OK everyone, lets see how much of a difference we can make in one week of charitable giving. I know times are tough; they suck for me, too. Everything is hard in this economy but imagine being an Italian earthquake victim, or a resident of the Red River Valley dealing with the floodwaters over the last month. Check out what my pal Jon Ross is doing with his new endeavor, MicroAid International.

I have known Jon for 35 years, and for a long time, he ran a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles for people with disabilities and was the president and head coach of the Achilles Track Club, L.A.  He led travel groups to places like Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Western China, and Ethiopia.  In early 2005, he was commissioned by a financial firm in New York to evaluate the disastrous affects of the 2004 tsunami and the needs of the victims in Sri Lanka.  What he found was that no matter what the response of the big relief organizations there are always individuals and families that still need help, months and even years following a disaster. Disagree? Think Hurricane Katrina!

Jon decided to focus his attention on helping victims of disasters internationally.  Last year, he founded MicroAid, a nonprofit humanitarian aid organization specializing in post-disaster recovery work. The goal here is to identify individuals and families in need and offer hands-on assistance rebuilding their homes, replacing their tools, or supporting orphaned children.  MicroAid is a charity (they are not loaning people money), because sometimes people just need help!  All of the money raised will go to helping the victims; MicroAid's overhead will be paid for by the board of directors and other donors. 

So here is what you can do. Please check out the website www.microaidinternational.org and make a donation of some kind today. My family is going to get involved and so should you. The cool thing is that I hope to visit some of these families and disaster sites myself, and will be in Rwanda in May to check out the ongoing need for continued support of the locals there who are trying to remake their country. So please do what you can, and lets see how much dough our azdotcom community can raise to assist this remarkable effort by Jon and his team.