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To
support the Red Cross without buying any funnybooks, go to Amazon.com
or PayPal's
fee-free donation pages, or go directly to the American
Red Cross's homepage.
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Here's some excellent information written by a Red Cross Disaster Relief volunteer in lower Manhattan named Jessica, who also happens to be a big fan of SCHLOCK MERCENARY (thanks for passing this along, Howard!)... DONATIONS The very best thing you can do right now is donate money. Donations can be processed online at http://www.redcross.org/donate, but the page may not respond due to overwhelming demand. If this is the case, then call 1-800-HELP-NOW (1-800-435-7669). I realize you want to give stuff. We've had LOTS of calls from people with clothes, or food, or whatever. The American people are some of the most generous people on the face of the planet Earth, but the plain and simple fact is that New York has way more clothes, food, water, and other equipment than they can handle right now. Your money is not cold and impersonal, as much as Captain Tagon might like to think of it that way. Your money will be going to pay for the diesel fuel that powers the trucks that gets the stuff to the blast site. It'll be paying for disaster volunteer workers from all over the New York metropolitan area, and all over the Washington DC area, to get on a bus or a train or the highway and get to the disaster site. It'll be paying for those workers' food, and the rooms they'll be staying in, and the other supplies they'll need to help the emergency workers on site. It'll be going towards getting some of the best doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, and counselors on the North American continent in there to make sure that the people trying to save these victims' lives - or trying to deal with the enormity of their losses - will be able to carry on, and won't become victims of the disaster themselves. Money can, and will, be used as efficiently as humanly possible to make sure that each and every person involved in this disaster recovery effort can do what needs doing - and will be able to go home and stay sane after all of this is done. BLOOD * If you
live in the area of New York City, call (800) 933-2566 - Blood Center
of New York - or (800) 692-5663. If those are busy, please, please, get out your telephone book and look up "Hospitals". Find the telephone number for their blood center, or their general number. Call them. Tell them that you want to donate blood for the current disaster situation in New York or at the Pentagon. They will take your information and tell you when to come in. It's possible that all your local hospitals will be at capacity - don't worry about that. Within two weeks the supply will start dropping again, because blood can only be kept for a certain amount of time. This is not a disaster that is going to go away. Make the appointment for next week, or the week after that, or whatever! The blood will be needed. Go ahead and make the call. You may have to wait a week or two or three, but that's all right. It'll still be just as valued and just as vital when you do go in. And they'll still have the cookies. Make sure you eat well during the time between your call and the time you have to give blood, because they'll test your blood for iron. If you don't have enough, you won't be allowed to give. Eating a properly balanced diet - and possibly taking a multivitamin with iron - is just about the best way to prepare for blood donation. Believe me, I know. I've been doing it since 1992. Also, there are certain criteria you should know about if you want to give blood. Please go to: http://www.redcross.org/services/biomed/blood/learn/eligibl.html to make sure that you're currently eligible. Thanks! FINDING PEOPLE * Did you
have a family member who was on an American Airlines flight and can't
find them? Call 1-800-245-0999. |
