gchildress@heraldsun.com; 419-6645
Chapel Hill -- The earthquake that ravaged the island of Haiti on Tuesday continued to tug at the heart strings of Americans desperate to help with the relief effort.
On Thursday, Andrew Neal, owner of the Chapel Hill Comics bookstore on West Franklin Street, pledged to match in-store donations up to a total of $500 to pass along to Doctors Without Borders.
Doctors Without Borders provides aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect or catastrophe due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care or natural disasters.
If the store collects $500 in donations, it will send $1,000 to the organization. The store will collect donations through the close of business on Wednesday.
"It was pretty much a question of how bad the situation is in Haiti based on news accounts I've heard," said Neal, when asked why he decided to raise money for the relief effort.
Neal said he also understands that a tight economy might make some people reluctant to give to the relief effort. He thought matching donations might make some customers loosen their grips on their wallets.
"If we offered this incentive, to double their donation, it might be an incentive," Neal said.
Neal said he chose to support Doctors Without Borders because the organization already has doctors on the ground in Haiti and because a large percentage of the donations it receives goes directly to helping people.
This isn't the first time Neal has jumped aboard a humanitarian cause. He also did so in 2004 when a tsunami killed 230,000 people in 14 countries, with the largest death tolls occurring in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.
"Every now and then a situation comes up we want to try to help with," Neal said.
