The web's currency helps boost donations for cyclone victims.
Website beenz.com and CARE International UK have teamed up to help cyclone victims in the state of Orissa, India, by allowing consumers to make donations in beenz, the web’s currency.
Consumers are now able to spend their beenz on donations to the Orissa appeal. beenz are being spent to provide urgently needed blankets, clothing and cooking kits for families who have lost all their possessions in the cyclone.
Donations start at 100 beenz, with 500 beenz buying a blanket, 1,000 beenz buying a cooking kit for a family and 2,000 beenz providing clothing for an entire family.
The CARE International UK website which started accepting beenz just a few days ago, has already received over 187,000 beenz - enough to buy new clothing for almost 100 families.
On 29 October, Orissa was devastated by one of the most powerful cyclones to hit India this century, with winds reaching up to160 miles per hour. Over 12 million people had their homes destroyed or damaged.
The storms washed away vital crops of rice and vegetables, killed hundreds of thousands of animals and destroyed tree cover. CARE International was the first non-governmental organisation to begin humanitarian relief operations in the cyclone-hit state.
CARE International has focussed on the delivery of food, plastic sheeting and shelter materials by rail and road. As a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), CARE International UK is appealing to the British public, particularly the Asian community, for funds to help deliver life-saving aid to millions of people.
Will Day, National Director of CARE International UK, said: 'We are delighted to accept the web’s currency for donations to the Orissa appeal.
The Internet provides a safe and easy way for people to donate, and because beenz is a universal currency we hope to receive donations from across the globe.' beenz is the web’s currency, and can be earned and spent with a growing network of web merchants.
Users can earn beenz at participating websites, and can spend them on thousands of products. To begin earning beenz, consumers can open a free beenz account either at www.beenz.com or by simply visiting a participating web merchant giving beenz.
Philip Letts, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of beenz.com, says: 'With over 250 million beenz in circulation and more than 425,000 consumers, we believe that beenz can really help make a difference to the lives of people in Orissa.
This is the first time that the web’s currency is being used to help an international relief and development organisation. We hope that beenz consumers will part with some of their beenz to help boost the Orissa appeal.'
Notes to editors About beenz.com beenz.com, creator of beenz, the web’s currency, is headquartered in New York with offices in London, San Francisco and Sydney. beenz is a powerful online marketing tool designed to attract and maintain the attention of online consumers.
beenz technology partners are Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL), Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW) and Exodus (NASDAQ: EXDS). beenz also has a strategic marketing alliance with DoubleClick (NASDAQ: DCLK). The company's founder and chief technology officer is Charles Cohen. Philip Letts is the chairman and chief executive officer.
For more information, please visit www.beenz.com. The name of our company is beenz.com, spelled with a lower-case "b". We have dubbed our currency "beenz," also with a lower-case "b".
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