Donations accepted for victims of disaster Salvation Army accepts donations for Haiti

Northeast Ohio residents wanting to help the relief effort in Haiti following Tuesday's earthquake can send money to the American Red Cross or the Salvation Army or through other organizations.

Donations to the Red Cross relief efforts can be made at http://www.redcross.org or by calling 800-REDCROSS.

You can also text the number 90999 and then type in the word ''HAITI'' in the body of the text to send a $10 donation to the Red Cross through an effort backed by the U.S. State Department. For more information on the texting option, go to http://www.mgive.com.

The Red Cross has pledged an initial $1 million to the relief effort.

Mike Taylor, a spokesman for the American Red Cross of Summit and Portage Counties, said since the disaster occurred outside of the United States, the organization will only deploy staff and volunteers who have international disaster relief training and experience.

No plans are under way to call up local Red Cross volunteers, he said.

Captain James Betts, Summit County coordinator of the Salvation Army, said his group is awaiting word on whether any local teams or volunteers will be called up to help in Haiti.

He said the Salvation Army has year-round operations in Port-au-Prince and when the quake hit, ''our facilities were hit hard as well.''

Financial gifts can be given to the Salvation Army and 100 percent of the donation will go to the relief effort in Haiti, he said.

Donations can be sent to the Akron office of the Salvation Army at 190 S. Maple St., Akron, OH 44302. Write Haiti Relief Effort on the check.

Donations can also be made to the Salvation Army through its Web site http://www.salvationarmyusa.org.

Residents looking to contact American citizens in Haiti, the Red Cross said, should contact the U.S. Department of State, Office of Overseas Citizens Services at 888-407-4747.

In addition, the U.S. State Department said people wishing to help should contact the Center for International Disaster Information. The center is operated under a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, the state department said. CIDI has established a page to coordinate Haiti support at: http://www.cidi.org/incident/haiti-10a/.