for the future that we rebuild the whole face of Haiti. That
future should include not only the rebuilding of the physical structure of Haiti,
but also the intellectual structure, which includes libraries.
Remember the intellectual networking that is inherent in each of us as
BCALA members…and part of this great nation and global community.
We are all brothers and sisters. Equity promotes that stance. Humanity requires that stance.
American Red Cross
Save the Children Fund
|