For those of you who live in or near Haitian communities, helping Haiti by helping your neighbors is an obvious way thing to do. But even for the rest of us, there is a way to help out. On NPR, they were saying how relief groups in Haiti were being overrun by volunteers, and that this could do more harm than good in terms of redundant/overlapping services and in terms of diverting resources (food, water, etc.) needed fro Haitians to support the excess volunteers.

What should folks who want to help do, then?, asked the reporter. The answer: Help your neighbors. If you have neighbors who are medical or military personnel or volunteers helping directly with Haitian relief and/or who have ties to the Haitian community, they are probably overwhelmed right now, and you can help the people of Haiti by helping these neighbors shovel their sidewalks, walk/feed their pets, etc. I think this serves as a great lesson for whenever the question of "It seems so far away-how can I help?" pops into our heads.

Just an idea.