Hey gang,
Sirk here. On behalf of myself, my employer, the Columbus Crew, the Crew Soccer Foundation, and everyone who contributed in some way to the creation of the book, I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to the 18 people who bought books during our Haiti fundraiser. (Which is honestly exactly DOUBLE what I was thinking we might get on such short notice.)
Bolstered by the revenue foregone by the CSF as part of this effort, I pledged to write a check for $11 for each book sold through 5pm today, and 18 x $11 = $198. It was so close that I rounded it up to $200, meaning my employer will also kick in $200 to match, for a total donation of $400 to Doctors Without Borders for their relief efforts in Haiti.
In situations like this, I find it helpful to visualize what the money could buy. Anyone who has ever checked their medical bills might assume that $400 would buy the Haitians a couple of popsicle stick tongue-depressors and a few of those extra-long one-sided Q-tips. But that is not the case.
I was reading that one of the big concerns right now is that there are many untreated open wounds. Obviously, the original emphasis was on life or death procedures, which meant many people with open (yet not life-threatening) wounds were left to wait. But in the weeks that have followed, those people are now at risk for serious infections, gangrene and even something that we Americans only associate with a shot we get every several years.
“We are also worried about tetanus, which is naturally occurring,” wrote epidemiologist Brigg Reilley on the Doctors Without Borders website. “It’s in the soil, it’s in the environment, and so big open, dirty wounds are likely to cause tetanus. The vaccination rate in Haiti is only about 60 percent. There is no cure, and it is fatal in more than 50 percent of cases. There have already been a few cases. The incubation period is usually about 14 days and we are about to hit that, but tetanus is also something that can affect you months later. Vaccinating people with wounds for tetanus is going to be a priority as well.”
So latching on to tetanus shots for illustrative purposes, I looked at the CDC website and it seems that a batch of 10 tetanus vaccinations costs $13.25. That means that the $400 combined donation is the equivalent of approximately 302 doses of the tetanus vaccine. So if you want to visualize what you did, that’s what you did.
As a bonus, I hope you enjoy the book. I’d like to think that SOME good deeds go unpunished.
The Columbus Crew, Studio 35 and the Crew Soccer Foundation invite you to kick off the 2010 World Cup with a special showing of the 2005 film The Game of Their Lives this Thursday, June 10!
