How much?

We have been thinking about the people in Haiti this last week. Each day that went by, thousands died, trapped under debris, who could have been saved if help had been there. The waste of all these lives, all these people, makes me feel helpless and angry. So the obvious thing was to make a donation, to a hospital which is still operating in Port-au-Prince. At this point, where there is little hope of finding a lot more survivors under the rubble, we figured that this was a direct way to help save lives (surgery for infected wounds, and clean drinking water, are probably going to save the most lives at this point).

But how much to give? On the one hand, my compassion tells me to immediately wire the content of my bank account to Haiti. It is indisputable that they need it more than I do. On the other hand, I'm not exactly what you'd call affluent. So the number I was thinking made my husband swallow hard.

In the end, we decided to give the amount that we would normally spend on eating out in one month. There will be no restaurant dinners in February, no visits to the coffee shop for a latte, and all workday lunches will be packed. It adds up. And while eating out (even) less has been on my agenda for a long time (for physical and financial well being), I find that the thought of the money doing some real good instead gives me a resolve that I have never known before.