Doctors Without Borders in Haiti

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organization working in more than 60 countries to assist people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe.

See all Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Videos on YouTube

Hearts for Haiti featured on Etsy

How wonderful it was to see that Alison, a writer and editor for Etsy's blog, interviewed Victoria, the organizer behind HeartsforHaiti.

How did HeartsforHaiti come to be?
How does HeartsforHaiti work?
How can Etsy sellers get involved?
What charities does the money go toward?
At what point does the project end?
How would you sum up the project?
Any final thoughts?


Find the answers to all of these questions on the Hearts for Haiti: Etsy Sellers Do Their Part article on The Storque.

Another payment is sent - $ 13,000 on the way!

I was so proud of everyone involved in Hearts for Haiti today when I sent our second check to Doctors Without Borders, this one in the whopping sum of $13,000.00!










Thanks so much to everyone who has volunteered, donated, bought, and spread the word.

...........together we really ARE making a difference!!

♥ Victoria

Editors note: To see other receipt posts, refer to receipt label

HFH Volunteer Sunny

Hi, my name is Sunny and I'm a member of the Etsy handmade arts and crafts community and the Blog writer Volunteer here for Etsy Hearts for Haiti.

Although I can't be there in Haiti to lift bricks or to distribute food and water, I wish I could, every minute that I spend helping Etsy Hearts for Haiti makes me glad that I can help in this way.

My part in all of this has been behind the scenes. I saw a volunteer niche and assigned it to myself as the "night-watch" volunteer for the HFH forum thread the week following the earthquake. After the rest of the volunteers had signed off for the night to catch some sleep after hours of listing items and replying to emails (sometimes up to 700 emails in a day), I would set-up my computer by the fireplace, make a cup of tea, grab a book, and check the thread every 20 minutes between the hours of 1 am and 4 am Pacific Time. The thread was usually silent at those hours. I wanted to be there, just in case someone had a question about donating or needed information.

We had some terrific rain and thunder storms here in California during that week and the power went out a couple of times. During those quiet hours of the night, listening to the rain, I felt like I was in some way there with the people in Haiti because my heart was with them. And my prayers.

When the art that I donated sold it dawned on me that what has transpired here during the last 2 weeks was historical. It wouldn't have been possible 30 years ago. Through the power of the internet, a global community of artists and crafters (vintage sellers as well) were able to unite and in a matter of days raise an extraordinary amount of funds for immediate help to the victims of a disaster. In my case, the people who bought my art gave me the opportunity to give even if I didn't have the money to give. They could have given directly to Doctors Without Borders but instead their donations allowed me to give as well.

To me, the cheerful giving of so many people has been awe-inspiring. Hundreds of us have formed a chain of hearts which will end in substantial medical supplies and services that will help many people in Haiti.

To all of those who have donated, I want to say with all my heart, thank you very much. -Sunny 

"Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world." - Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Africa) 2007 Gandhi Peace Prize.

Hearts for Haiti Volunteer Colleen of fivesparrows

I am Colleen from five sparrows. My heart has been with Haiti for awhile, mainly because of a boy that we have sponsored there for 12 years now. Learning of his life has opened my eyes in many ways. When I heard of the earthquake my first thought was of him, and then my heart broke over the faces of all the precious children who have been affected so drastically by this. (I am a mom-my heart breaks for kids pretty quickly!)

I was so excited to find Victoria’s thread asking about starting a shop for Haiti. I remembered the bushfire shop and had hoped that there would be something like this for Haiti. Then I just got to follow along as all these motivated and brilliant people figured out how to make this shop a reality. My main job has been listing, listing and more listing as all the beautiful donations pour in! It has been amazing to see all the variety of shops who have donated, and doing this has kept me from crying in front of the TV watching footage of Haiti.

I have been struck so much by the worldwide effort this is-just that fact that our inbox is run by ladies in 3 different countries and time zones is so cool! Everyone comes from a different background, mindset, country, etc, but we can all come together to make a difference-really love that!

One of the times I was crying at the TV I saw a story on the desperate need for medical supplies in Haiti-I think of that as I see the amount raised go up-that this shop can help ease that need! So glad for this opportunity to just give and help in my own small way.

Hearts for Haiti Volunteer Lucinda of DesignedByLucinda

Lucinda here with why *I* got involved with HeartsForHaiti.etsy.com shop. I saw the initial post and was the 4th person to reply because I couldn't just sit by, quietly sipping my coffee and doing business as usual, so long as people were trapped under rubble just a few miles off Florida's coast.

I started my own Hearts For Haiti program on my blog but quickly switched to helping develop a GREATER presence by banding into a larger mass with other Etsy shops; many hands joined together can lift way more than any one person can. I forced poor Victoria into making it real by taking HFH live before midnight that fateful Friday night (forgive me, V?).

I did much of the copy for HFH and I am heading up the "Collections Team". I also list donations and catch convos and I try to help Victoria when the world goes crazy around her. I'll take on any task needed to help get much needed funds into the hands of DoctorsWithoutBorders because I believe we CAN make a difference, together. And Haiti needs us, so much.

Gmail Account Update

We are using a new email address etsyforhaiti2@gmail.com due to technical issues this morning with our old one.

If you sent in a donation email over the weekend and your donation is NOT listed, please re-submit your information to the new gmail address above (please note we just added a 2 to the end of our old one; it changed from etsyforhaiti to etsyforhaiti2).

For those who have so generously helped us promote the Hearts for Haiti Shop and written articles on your own blog, which you included our email address, we would appreciate if you could update the email address in your article to our new one of etsyforhaiti2@gmail.com.

Thank you for bearing with us an sorry for the inconvenience!

Hearts For Haiti Volunteer Andria of Shagpile

Hi there! I’m Andria from Shagpile. Much to the delight of my two small dogs, I have spent a good part of the last week at home, on the couch, pretty much connected to my laptop. I became involved with the Hearts for Haiti shop when I offered to list some items but as the only volunteer on an Australian time zone Victoria quickly asked if I’d mind watching the inbox while she got some much needed sleep.

Working in the inbox has really opened my eyes to the generosity of the Etsy community. The kind words of support and personal stories have been genuinely moving and inspiring. I only wish that I had the time to write a personal response to each and every person.

Though I won’t be able to be as involved with the shop over the next few weeks as I am relocating overseas, I really hope to have a continuing role for as long as the shop is open. It has been the most amazing experience and such a privledge to have had the chance to support such an important cause and to work with such a friendly, dedicated group of people.

I am so proud of all the volunteers who have been working on this project as I know the amount of work they have put into it and especially of Victoria who has somehow managed to hold everything together! You guys are truly amazing!

Hearts For Haiti Volunteer- Angie aka Timesandchimes

Hi, I'm Angie- the daughter half of the Mother/Daughter team called Times And Chimes on Etsy. I am a volunteer for the Hearts For Haiti shop.

I have been truly honored to be a part of the Hearts for Haiti team on Etsy. I first heard about the Collaboration Shop in the Etsy Forums. I knew immediately that I wanted to donate some items from our Etsy shop, and also help with the work behind the scenes.

My first job was to open new Forum threads to promote the shop. Next, I took on listing some of the many donations that were being sent in. This was a big deal for me, because I secretly HATE listing items on Etsy! In our birdhouse shop, I take the photos, and Mom does the listings! But because I had a purpose, to help those in dire need, I sucked it up and did my part, listing some unique and lovely items.

Recently I have started working in the Hearts for Haiti inbox. I go through donations, tag them, and send them out to volunteers to be listed. I also help tackle lost listings, relistings, and any problems that may come into the inbox.

My favorite part of being a part of the Hearts for Haiti team is the sweet friendships that have been cultivated while working so hard on a common vision. I am blessed to be a part of something bigger than myself. We are making a difference. Together.

Sellers Contacting Hearts for Haiti

I'm so completely moved by the generosity of the Etsy community! Countless lovely and talented sellers have donated over 2000 items to benefit Doctors Without Borders through Hearts for Haiti. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

The team has been doing an amazing job getting those donations listed and processed once they sell, but when things are really hopping there can be a bit of a wait.

If you don't see an item you have donated listed in the shop, we ask that you please wait 48 hours before contacting us again. With such a high volume of emails received, listings do sometimes go astray so please do check in at our email etsyforhaiti2@gmail.com and we'll sort it out.

Sellers are also asked to wait at least 24 hours from the time their item sells before inquiring about shipping information. Although Nora is really on top of those shipping notifications we do occasionally have to wait to verify that payment has been received before we contact you.

Lastly, please direct your general inquiries through our email address etsyforhaiti2@gmail.com (rather than convo), as we have a system in place where we can sort out incoming emails much easier.

On behalf of our dedicated volunteers, we truly appreciate your patience as we sort through the hundreds of inquiries, donations and purchases that we receive each day.

You guys are truly amazing!!!

♥ Victoria

Doctors Without Borders on Twitter

A letter from Doctors Without Borders
To Hearts for Haiti
Sent on Jan 21/10

Hello,

I manage the website and social media for Doctors Without Borders. I wanted to thank you for the Hearts for Haiti fundraiser you are doing.

I am seeing it mentioned a ton on Twitter, and as we are still trying to build our following on Twitter, I was hoping you would let people know that they can

Follow our updates from Haiti at @MSF_USA.

Maybe you could mention this on the main page and/or from any Twitter accounts you have?

Thanks again so much for your support.

Julie Whitaker
US Web & Social Media
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
333 7th Avenue, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10001
+1 212-847-3143

From the Blog of Frayed at the Edges

This Glasglow Girl wrote "Don't you just love technology for bringing people together in a common cause.

This article is a reprint from the blog of Frayed at the Edges on January 23, 2010. She has also generously donated a beautiful Brown and Pink Tartan Heart Brooch and also bought this lovely Felt and Fabric Round Brooch.

No-one can have failed to be moved by the plight of Haitians and this photograph summed it up for me. The agony, helplessness but will to go on of the people is astounding.

Like so many others I wasn’t sure how I could help and to be honest I am wary of phoning/texting donations as the service providers take such a large chunk of your proceeds. Through twitter I heard about crafters coming together in ETSY to sell items to help Doctors Without Borders and decided to donate an item.

Going under the title of Hearts For Haiti there are 757 items for sale (1143 sales) from crafters from all round the world. I have a lovely tartan brooch for sale and am tempted to buy so much.

To date we have raised $13,342.84 after fees which in one week is amazing. Please have a look at HeartsforHaiti as there’s something for every budget there. If you love blogs you can also keep up-to-date with their work on their blog.

Thanks for reading.

From the Blog of Molly Lee Cards

Molly wrote "after seeing so many news stories of the devastation in Haiti, I jumped at the chance to be able to do something to help. I've been so pleased that my pop-up winged hearts card has been selling so well (11 sales an counting!).

As soon as a card sells, I get a convo from one of the Hearts for Haiti administrators who give me all the information I need to ship the cards, along with a nice thank you. I'll usually follow that up with a convo letting them know that the card is being shipped and asking them to relist the card on their shop.

I posted a note on my Etsy greetings team discussion boards and received so much feedback from my fellow teammates who were as excited as I was in being able to help out.

It's been a wonderful experience being a part of this effort!"

This article is a reprint from the blog of Molly Lee Cards on Sunday, January 17, 2010. Molly has also generously donated eleven Pop-up Winged Love Cards for Hearts for Haiti and she says she intends to continue making and relisting them until she is no longer able to make any more :-)



If you are looking for a creative way to help the people in Haiti, here are two ways you can assist the men, women and children in this devastated area: craft and/or shop!

Hearts for Haiti is a new etsy shop that was created for the sole purpose of accepting donations from etsy sellers and selling them to benefit the people of Haiti. Their shop has already raised thousands that goes directly to Doctors without Borders to help fund their humanitarian efforts.

Want to donate your handmade crafts to help Haiti? (incidentally, this will likely get your product and shop a lot of great exposure, if the notion of helping out the world isn't enough motivation for you) Send an email to etsyforhaiti2@gmail.com. Victoria needs this information:

• Your shop name
• Your location and country
• Item Name/Title
• Item Price (please do include this! we don’t want to undervalue your work :)
• Item Description
• 6 tags
• Materials used
• Up to 3 clear photos of the item

Be sure to check out the shop -- there are lots of wonderful products that have been donated already (they'll be posting my Pop-Up Heart card soon). All shipping is free, so this is a great time to snag some good deals (again, if the idea of helping the world isn't enough motivation). Remember, all the proceeds go to an excellent cause!

Hearts for Haiti Shop Traffic Stats

Cindy provided an update on the GA (Google Analytics) stats, it has been running for a little more than 2 days.

Hearts for Haiti has had visits from 87 countries so far.


The top 10 site searches (note that GA registers things with capitalization or pluralization as different searches, even though they are usually the same search on Etsy):

1 heartsforhaiti (763)
2 haiti (199)
3 hearts for haiti (97)
4 haiti relief (68)
5 hearts (63)
6 glass (44)
7 HeartsforHaiti (38)
8 heart (37)
9 Heartsforhaiti (24)
10 heartsfor (22)

Other notables:

16 Haiti (12)
17 haiti earthquake relief (12)
27 helping Haiti (8)
39 haiti earthquake (6)
51 charity_donation (5)
79 free shipping (4)

There were numerous other searches with Haiti in them that were done fewer than 5 times each.

Provided by Cindy of cindylouwho2

How Etsy Hearts for Haiti Began

Hearts for Haiti - Support Doctors Without Borders

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2010

After the horrific earthquake on January 12, 2010 hit Haiti, crafter Victoria [owner of Etsy shop exlibrishandmade] knew that she had to do something to help. Within a few days Victoria had amassed hundreds of artisans from the artisan website Etsy.com who wanted to donate their creations to a shop set up specifically to raise money for Haitian relief... Hearts for Haiti was born. With artisans from around the world, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.A., Hearts for Haiti has become one of the largest non profit shops on Etsy. Established within 3 days of the earthquake, Hearts for Haiti currently has close to 700 items for sale with 100% of the proceeds (minus transaction fees) going to Doctors Without Borders. This collective of artisans has helped Hearts for Haiti raise $12,495.00 as of 4:45pm PST [01-22-10]. A special Paypal account and bank account have been created to preserve the integrity of the shop. Please take the time to browse through the Hearts for Haiti shop and think about purchasing an item to support those in desperate need. You can also follow the Hearts for Haiti blog here where you can get the latest information on how much has been raised, what's been sent to Doctors Without Borders and other latest news.

Please visit the Doctors Without Borders Website for more information on their organization.

This article was written by HPD designer Heather Palleiko. HPD has also donated an item for Hearts for Haiti which you can find here.

submitted by Sunny

Kathy's Thoughts

What impressed me most about the Hearts for Haiti Shop and these ladies is that the idea was first planted by a simple inquiry on the Etsy Discussion Forums.

On January 13, 2010, Victoria wrote "I would love to see and potentially help to organize an Etsy shop established to fundraise for relief efforts in Haiti".

Dedicated volunteers came forward immediately (look over to the right side bar). Yes, there was much to do; contacting Etsy, Doctors Without Borders, PayPal, bank, and so much more. And yet the Hearts for Haiti Shop was opened the following day and everything was organized and in place to start listing on January 16, 2010, and the donations poured in!

The generosity of the Etsy community, both sellers and buyers, was overwhelming and only one week later, they had already raised over $10,000.

Yes, I could have just sent in a cheque to a charitable organization, but I wanted to contribute and be a part of what I thought would be something special (and this is). I am proud to be a small part of this wonderful and caring community and the Hearts for Haiti team!

Kathy

Help spread the word

Copy and paste the following code (in simple html format for websites, blogs).

In paragraph format

<p align="center"><a href="http://www.heartsforhaiti.etsy.com/"><img src="http://katicksupplies.com/HFH/heartsforhaiti-logo1.jpg" border="0" alt="Hearts for Haiti"></a></p>

In table format

<table align="center">
<tr>
<td><a href="http://www.heartsforhaiti.etsy.com/"><img src="http://katicksupplies.com/HFH/heartsforhaiti-logo1.jpg" border="0"alt="Hearts for Haiti"></a></td>
</tr>
</table>

Kathy

Our donors come from every corner of the world

Argentina	Australia	Brazil
Bulgaria	Canada	Chile
Croatia	Cyprus	Denmark
Estonia	Finland	France
Germany	Hong Kong	Hungary
Ireland	Israel	Italy
New Zealand	Poland	Portugal
Romania	Russia	Scotland
Serbia	Singapore	South Africa
Spain	Turkey	United Kingdom
U.S.A.

Etsy is truly an international community of generous hearts.

Provided by Astrid of Runzwithscissors

Fun Facts (As of January 21, 2010)

- 655 items for sale
- 785 sold
- 1079 shop hearts
- 50 new in the last 24 hours
- current value of shop $16,353.65
- currently in 95 treasuries

Number of caffeinated beverages consumed to run shop - um, I cannot count that high!

Provided by Sandy of Midnightcreations

Editors note: ahem......

Making a difference - the first $5,000.00

I was so excited to send the first $5000 to Doctors Without Borders this morning!!



I plan to post all acknowledgement letters from Doctors Without Borders here, but until that comes I will post the receipt from the certified check:











I can't tell you what an enormous pleasure it was to send this out, all the tellers and postal officers had to hear me blabbering on about the shop!!

This is just the first check--it takes time for the money to transfer from PayPal to the account. In total we have raised over $10,000 so far (less PayPal and Etsy fees)!!!

I am really so overwhelmed and humbled by what we have been able to accomplish. Together we really can make a difference--THANK YOU!!!!

♥ Victoria

Editors note: To see other receipt posts, refer to receipt label

Welcome! Would you consider donating?

Welcome to HeartsForHaiti.etsy.com! Our shop is filled with donations from Etsy sellers who want to help with the situation in Haiti. 100% of all the proceeds (minus listing fees and Etsy/Paypal transaction fees) will be sent to Doctors Without Borders (http://DoctorsWithoutBorders.org ) to help with their relief efforts in Haiti. This shop is run 100% on volunteer love.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

To Donate:

Thank you for your interest in donating an item to HeartsForHaiti.etsy.com! 100% of the proceeds (less Etsy and Paypal transaction fees) will be sent to DoctorsWithoutBorder's Haiti Fund. All donated items must be in compliance with Etsy's rules. We would also encourage donations of Heart-themed items to encourage Valentine’s Day buyers to shop our store but donations of any kind are gratefully appreciated. Etsy TOU states that one unique item cannot be sold in two separate shops, so we encourage you to deactivate or delete your donation from your own shop UNLESS you can make a duplicate for each shop.

Please send the following information in an email to etsyforhaiti2@gmail.com and put "Hearts For Haiti Donation" as the title:

Your shop name as YourShopName.etsy.com
Your location and country
Item Name/Title
Item Price (we ask that donations be priced at a minimum of $3)
Item Description
Category & 9 descriptive tags (we will add 4 Haiti related tags)
Materials used
Up to 3 clear photos of the item - (*we need to cut this back in order to get everything listed in a timely manner)

*Please be sure to attach (or upload) all of the photos to the email. Make sure you are sending the sized-for-Etsy versions of your photos. If it's from a current listing, copy the zoomed picture, or it will be too small. If there is a problem with the photos being transmitted, we will let you know.

*Quantity: if you have a quantity greater than one of this item to donate, please note it here and send a convo to HeartsforHaiti shop with the link to the sold item to RE-LIST it when it sells.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

♥ Shipping: All sellers must ship items at their own cost. We would like to encourage everyone who can to offer worldwide shipping but understand that some items need to stay domestic due to customs restrictions. If you would like to restrict your shipping parameters please be sure to note that explicitly in your listing! Shortly after you items sells we will be in touch via convo with the buyer’s shipping info. We are trying to be quick with this information but please allow 24 hours to pass before getting in touch.

♥ We will be featuring items with a heart theme in the shop. We hope lots of sellers will consider donating a heart item for the cause! (Though any Etsy-approved item is fine)

♥ When your item sells one of the shop administrators will contact you with shipping information. Please ship items within 3 days of purchase. If you ship on a different timeline please indicate that in the listing and ship accordingly.

♥Please do not include lengthy promotions in the item descriptions. We will include your shop name at the top of the listing.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Thank you so very much for considering a donation. It is wonderful that so many are willing to help the people of Haiti recover from this tragedy.

**Please be patient with us as we sort through the hundreds of inquiries, donations and purchases that we receive each day. It can take a couple of days before a donated item is listed, sometimes more—if you do not see your item listed in the shop or in the sold items after 48 hours of submitting please contact us at etsyforhaiti2@gmail.com

From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!

HeartsForHaiti.etsy.com

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥