Try to imagine this...

[carolwicks]

We all know what happened in Haiti...i hear people saying we are doing too much because we have troubles here in America. I cannot imagine anyone in this country thinking they have a clue what the people of Haiti are going thru.
Can you even imagine losing everyone in your family and finding out they might be buried in a mound of dead people in the dirt. Unmarked... Tens of thousands never being identified ... can you imagine your little child being buried under the rubble of his school for days without food or water and terrified. You can hear him screaming but you cant get to them... Most of them will be orphans...Tiny babies who will never know their loved ones... Who suffer injuries and face the possibility of infections and disease and even tho they made it thru the disaster they may still die...
There is death, disease, pain, and fear everywhere. Yet they pray and they ask God to help them get thru it all. They are the most brave courageous people I have ever seen. Tonight they had a pledge for the people of Haiti on every station for 2 hours. It was heart wrenching....we can hear their words and we can see their pain but we cannot smell the acrid horrible smell of death... The smell of thousands of dead human beings. The smell of disease and human waste....
I would love to see every race track in Florida collect what they can for the people of Haiti. To show them we are decent caring human beings who put predjudice and every negative feeling aside to help innocent little children and their parents get on their feet and once again rebuild their homeland.
Even the poor in America are rich in comparison.
I know some of you will disagree with me... I also know we have some real generous good people in our racing family. PLEASE have someone start collecting at your home track and go to:

www.hopeforhaitinow.org

One day this could very well happen right here in Florida and we will pray good people will save our lives and our little ones lives.... we wont care what color they are or where they come from...we will love them and appreciate them for lending their hearts....Please help ... even a dollar from each of us will help bring food, water, medicine and clothing to Haiti....

carolwicks aka OZ

[Big Daddy 2]

I think Bubba had the right idea....

I would rather donate to the families of OUR fallen
Police officers...

Sorry but its Tax time every time i look at my w2s
and see how many thousands i had to pay in and
only get a couple hundred back..

I think i donated enough... sorry...

[Winger]

I can't imagine this. I have a friend who is going down and help. I agree that we should all do what ever we can and want. I will warn you to be very careful who you send money to. There are a bunch of new internet sites, texting procedures, etc. for donating, that are not quite legitimate.

I'm not sure what Bubba said but he was on the news tonight trying to back off whatever it was.

[BJ Cavin]

I'll put it this way...The United States has been the world's savior many times in the past, and probably will be again. Whatever or wherever the disaster, we immediately and generously try to help in anyway that we can, usually spending millions of our dollars to get the job done. And what do we get for it? Nine times out of ten we get kicked in the nuts for it.

That is not to say that we should not help! I firmly believe that if individuals, organizations, and businesses, within our private sector want to help, then by all means they should! But I believe that our goverment should maybe think twice about getting involved. I say let's keep our goverment money here, and let the private sector save the world. Maybe that is selfish and maybe it isn't, but looking at history maybe that's the smarter move?

[carolwicks]

our fallen heros... We the people... not our govt.

i understand that Americans are suffering and many have lost their homes and jobs... but they are not digging their parents or children from vermine and odorous rubble... they are not walking thru blood, feces, vomit, dead people and animals and disease... our fallen heroes are taken care of. Their loved ones had pensions and coverage. maybe life has changed for them but we take care of them. and i agree we should...
America is the greatest country in the world because we reach out and help those less fortunate then ourselves. Because we give refuge to people who have suffered under tyranny... sometimes it does come back and bites us in the ass but more often we are doing the right thing. They have shown on tv some haitians in gangs and rioting in the streets. SOME of them are starving and havent had a drink of water for a week... They are terrified and they are hungry and thirsty. But there are many more who are helping or standing in the rubble with hopes a loved one will still be alive... by now their hopes are nearly in vain...If the same disaster happened in Port Charlotte and my little Bobby and Hailey were starving I would do whatever I had to to keep them safe and nourished... SO WOULD YOU!
Winger... you made a good point in your post... we DO need to be careful who we give our donations to. The site I posted is the one they gave us on the Haiti benefit last night....
I believe in God... He promises that if we give to help others we will be rewarded tenfold... i dont think we should be looking for rewards when we help others but the message means that its important to God ....
In my original post I never mentioned our govt. ... i mentioned our racing family... If we drink, smoke, gamble, go to Disney, have a 2 car family... RACE... we can afford a couple dollars to save lives. We as AMERICANS.....we as decent human beings... my company gave $100 and I gave $100... I am not asking for anything I have not done myself... I will continue to try to help...
carolwicks aka OZ

[carolwicks]

Post taken from the CCMP board by R. Popkins....

I just wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you from Living Water Ministries, CCMP staff and fans donated $320 between Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. The money raised will got toward shipping a 40 foot container with 270,000 meals to Haiti. We still have a way to go for the second container and has always been Living Water Ministries policy to use 100% of all donations for ministry in Haiti, no donation money ever goes toward buildings, salaries, or equipment in the U.S. If you would like to know more about what LWM does or how do donate, please visit our website for more information. http://WWW.livingwaterhaiti.org

Thank you and God Bless

[chassisdude]

Trying to remember what help we got from Haiti when people suffered from all the devasting hurricanes we have had. For me, I will take care of my own, my neighbor, my friend, they can take care of themselves. We just have too many goody to shoes in this country and look at the shape they are putting us in. Just say NO

[Todd McCreary]

last year, the US Federal government alone gave $290 million dollars to Haiti.

our .gov was probably planning on doing much the same this year. just how much are we supposed to be shelling out? at a time when they're turning back our search & rescue teams?

[Edm]

I agree with Chassisdude, where were they? I donate enough to other countries through taxes. We have problems in our own country the we need to concentrate on. I am not being insensitive by any means, its a horrible thing that has happned over there. But what about the families and the children of our fallen soldiers, it seems the media has forgot all about them.

[ocalasp76]

I agree with Chassisdude, where were they? I donate enough to other countries through taxes. We have problems in our own country the we need to concentrate on. I am not being insensitive by any means, its a horrible thing that has happned over there. But what about the families and the children of our fallen soldiers, it seems the media has forgot all about them.

Ditto Ed..We give to "local" people in need and volunteer our help. This way we are sure where the funds are going. Our Pres. made a big donation on my behalf already in the form of $100,000,000 of my tax dollars. Gee, that amount would have paid the budget shortfall in Califorina......
Besides, Dave Wasserman did a 50/50 at the little 500 Friday at $5.00 per try with the winnings going to the Red Cross, we all did our part there too.
The Red Cross is the only ones I would trust now with all the scams out there.(No offense CW)
-JIM-

[Boneman]

I gave some money to my neighbors at work. They run Air Mobile Ministries, and were on the ground there the next day. Their main effort is to supply water filtration machines that make drinking water out of puddles of crap. They manufacture the machines, and pass them out first hand at times like this. Their overhead expenses are much lower percentage than the big, established charities, so I know my money is well spent.

I am down on the Red Cross because of their expensive beaurocracy, and their offensive plan to relocate thousands of refugees in central Florida.

I think it would be very irresponsible for us to take a hands off approach to this situation. Yes, I agree that Haiti has been an un-fillable hell hole of corruption and wasted taxpayer dollars. I agree that we should not continue to dump uncountable millions there in the future, HOWEVER at this time they need help urgently. Can you look at what happened and not be moved? What part of "life and death struggle" do you not get?

Although most of the people may be uneducated and have a corrupt, ungrateful government, I suggest we suspend the politics for a while and send some assistance. No one deserves to die in the mud and misery.

[carolwicks]

Rex

i never have to question our friendship. I am certain you are the kind of person that belongs in my heart.
I also agree about the Red Cross.... they get paid and i can never forget what happened in WW2... Americans donated cigarettes etc to our soldiers thru RC... RC charged them!
There are plenty of organizations who are reputable and will make sure the people of Haiti are helped. They deserve help. I do not approve of alot of things our govt. does but i do believe that we as human beings have to help people who are desperate. The movie stars etc. raised over $57 million the other night... they donated their time and their talent. We have doctors in Port Charlotte who have postponed all their appointments and are in Haiti doing surgery in squalid conditions. They wont go home at night to their families or their beautiful homes. This isnt about Obama and the govt. it is about Americans who are loving and generous and care about all humanity...
Jim... i didnt take offense... i think basically you are a decent kind man.
I also agree we have plenty of issues we need to take care of in America... and we need to get it done.. But there is no tragedy to compare to the devastation in Haiti...
The people in Haiti who have lost everything including their families still sing in the streets and praise God... they still have faith and they still have hope...
we cry whenever we dont get our own way with the govt. WE can make change no matter what Obama or anyone else say or do. But we are so set into our fairly easy lives, we dont fight back. we expect everyone else to do it... if you are unhappy about the medical help in America then do something. griping on this board will NEVER change anything. I personally am going to fight Obama with everything i can about partial birth abortion!!! You can count on that! im also going to fight about employers who have been struggling to keep their livelihood from having to provide insurance for all their employees. most small businesses will disappear because they cant afford it! what needs to be done is stop all the corruption in medicine and stop lawyers from having a filed day suing ...we all pay for that!
To all the people who have fought in wars for our freedom... dont give up now... if you believe in what you fought for then dont give up the fight. If you are too tired or ill then pass the responsibility on to the young people in your lives... our children have no idea what war is like.. they have no idea what their responsibilities are.. they go to school, come home and play and they sleep in nice clean beds... thats pretty much what their lives consist of... No bombs dropping nearby, no waste in the streets, no shantys with dirt floors.... thank God they dont know... but now they know about Haiti.
my heart goes out to anyone who has to live in the woods. HOWEVER... some of them choose that life because they have no responsibilities ... they eat, they always have cigaretts and beer... they have shelters they can go to when it gets cold.
i know i annoy some of you when i rant and rave ... i am sorry ... but i am not sorry for caring about people. that is me...
i respect your right to disagree with me so i hope you can do the same for me. i have no problem reading your disagreements with what i say. what i do have a problem with is cruelty...
Thank you...
P.S.
I dont know why my post was moved... whats happening in Haiti needs the attention of every American... to try to hide it or keep it from people is wrong... so wrong.. ;-(
carolwicks aka OZ

chassisdude... in all due respect... Haiti couldnt help us when we had the hurricane. the same hurricane devastated their country... they have nothing to help us with...

[Frasson118]

Not picking one side or the other of this, but a question keeps running through my mind:

Would everyones opinions and actions be the same, if Haiti were a Muslim or Buddhist based society, rather than a Christian one?

I would hope that people would care about other peoples suffering, regardless of what country they live in, or what their religeous beliefs are. Bottom line is, people should believe they way they want to, and nobody gets to PICK where they are born. Even the survivors can't make it without help.

We should turn our backs to them now, because we've already supported them before?

[Boneman]

Remember the earthquake in Iran a few years ago? Aid flowed into an enemy state from all corners of the world, including the USA. The tsunami was also in a muslim country, and it generated a huge outpouring of assistance.

[Winger]

I think it would be very irresponsible for us to take a hands off approach to this situation. Yes, I agree that Haiti has been an un-fillable hell hole of corruption and wasted taxpayer dollars. I agree that we should not continue to dump uncountable millions there in the future, HOWEVER at this time they need help urgently. Can you look at what happened and not be moved? What part of "life and death struggle" do you not get?

Although most of the people may be uneducated and have a corrupt, ungrateful government, I suggest we suspend the politics for a while and send some assistance. No one deserves to die in the mud and misery.

Well said Boneman. We shouldn't penalize the people for the actions of their leaders. We need to help if we are able.