(reposted from In Kenzo’s @NPSL announcement post)

Have you wandered around the grid & web and wondered how you can directly support the people of Haiti?

Friday morning, January 22, at 8:30AM PST the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life will be hosting a dialogue with groups working on the ground & across the web to ship supplies, communicate with loved ones and begin the design process for rebuilding Haiti.  Many avatars have come together to join international aid efforts through a coordinated virtual campaign.

SLurl to meeting location in Second Life

From my colleague Joyce Bettencourt, aka Rhiannon Chatnoir of Global Kids & Vesuvius:

“Virtual Haiti Relief is made up of a group of individuals, some affiliated with various social, cultural, nonprofit and other community groups, within the virtual world of Second Life.

We have come together to help in the relief efforts for those who have suffered in the Haiti earthquake disaster. Collectively we have named our group Virtual Haiti Relief and through this group we will conduct fundraising and promote events for Haiti relief, along with offering resources and cultural information on Haiti.”

We will do our best to aggregate relief efforts coordinated inworld and share them through these channels:

• Virtual Haiti Relief website
• Virtual Haiti Relief Google group
• Virtual Haiti Relief Google calendar
• Twitter: @VirtualHaiti
• Facebook
• inSL avatar: VirtualHaitiRelief Engineer (for direct donations)
• inSL group: Virtual Haiti Relief

There are a handful of ways you can get involved:

• A coordinated campaign will link your virtual items for donation/auction sale: please label all gift items to share with VirtualHaiti in the title. Common kiosks are being created to link events, donations and sales together with the www.virtualhaitirelief.org coordinated site.  To vote on which charity to benefit visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/C2TNFWP –  Your votes will help us determine who will make the most of our virtual donation efforts.

• Many fundraising events are being planned @npsl and beyond: benefit concerts, cultural celebrations, educational events within an integrated campaign available around the grid.  Join the groups above if you’d like to get involved or share your fundraising event with the community and contact me directly if you would like to host your event at the Nonprofit Commons.

• Listen to people on the ground in Haiti share their experiences.
  • From Kali, aka Jessica from Community Voicemail:
    • Here is a link to the podcast my coworker did about her organization.  It details why her organization is able to get aid to smaller communities (and get aid in at all) when larger organizations are failing in this effort… http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=19212
      
  • Get involved with Crisis Camps around the world to develop the technology and tools needed to respond rapidly in Haiti. http://www.crisiscommons.org
  • Stay in touch with great nonprofits working on the ground:  some suggestions include Partners in Health, We Can Build An Orphanage, Architecture for Humanity — some of these groups need bulk donations of medical supplies, consumable materials, energy & water purification systems.  Mobilize your friends to help!

Thanks for your willingness to help others in need — we look forward to exploring with you how the hidden networks and virtual communities can mobilize in times of crisis.  See you tomorrow at Plush to continue this conversation together.

~In Kenzo @npsl @amoration