America - Katrina: Corporations Refusing to Help

I certainly hope they rethink their decision.

But mainstream Web sites that had jumped to pull in money for the tsunami victims showed no evidence of repeating it here in the U.S. for Katrina's. Amazon.com, which raised more than $14 million for the American Red Cross in January via a donation link on its home page, didn't have one as of mid-day Monday. Nor did Google, Yahoo, MSN, or eBay, all of which hustled earlier in the year to put up donation links on their portals. (Google slapped up an "Information about Hurricane Katrina" link on its Spartan home page, but that led to news sources and stories.)

An Amazon spokesperson said that the online retailer had no plans to post a donation link on its site. "Each case is different," she said. "The Red Cross has essentially given over its entire site to donations. The tsunami came out of the blue, so it was an 'all hands on deck' situation, but the Red Cross has been getting ready for this and getting its message out there for several days."

So? Why should that stop them from helping raise funds? And when this is all over the Red Cross is going to have to refil its coffers.

I hope the bloggers can convice them to change their minds.

UPDATE

Seems at least some US corporations are stepping up to the plate.

San Ramon oil giant Chevron Corp. said it will give $5 million to disaster-relief charities in states hit by Hurricane Katrina.

UPDATE

Add another one.

Bayer Pledges $2 Million to Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort; Matches Employee Donations Dollar For Dollar

Somebody in the US call Amazon and the others and use these to shame them into helping.
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