Best of luck to you and your kids with your fundraising!

Personally, I tend to agree with Jack that the best way would be to find a school or the like and donate directly.

One thought that crept into my head when reading this was "why not adopt a class and target your help there?" I take it, that any decent NO newspaper would be able to direct you to a school in need of assistance, and if you then select a class your own grade, you'd be able to follow them, maybe turn them into your "friendship class" in the longer run and exchange visits at a later date.

I read somewhere, that a lot of the poor families in NO who lost everything didn't have insurance, so they're likely to be struggling even more than before for a good while after this disaster. At present this means, that there'll be kids who have lost everything down to the last pencil. Looking ahead a bit it also means that the families will not be in any position to give their kids the "little treats" that come naturally to most other kids - outings and the like, for instance.

I know, that after Tjernobyl a group of schoolkids from that area kept coming to Denmark for years invited by a group of people here. As I recall, they spent about 2 weeks here each year during which time they stayed with host families and were fed properly (something they weren't always at home due to lack of funds) and taken on various outings. Some also had health problems addressed while here - visits to the dentist and the like, things that were out of bounds at home.

Now, I'm not suggesting your kids take on anything on a scale like that, but the story gives you an idea of where I'm heading ;-) It's often the long haul - when the spotlights have been turned off or directed someplace else - that's the hardest and most sluggish. But if you know your recipients and take part in their progress through letters, then your little spotlight on them could be their shining beacon (Aww come off it, would someone grab me by the ancle and pull me back to terra firma.. ;-))

Anyway, what I wanted to say was "You can't help everybody, but everybody can help somebody". And if your "somebody" has a name, possibly even a face, and you know for sure that he needs that particular schoolbook and a pair of shoes size xx, then you really know you're doing a difference when you drop those items in the mail for him. Hands-on experience, so to speak.

Sorry about the ramble, I hope it makes some sort of sense anyway ;-)

Best wishes,

Bente