Haiti text donations to Red Cross pass $5M

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Haiti text donations to Red Cross pass $5M

By Barbara Ortutay, Ap Technology Writer – Thu Jan 14.

NEW YORK – U.S. cell phone users have contributed more than $5 million in $10

increments to the Red Cross for Haiti disaster relief, by far the largest

outpouring of support via mobile devices in history.

The response to the devastating earthquake produced the highest amount of mobile

donations " that we have ever seen, " said Jenifer Snyder, executive director of

mGive Foundation, the nonprofit group that is working with the Red Cross and

wireless carriers to channel the donations.

To donate to the Red Cross, mobile users are texting the word " Haiti " to the

number 90999. Snyder said the money is coming in at a rate of roughly $200,000

an hour. As of Thursday afternoon, people had donated $5.1 million.

" We could be handling more, " she said. " We are not at capacity. "

Red Cross spokesman Lowe called the outpouring of $10 donations by

hundreds of thousands of mobile users " nothing short of awe-inspiring. " But he

said the largest donations the organization is getting is still coming in

online.

So far, the Red Cross has released $10 million for earthquake relief in Haiti.

On Thursday morning's " The Early Show " on CBS, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham

Clinton asked Americans to contribute to the Red Cross via text donations. And

on social networks Twitter and Facebook, users continued to urge one another to

text money as well.

Other charities, such as singer Wyclef Jean's Yele, were also collecting mobile

donations. To send $5, donors can text " Yele " to the number 501501. The

J. Clinton Foundation was accepting $10 per text from users sending the word

" Haiti " to 20222.

Verizon Wireless said Thursday morning its users have pledged more than $1

million to the Red Cross through text donations. The outpouring easily surpassed

earlier records for mobile giving.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Red Cross collected $400,000

from mobile users. A year earlier, following the Asian tsunami that left 230,000

people dead, the organization received $200,000 through text messages, Verizon

Wireless said, citing industrywide figures.

, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless, called mobile donations a " new

stream of philanthropy. "

" So many folks who are texting $10 now might not have been at a place to write a

check, or call a toll-free number or send mail, " he said.

Wireless carriers, including AT & T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint, said they were

not charging regular text-messaging fees on top of the donations.

T-Mobile USA Inc., which is also waiving texting fees, said Thursday it is

enabling international calls to Haiti free of charge through Jan. 31 and will

retroactively credit accounts for such calls made since Tuesday. And T-Mobile

users in Haiti will be able to make roaming calls on local networks Voila and

Digicel thorough the end of the month, the company said.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects spelling of Lowe in 5th graf. ADDS

J. Clinton Foundation in 8th graf. RECASTS 13th graf to reflect Sprint now

waiving fees too.)

http://news./s/ap/20100115/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_haiti_text_donations