Skip to main content

Texters Contribute Over $5M to Red Cross for Haiti

red-cros-textU.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 Roger Lao 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.

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.

Jeffrey Nelson, 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.

Most wireless carriers said they were not charging regular text-messaging fees on top of the donations. Sprint Nextel Corp. spokeswoman Crystal Davis said the company was in discussion over how to handle regular texting fees for the donations.

T-Mobile USA Inc. 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.

Editors' Recommendations

Dena Cassella
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Haole built. O'ahu grown
Apple just announced the dates for WWDC 2024
WWDC 2024 banner.

Apple has just announced the dates for its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024. WWDC will take place from June 10 through June 14, 2024. A special event will be held at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, on June 10, and we expect to see the reveal of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, tvOS 18, macOS 15, and visionOS 2.

WWDC will be free for all developers online. Developers will be able to access a variety of online sessions and labs that will showcase the latest advancements in software across all of Apple’s hardware.

Read more
Does the Moto G Stylus have NFC?
Moto G Stylus 5G 2023 leaning

The Motorola Moto G Stylus is a line of midrange Android smartphones, each of which comes packing a stylus — as the name ,akes clear. The two latest models are the Moto G Stylus (2023) and the Moto G Stylus 5G (2023). Although these models are similar, they have some noticeable differences, including their support for near-field communication (NFC) technology. This article will examine which Moto G Stylus models come with NFC and which do not.
What is NFC?

Near-field communication (NFC) is a technology that lets two gadgets communicate with each other when they are within a few centimeters of each other. It is useful for touch payments, e-tickets, data sharing, and effortlessly linking devices via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Read more
Galaxy AI is now available for these other Samsung phones
A white Samsung Galaxy S23 next to a pink Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus.

In January, Samsung introduced its Galaxy AI features alongside its Galaxy S24 series of smartphones. Since then, if you've wanted to use Galaxy AI, you've needed a Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus, or Galaxy S24 Ultra. That's about to change.

Samsung just announced that it's about to bring those Galaxy AI features to a lot more devices, meaning you'll soon be able to use Galaxy AI even if you don't have a Galaxy S24.

Read more