The American Institute of Philanthropy has a rating system for charities, at charitywatch.org, including a very easy to access list for groups sending aid to Haiti. It gave Partners in Health an A+ and Mercy Corps an A-.

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Daily Crossword Puzzle Poem Draft for 1/20/10 (ooh! mathematically fun date!)

The year of the nerd and geek,
The weak-chinned emcee,
philanthopist commander:
We face a guillotine like Anne
or eat peeled grapes, or both -
detest the time we're dealt.
Or wake up. Heck each day's
our last hurrah.
I'm a sham, your flim flam man,
your time's a-wasted, case acute.
some fella's screaming Stella
another loves regret as pet
If lucky we'll be seniors
all good at high school drama
we need more lively arts.
Ah jeez, to be alive, an ape
with napkins and entree,
Melmac, martinis and Mecca
Perrier green Armani -
merry as Methuselah
the twelfth man on the team
and all our greeny acres
gone to wrack and neon.
Newly day, we wake and stir.