Texting Finds Higher Cause In Haiti

This month texting has been elevated from a tween obsession to a life-saving service.

According to the State Department, the campaign that allows mobile phone users to donate $10 to the Red Cross by texting “Haiti” to 90999 has surpassed $25 million, making it the largest mobile donation effort to date.

While we all support 3D TV and other exciting entertainment technologies, it’s good to see CE also serving a greater good.

On a related note, an LED flashlight sold by Woot.com as part of a gadget potpourri package it calls its “Bag of Crap” may have helped saved a quake victim. Here’s his account:

“My name is Bryan Meyers. I have just been evacuated from the Haiti earthquake. One of the things I had with me when the quake started was my cell phone; stuck to its back was the Lumpod LED flashlight that I had received some time ago in a Woot Bag of Crap.

“I had to walk through the dark streets of Port-au-Prince six miles to get to a secure place. I walked over rubble, bodies (dead and injured), downed wires, back alleys. The flashlight lit my way very reliably. As I said in my journal, THANK YOU, BAG OF CRAP!”

You can find the entry, and a list of recommended relief funds, at www.woot.com/blog, and can view Byran’s personal journal and photos at www.bmeyers.net/haiti.