How We Can Help (1 Viewer)

[Kajs]

Never in my life of 20 years have I felt this way. All I can keep thinking is unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable...
First, I encourage everyone to go out and make blood donations if you can.
Second, if you don't like needles, like me(though I still may go and donate), and that want to help in any way, I've found out that we can make donations to the Red Cross and Salvation Army online. Think of the money you would spend on DVDs next week and maybe donate that. Thats how I thought of it. There are so many people that can use that money better than I can, so why not?
As I've said, I've never felt this way before, I've never been involved with these organizations, and this is the first time I've ever donated money to one of these organizations, but I encourage everyone to do so.
Every little bit helps!
Red Cross By Phone:1-800-HELP-NOW
Red Cross Online Donations Salvation Army Online Donations

 

[Frank_S]

Kurt, very good idea. When we had the quake here in '89'
I donated blankets, clothing etc. to the salvation army. It made me feel like I was at least trying to help the victims.
Peace!

 

[Clinton McClure]

By noon here, the Red Cross had so many volunteers lined up to give blood, they were turning people away and telling them to come back tomorrow.

 

[Ted Lee]

i would like to see an official thread where we all list what we are doing to help. would that be possible?
someone else posted that they were going to give up their dvd budget for the month and donate that instead. i think that's a great idea and i'm also going to do the same. i figure even i can afford to give up 30 bucks.
i also plan on going to the red cross, but (per their recommendation) not for a couple of weeks. they said to wait about two weeks because they were so inundated with people wanting to help...that's awesome.

i know my contribution isn't much, but i hope it helps.
btw - i heard last night on tv that if you want your donation to the red cross to go specifically to the WTC fund, be sure to write "disaster relief fund" on the check or specify when you call.
------------------
You step in the stream,
But the water has moved on.
This page is not here.

 

[Ryan Wright]

By noon here, the Red Cross had so many volunteers lined up to give blood, they were turning people away and telling them to come back tomorrow.

The radio this morning said they were booked solid for the next month and to not even bother trying to donate. They said if you wanted to donate, wait 3 months and come back. No, I'm not kidding. Personally, I don't know how they could be "booked solid", as I thought donations were a walk-in kind of thing, not by appointment.
One thing that gets me is there is this huge need for blood, but our local Red Cross only allowed donations yesterday at Costco from 1:00pm to 5:00 (or was it 6:00?)pm. The wait to donate was over an hour. Why not start bright and early in the morning, and quit late at night? They could get a lot more donations that way. My company called to schedule a donation at our various buildings (we have over 1000 employees in this area alone) but was told they were too busy for the next few weeks.
The Red Cross seems to always be in need of blood, but they're not doing a whole lot to make it easy for people to donate...
------------------
-Ryan (http://www.ryanwright.com )
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, when you do criticize them, you'll be a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

 

[Ted Lee]

The Red Cross seems to always be in need of blood, but they're not doing a whole lot to make it easy for people to donate...

i suspect it is a logistical thing. i seriously doubt those places are staffed to handle such a large outpouring of support. also, i wonder about transportation and storage of the blood.
in any case, i hope people will still be willing to take the time and (if necessary) extra effort to donate or help out however possible.
we think we have it tough right now? i can't even imagine...
------------------
You step in the stream,
But the water has moved on.
This page is not here.

 

[Gordon Moore]

The Red Cross seems to always be in need of blood, but they're not doing a whole lot to make it easy for people to donate...

I suspect that this is more staffing issues than anything else. Compound that by the fact that these blood products have to be screened. The Red Cross simply can not keep up with supply.

 

[Bill Eberhardt]

I heard that blood only has a shelf life of around 42 days. After that it is useless. Hence the request to come back in a few weeks.
With the possible exception of O-negative blood they have all they can handle for the time being.

 

[Dana Fillhart]

As I cannot donate blood, I donated monetarily, online, to the Red Cross today; I hope it helps in at least a small way.

 

[Ted Lee]

dana -
that's great! i know every little bit helps!
i tried to go online, but couldn't get through. i'm going to send a check instead.
------------------
You step in the stream,
But the water has moved on.
This page is not here.

 

[Richard Cooper]

When blood was stored in bottles the 'shelf-life' was 21 days, since moving over to bags, I believe it has upped to 28 days. I'm not 100% on this as it's been some time since my mum worked in a bloodbank (her thesis was on the storage of blood).
Edit: Just had a look at that Amazon site. The average gift is $34. Considering it's defaulted to $10, that's pretty damn good.
Does anyone know if there's a way of donating online to the emergency services in New York? I'm pretty sure they're going to go hell for leather and blow the cost!
[Edited last by Richard Cooper on September 13, 2001 at 01:34 PM]

 

[MikeAlletto]

Amazon.com has a 1-click setup to donate to the Red Cross...as of a few minutes ago they had received $2,851,996.21. Donate as little as $1 or as much as $100. It goes right to the Red Cross. Its on their home page.
------------------
Michael Alletto
Mike's DVD List
Link Removed

 

[Scott-C]

Mike,
Thanks for the information about Amazon.com's disaster relief donation page.
So often I, like others I suspect, fall into that mode of self-pity, and think to myself "geez I have it rough right now". Lately I've been reminded that thousands of people are going through something that makes all my concerns quite trivial.
It was with great pride that I donated money to this fund to help my fellow Americans through a difficult time.
Thanks again to members of HTF for bringing this opportunity to my attention.
------------------
Scott

 

[Michael*K]

Just donated my $40 through the Amazon link. Their total is up to $3.1 million.

------------------
--Mike
Amazon Hot 100 DVD's

 

[paul o'donnell]

Yahoo.com have a link to firedonations.com where you can make donations that go to the families of the fire fighters lost.

 

[Bill Buklis]

I've donated the max amount to the Red Cross ($100). Perhaps a fair chunk of change to me, but it feels like it will be a mere drop in the bucket of what will be required.
Nevertheless I'm heartened to see that after my small donation they have so far raised $3,165,794.87 from 91,396 people. Now who was it that donated the 87 cents? I find it strange that the amazon donation site limits you to $100. But, you can always do multiple transactions if you wish, I suppose.
With this and the HTF server drive (although important, admittedly that pales in comparison), this is a big donation month.
------------------

 

[PaulG]

Last night I donated my DVD budget for this payday to the Disaster Relief fund, and encourge others to do the same. The Amazon.com total has doubled since I donated, about 16 hours ago.
------------------
Lest we forget 9-11-01

 

[MikeAlletto]

I gave $50 to the Amazon Red Cross page and so have other members of my family. You can also go through paypal if you have an account there, and someone already mentioned yahoo has one setup through their store. Amazon has the largest total donated amount that I've seen...$3,197,813.28 wow. Paypal has $497,032.
I have no idea how these numbers compare to other disasters though. Is $3.1 million a lot? To me that seems like a lot of money, but I don't know. But you can constantly refresh the page and it is always rising. It was at $2.3 million at 10am this morning. Truely amazing.
If I were in NY I'd probably be down on the front line begging to help dig, but since I'm not there this at least makes me think I'm making some sort of a difference.
------------------
Michael Alletto
Mike's DVD List
Link Removed

 

[Michael*K]

I brought up the Amazon page Link Removed and constantly refreshed it for a few minutes like an eBay auction ending. It is so heartening to see the figures rise with each click of the refresh button and instills in me an even greater feeling of patriotism to see so many willing to help in this time of need.
------------------
--Mike
Amazon Hot 100 DVD's

 

[Bill Buklis]

At this moment, they are almost to 4.3 million. That is excellent. And no, for something like this, that is not a lot. But, the good news is that I believe the amount we're seeing on the amazon page is only what has been contributed through amazon and not via other sources (red cross page itself for example).
I pulled up the page and just hit refresh every 5 seconds for a little bit. It was amazing how fast it was going up in such a short period of time.
------------------