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The first earthquake in Haiti was bad enough. An estimated 200,000 dead and 1.5 million people homeless on this little nation broke the heart of the world. As of January 19th, 2010 a 6.1 aftershock only brought more pain.

Haiti needs our help. As with all the good that can come from such a situation, bad people come out of the woodwork too, hoping to scam a few more dollars.

In times past even respectable organizations have admitted to not handling donations properly. With the emotions involved with what must be a nightmare, for the people of Haiti, those of us who want to help need to be certain we’re dealing with reputable organizations. Here are five that have proven themselves over the years:

Helping Haiti: Five Great Charities to Donate Through Number One:

Joel Osteen Ministries-

While the author himself has differing religious convictions than those of Joel Osteen, there's also a tremendous amount of respect for this man, since now is no time for any "contests." Reverend Osteen is not only trustworthy with money donated to help the people of Haiti, he’s making it rather easy to help, with a variety of payment methods on his page.

Helping Haiti: Five Great Charities to Donate Through Number Two:

The American Red Cross-

Has there ever been a crisis where these folks didn't show up? After the 9/11 tragedy in New york City, some questions arose about handling of funds, and the director graciously stepped down, showing great leadership. Even with the questions about an organization so large, they've still been there for so many of us when we were in need. Donations can be made at the website listed in the link above, or call: 1-800-RED-CROSS, to help.

Helping Haiti: Five Great Charities to Donate Through Number Three:

Partners in Health-

This group was among the first responders in Haiti. Some of the membership even spent their own personal funds to get there and help where they could. Such courage is worthy of our trust. Donations are not only accepted via the website listed, but donors can still also help by mail, at the following address:

Partners In Health

P.O. Box 845578

Boston, MA 02284-5578

Helping Haiti: Five Great Charities to Donate Through Four:

Lutheran World Relief-

Lutheran World Relief is a surprisingly old, and very dependable charity. Not only are they dependable and trustworthy with your donations, they've made it about as easy as they can, to help. All somebody would need to do is text "LWR" to 40579 to make a $10 (USD) donation. The dollar amount is added to the cell-phone bill. If you prefer, you can also donate by credit card over the phone by calling 1-800-LWR-LWR-2 (1-800-597-5972)

Helping Haiti: Five Great Charities to Donate Through Five:

Yele.org-

In spite of recent allegations of mismanagement of funds, musician Wyclef Jean is from Haiti. Most of his "problems" appear to be over government/bureaucratic red-tape and paperwork filing. As for the money: the man has put more of his own money into helping Haiti than some charities are able to collect. It's easy to help too. All someone needs do to help is text "YELE" to 501501 to make a $5 donation.

As a side note about donating to help Haiti:-

If any reader is concerned about the legitimacy of any charities requesting donations, CharityNavigator offers the resource of having investigated and audited a variety of groups and organizations. They haven't checked every group out yet, but they'll certainly warn you of scams, and that's always helpful. Sources:

Embedded, and,

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/cb_haiti_earthquake