*Guest blog by Katie Kallio, communications advisor with the Canadian Red Cross *
A 3 year-old girl gives her donation for Haiti to Red Cross Fund Development Associate, Julie Francis last January.
It was a cold winter day and I had just left the office and was on my way home when I got my first call about the earthquake in Haiti. In some disasters the scale isn't immediately apparent – in Haiti it was.
I ran back to the office – as did most of my colleagues. While our team in Haiti opened up the offices to provide emergency first aid our team at home was rapidly scaling up a response that would soon become the largest single country response in our history.
After two weeks of working around the clock I remember an email circulating that made most of us cry. It was the story of a 3 year-old girl from Ontario who donated all the money in her piggy banks – her life savings of $64.04 – because she wanted so much to help. It was one of those stories that reminded us what we were apart of – it reminded us of the power of humanity.
And this little girl was not alone, from coast to coast Canadians supported this response and today – their generosity is having a meaningful impact for survivors in Haiti. I know this because I have seen it first hand.
Your generous donations have helped us provide clean drinking water, medical care, shelter, and emergency supplies to millions of people, and will allow us to continue to do so for years to come.
Thank you for your compassion and generosity!