The millions of people who watched the NFL playoffs during the divisional weekend responded to opportunities to support earthquake relief in Haiti in an impressive manner.
According to officials from the American Red Cross the program that billed $10 to people who
texted "Haiti" to 90999 on their cell phones, raised about $500,000 per hour at times during the weekend.
"I need a better word than unprecedented or amazing to describe what's happening with the text-message program," Roger Lowe, a Red Cross spokesman told The New York Times. Through late Sunday, the Red Cross had collected pledges of $103 million for relief in Haiti, with $22 million from text-message donations. And, because those texts were sent and billed through people's respective phone carriers, that money would represent an even more solid contribution than a pledge.