TeamKazane.com are doing their part to help the victims of a devastating earthquake that shook Haiti yesterday.
Customers who shop at the online store can donate 10 percent of their purchases to the American Red Cross International Relief Fund to support the recovery efforts in the Caribbean country.
“I launched teamkazane.com just two months ago with the goal of allowing cyclists to get the products they want while helping out worthy groups,” said owner Stratton Delany, who set up the American Red Cross International Relief Fund on his website immediately after hearing about the earthquake. “Until now, the only groups we had listed were smaller nonprofit and developmental cycling teams that I work closely with to market the cause and the site.”
Despite being launched just eight weeks ago, Delany has set up a successful system whereby customers can chose one of nearly 10 nonprofit organisations to donate 10 percent of their purchases to. Donating to the American Red Cross International Relief is the newest and largest nonprofit fundraiser.
Other fundraisers include the Ride for Reading, a Tennessee based group that delivers books to needy families by bike, and the Tanzania Education Fund, which is the US fundraising arm of a nonprofit school in Bagamoyo, Tanzania. Customers can pick a fund from a drop-down menu of associated nonprofit groups upon checkout.
“The Kazane Racing team, a regional grassroots team that I run, is working very closely with this [Tanzania Education Fund],” Delany said. “Our main project is collecting used road bikes, frames and parts, and combining them into 15 to 20 usable road bikes to send for the school's new cycling program. The team puts on a three-day mid-week criterium series in Richmond during the summer that is pretty profitable and the race profits will be used to pay the freight on sending the bikes over.”
The massive earthquake, which measured 7.0 on the Richter scale, hit Haiti yesterday in and around the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Thousands are feared dead, up to two million people are injured and countless others have been forced onto the streets after their homes were destroyed. It is said to have been the worst earthquake in Haiti in over 200 years.
The American Red Cross has released an initial $200,000 to help communities affected by the earthquake. “Initial reports indicate widespread damage in Port au Prince, with continuing aftershocks,” says Tracy Reines, director of international disaster response for the American Red Cross, in a press release. “As with most earthquakes, we expect to see immediate needs for food, water, temporary shelter, medical services and emotional support.”
