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Welcome once again to the official Friday’s Food for Thought post. We hope you all had a productive work week. Unfortunately, for many in Haiti, it was not a good week by any stretch of the imagination. The island nation experienced the worst earthquake in 200 years in the Caribbean. And, we covered extensively the role that GEOINT has played in humanitarian efforts. When a disaster of this magnitude strikes, we can’t help but reflect on how fragile the human existence is and how important it is to help out others. And, we are seeing this happen in real life, as many people are donating funds to help those in need in Haiti. So, always be thankful for what you have and help out others in need. Read on and happy Friday!

Devastation in Haiti: How Can I Help Out?
The next question on many people’s minds after learning about the earthquake devastation in Haiti has been: How can I help? Most organizations are asking for monetary donations. They are not seeking material items, like clothes or food, or volunteers at this time. These agencies have set up phone lines, online donation pages and even texting for individuals to contribute to their relief efforts. We’ve compiled a list of a few organizations who are in Haiti helping those in need. More about how you can help out, check out this CNN article.

Crisis Mappers: Stepping It Up for Haiti
The concept of GEOINT and disaster response has kicked into full gear this week. In addition to GeoEye providing satellite imagery of the devastation, the International Network of Crisis Mappers has paired up with local officials to map incidents and missing people. Check out more here. The LA Times has launch its GoogleMap to help cover the story. Check that out here. Finally, be sure to check out Crisis Commons, which has plenty of geo-related data the earthquake.

Check Out “Global Giving”
GlobalGiving is an online marketplace that connects you to the causes and countries you care about. You can simply select the projects you want to support, make a tax-deductible contribution, and get regular progress updates – so you can see your impact. The aim of GlobalGiving is to change the way people give, offering donors a transparent, high-impact giving experience. You choose where you want your money to go, and they will get it there, quickly and efficiently. What a great way to easy make a donation! To learn more, click here.

Rethinking Ways to Give Wisely
Individuals in the U.S. give away more than $200 billion a year, yet the vast majority of those decisions are made ad hoc.Few donors have any idea whether they are giving to the best organization in the area they want to improve, or even whether their giving is doing what they want it to do.A slew of nascent efforts to rate and grade charities, as well as the pending overhaul of the big kahuna of nonprofit ratings groups, Charity Navigator, may change all that. At least a half-dozen groups have come up with different answers to the question of how to help donors make good decisions. In addition to Charity Navigator, these online efforts include GiveWell, Philanthropedia, and GreatNonprofits.In addition, GuideStar, which serves as a clearinghouse of data and information on nonprofits, has begun adding some of these rating efforts to its site.Offline, two new efforts—from Root Cause and Partners for Change Initiative—are working to get information into the hands of financial advisers as they struggle with how to help their clients make giving decisions. Read the full BusinessWeek article here.

Helping Others Can Reduce Stress and Increase Happiness
Helping others brings good feelings to the giver and the receiver of the good deeds. Using your special gifts to help others can be a gift to yourself as you enjoy a self esteem boost for making others’ lives better, and make the world a better place. You feel more worthy of good deeds yourself, your trust in the decency of people is reinforced, and you feel more connected to yourself and to others. In fact, research shows that those who demonstrate more altruistic social interest tend to enjoy higher levels of mental health, above and beyond the practical benefits of receiving help and other known psychospiritual, stress, and demographic factors that you would expect. Read more here.

Help!
This one was almost too easy, but we had to post Help” by The Beatles.

We hope you have a restful weekend!

Tags: Crisis Commons, data, Earthquake in Haiti, GEOINT and Natural Disasters, Haiti, Imagery, International Network of Crisis Mappers, Mapping, United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, USGIF