I spent the first hour at the office today reading the Katrina coverage. After I got home from work, I spent another couple of hours trying to find somebody that could take donations of actual things...clothes, blankets, personal care products. I know, I know...the most efficient way to give help is a cash donation, and I've done that. But that doesn't feel like I have done anything.
I have heard, though I don't know if it is true, that those scrap metal drives during World War II were completely unnecessary. Nobody ever built a bomb or a bomber out of old cans and chewing gum wrappers...but it gave children a way to be involved and feel like they were useful.
I read the Pensacola News-Journal online, and today I did see that people there are organizing trucks of needed goods to Mississippi. I have been wondering if some of the smaller towns on the Gulf Coast have been...not overlooked, but when people in New Orleans don't have water, a guy in Hattiesburg who might want a clean change of clothes is a lower priority. I want to do something to help fill in those gaps, if I can. If it comes to it, maybe I can ship my stuff to a friend in Pensacola and have her drop it off.
There's a kid on an internet rat board I frequent who lives in Hattiesburg, actually. Their house is ok...no power, and they were using soda bottles to carry the gas for generators...but her family is fine. They've been trying to distribute food and water to their neighbors harder hit, and after talking to her about what they could use, I just sent a bunch of stuff from drugstore.com. I'm holding my breath for a confirmation number...I hope UPS can get it to her.
Someone at Victor's office is collecting school supplies and backpacks for kids displaced by the storm who'll be starting school wherever they've landed. I'm sure we have extra backpacks here...this is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for.
I want to do something that gets me away from watching the news. I want to feel useful. I need a scrap metal drive.
Posted by Nic at September 2, 2005 09:23 PM | TrackBackI know what you mean...I do disaster mental health for the Red Cross, and I got word we offerred to open a shelter here. My first thought (selfishly) was: I hope they do!!
Because then I can DO something.
(there is a buddhist story, and I don't remember it per se, but it has to do with part of the reason the monks went into the villages with begging bowls was not because they needed the food, but to allow others to give, and therefore accumulate merit.
So we are in good company :) )
Blessings to you and yours, Nic.