Did you donate to Hurricane Relief?

[Midnight Son]

I hope you did. Even $5 would come in handy.

[Moore]

I clicked yes but I didnt give to any organization. We're gathering money for our friend Gwennie in the event that she is alive or for her family in the event that she was killed.

[Stroker Ace]

Link sniped from Google front page:

Donate, via Amazon, with a credit card, to the Red Cross.

http://s1.amazon.com/paypage/PELYGQVJ8Q7IB/102-2654294-4859338

[Tim Partlett]

Or directly at the Red Cross site (http://www.redcross.org/).

[Brian Rucker]

Thanks for the Amazon link. One click donations are very convenient and Red Cross is a good group. I also used Amazon to donate to the tsunami relief fund.

[MarchHare]

Not to sound crass, but I think it will be interesting to see if Americans donate more, less, or about the same to relief of the hurricane than they did for the tsunami when all is said and done. As terrible as the damage to New Orleans is, it pales in comparison to the destruction and loss of life last December, and the US government is in a better position to deal with the damage than the governments of Sri Lanka and the other Asian countries hit.

I donated to the Red Cross both times, FWIW.

[chet]

Started compiling where you can donate based on your leanings... if anyone has any to add, please let me know.

http://www.poe-news.com/new-orleans-donate.html

[Moggraider]

Not to sound crass, but I think it will be interesting to see if Americans donate more, less, or about the same to relief of the hurricane than they did for the tsunami when all is said and done. As terrible as the damage to New Orleans is, it pales in comparison to the destruction and loss of life last December, and the US government is in a better position to deal with the damage than the governments of Sri Lanka and the other Asian countries hit.

I donated to the Red Cross both times, FWIW.

I don't think you're being crass, and you have a good point. I think that a lot of us will have the feeling that it's the government's responsibility to take care of New Orleans. Plus it seems that it's easier to donate to faceless, idealized innocents in a far off country than to our own. Not to point fingers, but I've already seen at least one blog from my conservative friend in high school supporting shooting looters and generally having a damn-them-all attitude.

[Jazar]

Not to sound crass, but I think it will be interesting to see if Americans donate more, less, or about the same to relief of the hurricane than they did for the tsunami when all is said and done. As terrible as the damage to New Orleans is, it pales in comparison to the destruction and loss of life last December, and the US government is in a better position to deal with the damage than the governments of Sri Lanka and the other Asian countries hit.

I donated more to the Katrina relief effort mostly because I used to live in New Orleans. (used to work right across from the superdome.) Does that make me a bad person?

[Andrew Mayer]

Not to sound crass, but I think it will be interesting to see if Americans donate more, less, or about the same to relief of the hurricane than they did for the tsunami when all is said and done. As terrible as the damage to New Orleans is, it pales in comparison to the destruction and loss of life last December, and the US government is in a better position to deal with the damage than the governments of Sri Lanka and the other Asian countries hit.

I donated more to the Katrina relief effort mostly because I used to live in New Orleans. (used to work right across from the superdome.) Does that make me a bad person?

It's hard to remember in the virtual world, but in the end it's your actions that define you. You done good.

[Nathan]

I don't have a lot of money, but I do have time, so I went to my local Red Cross office and volunteered. I should fly to Houston next Friday, and from there to either Baton Rouge or somewhere in Mississippi. I could have left as early as Sunday, but I need to get some meds and I'd like to get the recommended hepatitis A and tetanus shots.

[Tim Partlett]

Wow. Good on you, Nathan.

[Zarathustra]

I hope you did. Even $5 would come in handy.

I would but first I need to pay my flood insurance premium.

[shift6]

I have to be honest and admit that I'm leery about donating this early. For one thing, the grotesque scandal with the Red Cross's 9/11 charity collections destroyed my confidence in them (yes, I know the person responsible left, but she besmirched the whole). Also, what precisely will my money do right now? It isn't buying gas. It isn't piping in fresh water. It isn't extinguishing fires. It doesn't pay for police or military efforts.

I'm going to wait until I see a charity I trust such as Habitat for Humanity show up. They're already planning their efforts in the area, but are waiting for "first responders" to finish the really shitty stuff, which I'm just not confident my money will actually help with.

[VegasRobb]

I have to be honest and admit that I'm leery about donating this early. For one thing, the grotesque scandal with the Red Cross's 9/11 charity collections destroyed my confidence in them (yes, I know the person responsible left, but she besmirched the whole). Also, what precisely will my money do right now? It isn't buying gas. It isn't piping in fresh water. It isn't extinguishing fires. It doesn't pay for police or military efforts.

I'm going to wait until I see a charity I trust such as Habitat for Humanity show up. They're already planning their efforts in the area, but are waiting for "first responders" to finish the really shitty stuff, which I'm just not confident my money will actually help with.

Very cool.

[CindySue22]

I sent more than I could afford to the Red Cross post 9/11, and was planning on doing the same for Katrina relief (been on the road since before it struck, and just got home today).

BUT, I also had to buy a new keyboard, so, on the way home from the yard today, I stopped at Best Buy, and when checking out, was asked if I would like to donate to the Red Cross. Then, it was further explained to me that BB would match my donation, effectively doubling what I could, or could not, afford to give. Pretty cool, if you ask me.

I realize the dirty, filthy, capitalist bastards must be getting some kind of tax break for doing this (or maybe not?), but it still doubles what I could afford.

I am sure other retailers, at least the big ones, are also doing something similar.

Oh, one other thing. You guys know I kinda like Bush, right? I think he really dropped the ball on this one. If I was Prez, about the 2nd day that those people were still on the I-10 overpasses, and hadn't been helped yet? Fuck the law, or whatever, the Army and Marines would have been ON SCENE with food, shelter, medical care, whatever was needed, RIGHT NOW.

God help us (because it seems our government, and I include local, state, and federal, can't) if the terrorists ever do detonate a nuke in the US.

[wildpokerman]

I've been off work and I'm going to check on Monday to see if my work has a matching program like they did with 9/11 and the tsunami. If not my wife is a member of an orginization that is matching so I'll donate with them.

Don't forget to check for matching donations.

[russellmz00]

I've been off work and I'm going to check on Monday to see if my work has a matching program like they did with 9/11 and the tsunami. If not my wife is a member of an orginization that is matching so I'll donate with them.

Don't forget to check for matching donations.

crap, i forgot to check for matching donations before i gave at the redcross site.

[Jim Preston]

Electronic Arts is matching employee donations 2-for-1, so in this case "I gave at work" is true; I really did.

[Caryn Law]

I really don't have any money to donate, but a friend of mine gave me a great idea a couple of days ago. I'm a knitter and so are a few other people I work with. We're going to put a bunch of hand knit items up for auction on eBay and donate 100% of the proceeds to the Red Cross. Having been a knitter for a long time, I've had people offer to pay for my knitting in the past and commission stuff from me. If I knit some simple but trendy items, I can take $25 of yarn and turn around and sell it for $100 or more. Might as well do that and give it to the Red Cross instead of my paltry $25. We've already got about three items together -- I'm going to be putting them up for auction tomorrow.

[VegasRobb]

I really don't have any money to donate, but a friend of mine gave me a great idea a couple of days ago. I'm a knitter and so are a few other people I work with. We're going to put a bunch of hand knit items up for auction on eBay and donate 100% of the proceeds to the Red Cross. Having been a knitter for a long time, I've had people offer to pay for my knitting in the past and commission stuff from me. If I knit some simple but trendy items, I can take $25 of yarn and turn around and sell it for $100 or more. Might as well do that and give it to the Red Cross instead of my paltry $25. We've already got about three items together -- I'm going to be putting them up for auction tomorrow.

Looking forward to checking out the link(s), Caryn.

Jim, that's great to hear.

I didn't check for matching donations before sending a little, but I'll definately look closer in the future.

[James Gutierrez]

Just got back from another half day volunteering at the Astrodome. I've been out there the past 3 days. A few observations in no particular order:

1. It was pretty heartwarming to see the magnitude of the volunteer response. When I started on Friday, there weren't too many people, but as it got closer to the end of the workday, big crowds of volunteers started showing up. So many, in fact, that it started to overwhelm the organization that the Red Cross had in place to sign in and distribute volunteers. On the other hand, people seemed pretty good at self organizing and just sort of pitched in to help wherever they saw a need.

2. It's amazing how quickly a big group of people can set up 12,000 cots. We were preparing the Astroarena (large convention hall next to the dome) on Friday to take the overflow from the dome. I've got some pictures that I'll try to post later of the empty arena just filled wall to wall with cots.

3. It struck me that you really couldn't design a city to be a better disaster aid station than Houston. You've got this huge shelter/staging area just a mile (5 minutes by train) from one of the largest medical centers in the world. At volunteer sign up they divided us into medical personnel and everyone else, and one of the Red Cross guys said it was the only time he had ever seen more skilled medical personnel than non-skilled volunteers.

4. I have to admit I had a very 'Wedding Crashers' moment when I looked around and noticed how many cute girls were volunteering.

Anyway, if anyone in the area wants to go down and help, it can be a bit confusing trying to figure out where to go. Volunteer parking is in the yellow lot off of Murworth. Best way to get there is to head down Main (or up if you're coming from 610) and turn onto Murworth. Then you have to trek the half mile or so to the East side of the dome. Go into the Astroarena (I guess it's called Reliant Arena now or something, the big grey building) and take the northern-most escalators to the 2nd floor to find the volunteer sign-in and orientation.

[wildpokerman]

I really don't have any money to donate, but a friend of mine gave me a great idea a couple of days ago. I'm a knitter and so are a few other people I work with. We're going to put a bunch of hand knit items up for auction on eBay and donate 100% of the proceeds to the Red Cross. Having been a knitter for a long time, I've had people offer to pay for my knitting in the past and commission stuff from me. If I knit some simple but trendy items, I can take $25 of yarn and turn around and sell it for $100 or more. Might as well do that and give it to the Red Cross instead of my paltry $25. We've already got about three items together -- I'm going to be putting them up for auction tomorrow.

If you're a poor gamer you may have a closet full of games you don't plan on playing again and auctioning them off with the proceeds going to the red cross would work too. I'm gonna do a harsh cleanout of my PC games this weekend.

[forgeforsaken]

I donated to America's Second Harvest as they seem to be known as a fairly reputable organisation. Wish I waited for company matching, but I will see if I can get them to retroactively match.

[Caryn Law]

If you're a poor gamer you may have a closet full of games you don't plan on playing again and auctioning them off with the proceeds going to the red cross would work too. I'm gonna do a harsh cleanout of my PC games this weekend.
I would except that I tend to keep them as references for work, so that's not really an option for me. But it IS a good idea.

[wildpokerman]

If you're a poor gamer you may have a closet full of games you don't plan on playing again and auctioning them off with the proceeds going to the red cross would work too. I'm gonna do a harsh cleanout of my PC games this weekend.
I would except that I tend to keep them as references for work, so that's not really an option for me. But it IS a good idea.

I meant a collective you to all the forum readers not you specificaly Caryn. Some old games are worth holding onto but am I really going to play Battlecry II now that I have III or Hearts of Iron now that I have HOI II? Much of my catalog could be reduced and if it goes to get a baby some formula or a crib to sleep in then why not.

[Caryn Law]

For those interested in the handknit item links I mentioned earlier, here they are:

- Item 1 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6799871714)
- Item 2 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6799872916&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1)

I'll be putting up more soon. I'll also have a page of all the items that the few of us from Raven Software are knitting for donation.[/url]