Haiti triggers mass appeals to fast

(2009 Twitter)

In addition to George Clooney and Friends' Hope for Haiti telethon, this Friday, January 22, individuals and communities are encouraged to join collective hands to pray, meditate and fast in the name of Haitians for World Day of Fasting and Prayer for Haiti.

Online communities at their best bring the world together, and individuals everywhere are clicking, texting and googling to find out how to help Haiti.

Grassroots' movements are spreading via social networking sites encouraging people to fast as a form of solidarity and means of raising funds for Haiti. The fast can be as simple as just skipping one meal for one day and is not exclusively for January 22.

The Fast for Haiti campaign, created by Chris Faddis and Livinggracefully.net, is enlisting people to fast to raise funds for Catholic Relief Services to aid Haiti. Faith & Family, a magazine and blog for Catholic living, is showing their support for Fast for Haiti with an additional request "to unite yourself to those less fortunate" by supporting Food for the Poor, an NGO that helps the poor in Latin America and the Caribbean.

CultureChange.org, a non-profit, non-religious organization founded by the Sustainable Energy Institute, appeals for individuals to fast and donate "...the food-money saved is a "new" way to bring about mass participation in charitable giving, provided the fasters are well-enough fed and already buy their food, rather than produce it themselves."

Both sites encourage fasters to spread the word by creating fasting groups, updating status and profile image on Facebook and Twitter and sign-up on their sites.

To join the World Day of Fasting and Prayer for Haiti and log in your time of prayer/fasting, go to Haiti World Blog. The site is working to ensure that throughout the entire day, in every corner of the world, people are thinking of the Haitians and sacrificing one basic need: food.

The Christian Post Blog: Better Families, Better Parents highlights different ideas on how families can pray together specifically for Haiti using various forms of media and interaction with maps, videos, photos , posters and dirty rags focusing prayers and lessons on orphans, giving and self-effort.

Fasting, giving and beliefs are personal choices. To learn more about charities providing relief to Haiti along with their overall ranking in terms of: mission, leadership, financials, investments organizational efficiency and capacity, go to CharityNavigator.org.