UAE donates $500,000 to help Joplin schools

UAE donates $500,000 to help Joplin schools

www.msnbc.msn.com

A $500,00 gift from the embassy of the United Arab Emirates to spend on laptops is the latest donation aimed at helping tornado-damaged Joplin, Mo., schools prepare to open next week.

School district officials said on Wednesday the $500,000 will help meet a goal of providing all 2,200 Joplin High School students with a personal laptop.

The UAE embassy will donate up to another $500,000 to match any other contributions for laptops, district officials said.
Laptops will enable students to acces

(visit the link for the full news article)

The United Arab Emirates donating which will turn out to be, $1 Million to the town of Joplin, MO. A town that suffered the deadliest tornado in America in 60 years.

I can't decide what to think about this story.

One angle, is, of course, why should Joplin rely on foreign countries for help, when we are spending Millions a day dropping bombs in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.??

Another angle is the demonization of Islam in America. To those that hate all Muslims, does this make you think twice?

Is this a psy-op to warm us up to the UAE?

www.msnbc.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Swells that very nice of them after all while our nations essential service are tanking, our defense budget is rising

Check that stack of money might be a bomb in there!
Just kidding.
Pretty cool of them peeps in the UAE.

I saw this on my local news today, since I live in the area. What is going on down there is amazing. FEMA is actually doing a great job, believe it or not (some of you know I have the inside scoop on that one), the donation money being raised is actually going to those in need, and now this from the UAE. It makes me happy, now I wish they would also pay attention to some of the other crises going on this country, such as the massive flooding in the midwest. I guess they can't help everyone and that's okay, it's their money.

Cue people saying "they should spend it on their own people".

reply to post by Signals


Considering that The United States of America has a history of providing aid that is equivalent or more than
ALL other aid donated by the rest of the civilized world Combined. It is applaudable to see this type of
overdue generosity. With a grain of salt if I may, as The UAE being of devout religion and astute businessmen,
I would not be suprised if a Mosque would be part of the rebuilding plan. We do support Freedom of Religion
in this country, and must be an example to the countries of the world that do not.

Even if they attempt to exploit our freedoms as weakness.

I have no verification for this particular instance, but it has been a method used in the past.

Then again, This could be a true act of generosity. No strings attached. Imagine the beauty in that.
Interesting Post S&F

I think it's awesome. It's nice to see some help our way once in a while. It's a good gesture and I wonder why more celebrities or wealthy people do this? Where is Bill and Malinda or Warren at? They could do it just as easily. It's a shame it takes a small mideastern country to step up to the plate. Thank UAE!

reply to post by Wildmanimal


Like you I am puzzled...

MSM programmed hate for Muslims breaking down?

Weak attempt by our Administration (behind the scenes) to garner support for the UAE?

Genuine offer of help?

Doesn't this seem unprecedented for a middle eastern country to offer financial aid to an American city?

what a sad world we live in when people have to question the motives behind a simple monetary offering..

reply to post by Signals


I do not have a problem with this; however, why the heck are they buying laptops and not helping out the people most effected by the tornadoes?

reply to post by My.mind.is.mine


People even accuse the rich of donating for tax purposes.

reply to post by 547000


who cares? a donation is a donation.

if i give half a million to somalia, but my intention is for tax purposes, in the end, somalia got the money for food. so why does it matter?

although i love a good conspiracy as much as the next man i must remind my fellow (wo)man that not everything has an ulterior motive, and not everything is a conspiracy.

reply to post by Signals


I live in Joplin and I can say the damage and destruction you saw on tv does not adequately show the damage at all.

There is so much damage that FEMA / Federal Government / State of Missouri are setting aside money for recovery and rebuilding.

The school system in Joplin was almost completely wiped out, with only a few of their schools escaping destruction. Right now when Highschool resumes they will essentially be going to school at the mall.

The primary job of the School district right now is to get students a place to go to school while working on ckearing out the rubble and rebuilding the schools. The State of Missouri alone has set aside over 100 million slated soley for Joplin (and Webb City etc - Some of the smaller towns were damaged, but media includes them in joplin).

The UAE is not the only country to assist. Donations and items are coming in from pretty much all over the world, from UAE, to Austrailia, Japan etc.

The money from the UAE is for computers and other items, with additional money to match donations up to 1-2 million (ive seen both numbers).

A lot of the surrounding Police departments that responded and stuck around for a few months, even with their financial issues, opted to forgo any reimbursement from the City of Joplin and FEMA. Their reasoning was we are one big community and that should come first. They also commented that if it had been their city that was hit, Joplin would not hesitate to send resources.

I will say this, the entire mess here has been an eye opener. From people opening their houses to complete strangers, to businesses from outside the area setting up food stands on corners and feeding people for free, to the citizens of the city who went to the remaining walmart store and only getting what they needed so others in need could get supplies without having to wait for resupply, to Sams club who flung open the front doors to anyone, regardless if they were a member or not, to local businesses who not only kept prices low, in some cases they were lowered and at some gas stations they would only seel to locals or responders.

Its gives me hope that humanity might make it afterall.

Originally posted by ExPostFacto
reply to post by Signals

 

I do not have a problem with this; however, why the heck are they buying laptops and not helping out the people most effected by the tornadoes?

If I remember right it can screw with peoples abilities to get FEMA / SEMA assistance to rebuild. The targeted need right now is the Highschool / school district.

Insurance / FEMA / SEMA / other NGO's have done a phenominal job of cutting the red tape and getting people the resources they need to rebuild. 500k donation to the school will go a whole lot farther and affect more peple than putting it towards repairs / rebuilding, where those costs can run into the hundresd of thousands of dollars for just one home.

reply to post by ExPostFacto


They are helping those most affected in my opinion. Many of us lost all our possessions. Some of us lost our jobs. But, our kids lost more. So many of them have spent parts of their summer in strange and new environments. Even the ones who had homes that were only slightly or moderately damaged have been spending time this summer with friends and family away from the mess that is Joplin. I, myself, didn't want to risk the danger of having my child play in an area that looks like a war zone. When the kids are home, their friends might not be around.

Home and school should be a familiar constant in their lives. But, there is a lot of work to do yet. The schools that were damaged and/or destroyed are nowhere near being replaced or repaired. The high school demolition won't even start until this winter.

The high school kids will be attending classes in an unused retail space at the local mall. Apparently, they won't have traditional textbooks. And, I'm assuming that there will not be much in the way of space for the kids to store school gear anyways. So, laptops are needed. They can download course material, take tests, prepare papers, etc.

I am grateful for their donation. I am also so grateful for the outpouring of aid and support from all the people that have given so much of their time and money to help us out during all of this. We might have faced a disaster that we never imagined but our faith in people's love and compassion has been reaffirmed over and over and over.

No, UAE we wont use this money to turn the school into a mosque.

Originally posted by TaxpayersUnleashed
No, UAE we wont use this money to turn the school into a mosque.

Uhm... ok

I think you meant to say madras instead of mosque.

Secondly not all Arabs hate the US so lets show a little acknowledgment of that instead of attacking a good will gesture.

Third - They are donating the money to the schol district. They are not buying them, programming them, and then sending them to Joplin.

Originally posted by Cowgirlstraitup7
I saw this on my local news today, since I live in the area. What is going on down there is amazing. FEMA is actually doing a great job, believe it or not (some of you know I have the inside scoop on that one), the donation money being raised is actually going to those in need, and now this from the UAE. It makes me happy, now I wish they would also pay attention to some of the other crises going on this country, such as the massive flooding in the midwest. I guess they can't help everyone and that's okay, it's their money.

There was a newspaper article yesterday or Tuesday about the first family to move into the FEMA trailers by the airport. The family are 1st cousins of mine!

CloudsintheSky is an ATS member and he lives there too, and he despises those trailers, so I haven't told him yet! I think it is hilarious!

Anyhow, yes, I don't know about FEMA, they were extremely inept those first 2 weeks, and they caused more problems than they solved, but looking at the response as a whole, it has gone very, very well! Clearing all that rubble in record time was amazing. Getting the power and infrastructure back up in record time was amazing. Joplin will probably be better off in the long run. They are now having an economic boom from all of this outside money pouring in, and all of these jobs created!

Originally posted by Signals
reply to post by Wildmanimal

 

Like you I am puzzled...

MSM programmed hate for Muslims breaking down?

Weak attempt by our Administration (behind the scenes) to garner support for the UAE?

Genuine offer of help?

Doesn't this seem unprecedented for a middle eastern country to offer financial aid to an American city?

Apparently the UAE have been sending aid money to countries in need for years; this is nothing new to them.

HUMANITARIAN AID

The UAE has translated development and humanitarian aid into a foreign policy instrument. The philosophy behind this is two-fold: first, it is dictated by an Islamic belief that helping those in need is a primary duty; and second, that part of the country’s wealth from oil and gas should be devoted to assisting less fortunate countries and individuals. Overall, the UAE’s foreign aid during the last four decades is estimated to exceed Dh163 billion (US$38 billion).

A World Bank report in September 2010 recognised the UAE as one of the world’s most generous contributors to foreign aid. Tracking overseas aid between 1973 and 2008, the Arab Development Assistance – Four Decades of Cooperation identified the UAE as part of a three-country bloc that accounted for 90 per cent of the total contribution of Dh993 billion.

According to a December 2010 report by Global Humanitarian Assistance, a group that monitors the distribution of charitable aid from governments, the UAE is the first non-western nation to be included in the global Top 10 humanitarian aid donors per head of population.

UAE Interact


What's new is; the US is now on the receiving end of this aid.

With our budget problems, maybe we better get used to it. [atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/01d4c0170206.gif[/atsimg]