GlobalGiving Ebola Epidemic Relief Fund

Dear Ebola Fund donors,

We regularly send these reports with written updates about how your donations are being put to work to fight Ebola. But today’s update accompanies an invitation: we’re inviting you to participate in a conversation with some of the important leaders who are responding to Ebola in West Africa.

Join our Reddit “Ask Me Anything” (or AMA) happening today, Thurs Oct 2, between 11am and 1pm ET. Our partners on the ground will be available to answer any of your questions about your donations and the conditions they’re seeing in West Africa. Here's who you’ll hear from:

• Sylvester Renner -  DEVELOP AFRICA. With your help, Sylvester's organization has been delivering much needed personal protective gear and hygiene supplies to communities in Sierra Leone, and supporting community awareness campaigns to dispel misinformation about the outbreak.

• Bisi Iderabdullah - IMANI HOUSE. Partially funded by your donations, Bisi's clinic in the Brewerville section of Monrovia, Liberia has been one of the only health care providers to 17,000 people in the area. After losing two of its staff to Ebola, Imani House is focusing its efforts on safeguarding staff and patients from the disease and educating the local community about how to stop transmission of the disease. Watch an interview with Bisi from last week.
  
  
• Emily Bell -  MORE THAN ME. Before the outbreak, Emily's organization ran an academy for vulnerable girls in Monrovia. Since Ebola's arrival, they've shifted their focus toward coordinating community efforts, providing housing for children orphaned by the disease, and supporting local care and education efforts. Their work was featured in a TIME story published yesterday.

• Carolyn Yi and Mat Jacobs - INTERNEWS. Persistent misinformation and rumors about Ebola have been hampering efforts of aid organizations since the beginning of the outbreak. With help from your funds, Internews is working to support local media outlets in West Africa, who can build trust and spread accurate information in ways international and government sources often can't. Their executive director wrote an oped this week in The Guardian about the value of local media in combating Ebola.
  
  
• Britt Lake, Alison Carlman, and Will Frechette - GLOBALGIVING. We're coordinating the 18 organizations responding to Ebola in the GlobalGiving network. We're also actively working to raise awareness about the epidemic, and to regularly report to donors about how their funds are being used. Here are the Ebola projects on GlobalGiving.

If you can’t participate in the AMA live, please check the link here to see a record of the conversation that takes place.

As always, we’d love to answer any of your questions about your donation, either on Reddit, by phone, or email.  Thank you so much for your generosity.