Give More to USA, Not Just Haitians

When a crisis occurs in a foreign country, the international community responds to aid that country. The United States is typically one of those countries to respond. However, there comes a point when the United States needs to stop providing aid and focus on problems within its own borders.

            Over the past few weeks I must have seen ten different events being held on campus to send money to Haiti. While I think it's important for us to help other people in need, we as Americans have been sending money to Haiti for almost two months now. This mass collection of donations and support from the American people and the government comes at a time of economic down turn within our own country that has left many Americans jobless, broke, and even homeless. Even before the recession, America had these problems. According to the National Law Center on homelessness and poverty, on any given night, 700,000 to 2 million Americans are homeless. Additionally, the U.S. Census Bureau listed the 2008 poverty level in America as 13.8%.

            Despite the large number of Americans who do not have enough money to support themselves or their families, those who do not have a home to call their own, others who have been laid off due to the state of the economy, you don't see as many groups raising money to specifically alleviate these problems at home. It is also the state of the economy that has prevented people from being able to donate more money to others.

            Americans have raised millions of dollars for the relief effort in Haiti, and they continue to do so. If people can find the means to donate money to Haiti in this economy, why can't they find the means to donate money that will help their fellow Americans?

            Here at Fordham is seems like the vast majority of campus groups have been focusing on collecting money to donate. In fact, donating to Haiti has become the new fad on campus. Does your intramural soccer team want to play in the campus World Cup? Sure, go ahead, but don't forget the "suggested" $5 donation per player that will go toward the Haiti relief. Don't have cash to donate to one of the half dozen groups collecting? No problem, you can donate your flex dollars at the booth that is set up periodically in the cafeteria.

            Fordham students have no problem helping others as demonstrated by the various GO Projects and other opportunities to volunteer on campus. Why can't we as a student body work together to donate more money to help fix our problems at home? All you have to do is walk off campus to see poverty and homelessness in our own neighborhood. Yes, we as a campus already have some programs to help, but I have never seen a booth where we can donate our flex dollars for homelessness.

            I do not mean to say that we should not donate to Haiti at all, but that we, as a country, seem to rally together very effectively when another country needs our help; when it's our own people who are in constant need for help, we tend to fall short.