Help After the Hurricane

This was supposed to go up on Thursday, but life has this annoying habit of getting in the way of my blogging.

Anyway, it's been a week (nearly) since Hurricane Sandy decided to make life difficult for the eastern seaboard.  Compounding the issue, we're expecting a nor'easter in the next few days to add to the flooding for the coastal states, as well as to dump some snow on my area.  I don't mind snow so much.  Meanwhile, however, I did promise to share with the readership ways that they - that is, you - can help with the relief effort which, if this current forecast is accurate, is about to become even more crucial and more difficult.

First up, as always, the lovely and big-hearted Debbie Tenzer of Do One Nice Thing has provided us with some information on the subject.  She points out that the biggest needs are money and blood donations.  If you wish to and are able to donate blood, go to this page to find out where you can do so near you.

You may have heard that you can donate via text message.  Send the text REDCROSS to the number 90999 to donate ten dollars to that organization.  Or donate directly on their website to their disaster relief fund.  Another one to consider: help the Humane Society as they help the pets and homeless animals who were affected by the storm.

Are you on Twitter?  Follow the account of the Sandy NJ Relief Fund.  They too have a website where you can contribute to the relief effort, and they also provide occasional updates about what's happening.

If you live in or near the state of New Jersey and would like to contribute food, clothing, blankets, and other material goods like that, your best bet is to call the state's volunteer hotline at 1-800-JERSEY-7.  The operators can direct you to the best place to deliver your donation.

Oh, one more thing.  The utility workers have been laboring tirelessly to get everyone's water and power turned back on in a timely fashion in all of the affected states (including mine).  Workers have traveled here from almost every other state in the country.  They're away from their families and putting in long hours to make other people's lives easier.  Please, please - if you encounter any of these hard-working men and women, take a few minutes to express your gratitude.

I'll be posting on Wednesday because of that contest I mentioned in a previous post.  In the meantime, if you live in the United States, tomorrow is Election Day.  I'm not going to tell you for whom you should cast your vote, but by all means, vote.

Tomorrow is also my sister Lisa's birthday.  So I'm voting that she should have a happy birthday!

Hurricane Sandy

Why did they name this hurricane Sandy?  That makes it sound cute.  Like Sandy from Grease, or Sandy Hook in New Jersey (which is pretty much underwater at this point if I understand the news reports), or Sandy the Squirrel from that inane Spongebob cartoon.

Anyway, hello.  As a resident of the eastern seaboard area, I'm awaiting this thing's landfall.  It's expected to crawl ashore in Cape May, New Jersey in about four hours, give or take.  It's huge, it's wet, I don't want it, and I'm just thankful that they're claiming the harshest rain will most likely pass to the south of where I am.  I'm also thankful that my workplace was smart enough to close today, which saved me the trouble of calling in sick with this terrible backache.

I'm cranky and I need a nap, I think.

So there's really very little point to this post, except to say that I hope everyone reading this is keeping safe and sane.  Between the hurricane on the east coast and the earthquake in Canada that prompted tsunami warnings on the west coast, this is going to be one really unpleasant week for North America.  I'm sure that once this is all over, there will be many outreach opportunities by which you can help people recover from this hurricane, so check back with me on Thursday and I'll share with you what I find.  In the meantime, stay warm and dry.

Isaac Cometh

As most people know by now, the southern United States is bracing for impact from Hurricane Isaac.  My own area got slapped pretty hard last year by Hurricane Irene (what's with the I names causing problems, anyway?), and I have a lot of friends in the south, so I've been watching this with concern.

Florida just got a soaking, but now Isaac's racing toward Louisiana, which was already pretty battered by Hurricane Katrina just a few years ago. Haiti already took a beating from this storm.  Organizations are already mobilizing to be ready to help those who will or do need it, and evacuations are in progress.  If you want to help, here's where to go:

• The Red Cross
• Operation Blessing International
• Samaritan's Purse
• Doctors Without Borders (nothing specific for this cause yet, but I'm sure there will be)

Good luck, stay safe, and help each other.

Rain, Reading, and Reviewing

I'm writing this from an extremely soggy Pennsylvania, which - after being lashed by the fury of Hurricane Irene - is currently suffering the additional indignities of the remains of Tropical Storm Lee.  This past Tuesday was my birthday (I continue to be thirtysomething), and it was suggested that I had wished for more rain on my candles.

In all truth, the weather around here is a little scary of late.  Flooding is happening all over the place; the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is recommending no unnecessary travel through the eastern part of the commonwealth.  Rivers in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey are approaching levels they haven't reached since Hurricane Agnes visited us in 1972.  I didn't exist yet at that point, so this is the worst it's been in my lifetime.  The Weather Channel people are referring to it as "the Historic Northeast Flooding," capitalization theirs.

But despite the delightful squelching noises that the ground now makes when walked upon, we move forward.  Today is International Literacy Day!  A day when people around the world celebrate the written word!  Being able to read is hugely important for adults to make informed decisions and steer this planet toward a better future.  Yet almost 800 million adults are still unable to read.  Check out what the International Reading Association has to say about this occasion, and find out how you can help to maybe bring that number down some.

On a final note, I recently started a second blog.  The Opinionation Station is for reviewing the story quality of video games.  I'm finding I have a little less to say on this subject than I originally expected.  However, I may end up not needing it anyway.  I'm very excited to announce that your intrepid blogger is the newest staff writer for AngryWeb, and will be doing all manner of geeky writing therein.  This includes video game reviews.  My first article went live a few days ago, and I think I'm going to like this gig.

Besides, hunting for nerdy news will give me something to do while I'm listening to the rain.  The Weather Channel just informed me that it's expected to continue all the way through the weekend.

After Irene

As promised, I'm devoting today's blog post to letting you know about how you can help with the post-Irene cleanup.  Like with any natural disaster or other large, life-changing situation, there's got to be a lot of money spent to help make things better now that it's over...and there's bound to be some lowlife scum who try to capitalize on this by pretending to be raising money for a good cause when that cause is really their own bank account.

Make no mistake, it's a mess.  Flooding and ruined buildings, and I already commented on the (thankfully relatively small but nevertheless devastating) loss of life.  But it wasn't as bad as it could be, and that's in no small part due to the excellent job done by authorities in preparing and evacuating and whatnot.  Still, it's a mess, and one that we all have to clean up together.

Charity Navigator, which I know I've mentioned more than once on this blog, has a blog of their own and has a very helpful post listing several charities to which you can donate with complete faith that your money will be used to help those who were affected by the hurricane.  I do want to give special props to the ASPCA, who mobilized to transplant shelter animals out of the path of danger.  (In a similar vein, props go likewise to the shelters in New York, who welcomed household pets with open arms.  Speaking as someone who would not go to a shelter if I couldn't bring my cats, I know how much this meant to a lot of people.)

But if you'd like to do something a bit more personal, a bit more direct, I do have one suggestion.  This comes by way of sci-fi author John Scalzi, who I mentioned a while back as breaking open the Cooks Source scandal to the world.  He linked his Twitter followers to the blog of fellow author Kate Messner, who wrote a post about a small-town library in the Adirondacks that's in desperate need of help.  The Wells Memorial Library in Upper Jay, New York lost pretty nearly its entire children's collection to flooding, because the books were on low shelves where children could reach them and, unfortunately, so could floodwaters.  So they're looking for donations of both money and books.  Contact information is all in that blog post, along with that of a bookstore local to the library that knows exactly what they need and can help you make a donation that will really benefit the library.

Please spread the word - and if you know of any other projects like this one, send them my way!

This and That

First, I want to thank those of you who boosted the signal regarding my post about my friend Shayla and her financial struggle.  I'm happy to report that she did in fact receive her student aid in time and while she's not out of the woods yet, things are much more stable for her than they were.  Her FundRazr account is still active if you wish to contribute.

I also want to extend my condolences to everyone who lost someone dear to Hurricane Irene.  I found out tonight that Katie, one of my youngest friends, lost her friend Celena in the resultant floods.  Celena, who was only 20, drowned when her car was swept away in New Jersey.  I know the hurricane was not nearly as bad as it probably could have been, thanks to early warnings and people taking evacuations seriously, but it was still bad and my sympathies go out to everyone who suffered any kind of loss.

I hope on Thursday to have some information about legitimate (key word!) ways you can help with the post-hurricane rebuilding.  Sadly, after a tragic incident it's very common for fraudulent charities to emerge.  So please don't give money to anything unless you know for sure that they're legitimate, like the Red Cross.  If you have doubts about a donation drive, investigate the situation with Charity Navigator.

And if you're traveling through areas that were impacted by the hurricane, please be careful.  Rivers and creeks are still swollen and there are still several areas without power.

Short and Sweet: or, Goodnight Irene

Like many of you, I'm presently awaiting more news about Hurricane Irene. 

Also like many of you, I live in an area that was affected by the east coast earthquake earlier this week.

And last weekend, my hometown had a little bitty tornado.

In shortest form, what the heck is going on?  What next?

Anyway, I hope that all of you reading this stay safe and level-headed throughout the next several days. If you're told to evacuate, please evacuate!  Be sure to check on the elderly in your area too.  I'll update on Monday if I can, and as soon as possible if not.  It depends on whether I have power and internet. We shall see.