Call them what you will–acts of God, forces of nature, the wrath of Mother Earth–weather-related tragedies (nee, all tragedies) are heart-breaking and often require aid and compassion from those not directly affected.Whether it’s the Tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean, the Hurricane that hit New Orleans, or the recent Cyclone and Earthquake that have plagued Asia as of late, the outreach and efforts to help are far-reaching. Perhaps it’s because no one can control or prevent natural disasters (save for some global warming and environmental theorists that believe we’re bringing this on ourselves. I prefer to follow the History Channel programming that states this is all cyclical, and that while these disasters are unfortunate, they’re also inevitable) that we sympathize; we may not all have been stricken with a comparable situation, but we can surely all relate to having something be 100% out of our control.Now, while there are any number of wonderful organizations that are reaching out to aid victims, such as the Red Cross World Vision and Direct Relief , one of the more interesting examples of how corporations are looking to donate comes from the seemingly ubiquitous PR Newswire.To do it’s part to succor those affected by the most recent disasters, PR Newswire has offered to distribute–for free–press releases concerning getting aid to victims. The genius behind this idea is that not only are they donating money in a round-about way (by absorbing the cost of distribution), but they’re raising awareness on two fronts: getting the distributions about disaster relief out, and letting it be known that there was a disaster to which people can send out press release regarding relief.While we’d obviously all prefer that the circumstances under which PR Newswire’s benevolence didn’t exist in the first place, the proactive and far-reaching efforts they’ve made to raise awareness (and money) is admirable and one we can only hope to see more when there are times of crisis.This requires all of us to take unprecedented actions, and to think in unprecedented ways about how we solve a natural disaster.– Gordon CampbellJackie for AMP3pr.com
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