The Canadian Media Guild is giving $6,000 to the Canadian Red Cross and other $6,000 to a special relief fund set up by the International Federation of Journalists to assist media staff in the countries affected by the December 26 earthquake and tsunami.

“We wanted to reach out as a community of media employees to others in our field to help them rebuild their operations, and to deal with the loss of so many colleagues,” says Lise Lareau, president of the CMG.

The IFJ set up its Asia Disaster Relief Fund after reports that up to 200 journalists and media staff were reported lost or missing in Indonesia. One newspaper in Aceh lost 100 staff members and its shoreline printing works and offices were washed away.

The donation on behalf of Guild members comes from the national executive of the Guild. CMG president Lise Lareau is urging executives at the branch and location levels to donate additional Guild money to the charities of
their choice.

At the same time, Guild members should note that they can have more impact as individuals, says Lareau. “Donations from organizations are not matched by the federal government. But your donation will be matched. And this is the last day you can take advantage of Ottawa’s program to match individual donor’s contributions. I hope people will not let this important deadline go by unnoticed.”

For more information, please check the following web sites:

International Federal of Journalists www.ifj.org
Canadian Red Cross www.redcross.ca
Canadian International Development Agency www.acdi-cida.gc.ca