Save Haiti & Free Money

April 3, 2009

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Donations tabulated. 49 Rivendell customers donated $4,179 to S.O.I.L. Many thanks!

UPDATE: Tabulating donations today (4/22), and will post results. Thank-you to all who gave.


You may remember last month when we offered to match (to a point) charitable donations to SOMALY MAM FOUNDATION, the anti-sexual slavery group in Cambodia.
This month, until April 21, it's Haiti, and the organization we're raising money for is S.O.I.L. It sounds like dirt, and involves dirt---and human poop to boot---so it lacks the pull of sexual abuse of children. What doesn't?

This time, like last, when you donate up to $100 to SOIL, we'll match that in a credit to your account. We will PAY you to DONATE. If you don't plan to buy anything, then your credit might not be worth anything. But if you do, take a minute, go to the site, follow the prompts to the donation link and click away $10, $35....whatever, up to $100, and we'll cover your ENTIRE DONATION in credits.

You've donated $1600 so far. Twenty-two donations. We're shooting for $10,000 by April 21. On the 22nd, John goes on vacation, and he's the guy who keeps the donations organized and makes sure it all works. That's why it ends on the 21st.

 SOIL turns human poop into compost used to rejuvenate the land so they can grow crops and live. Haiti's soil needs the compost generated by human poop, and special toilets make it happen.

Here's a link to a recent NY Times story about SOIL. There's a YouTube link in the story; watch that.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/opinion/29kristof.html?ref=opinion

You might think, after the mention in the NYT, that some magnificent benefactor would cut a whopping check to SOIL. I thought the same, and asked. It turns out the mention raised about $8,000. SOIL's monthly budget is a bit over $5,000. Now that the story is old news, donations are tailing off drastically, and SOIL continues to survive month-to-month. According to SOIL's Sasha Kramer, the rent is due, and there's $2,000 in the bank.

Let's raise $10,000 in three weeks. That's how long this post will remain up. Here's how it works:

1.    Go here:

http://www.oursoil.org/

2.    Read about SOIL or just go to the donation section:

http://www.oursoil.org/donate.php

Follow the prompts and send your proof-o'-donation to

john@rivbike.com

We will match donations up to $100.

On Mondays and Fridays, John will create a credit in your favor for the amount you gave (up to $100) to S.O.I.L., which will appear as an open invoice on your Riv account. We'll post the tally in this updated News section twice a week. Let's go! We're kicking it off with a $500 donation.

Everybody here at Rivendell