skippy the bush kangaroo

Thursday, February 07, 2008

tornado aid

our good buddy monkeyfister happens to live smack-dab in the middle of the hardest-hit area of the tornadoes last night.

he's asking for blogtopia's help:

whilst we're waiting for george's promised prayers to roll in, down here in the tornado-stricken mid-south, i might recommend some direct human interaction.

this is my best first start to help my region.

as scout prime is to nola, i am, suddenly, to the mid-south area (i live here, and was live-blogging these horrible storms all night), and have started to get the help-ball rolling down here. some of you know where i work. i started a food drive there today for the mid-south united way food bank.

as the area affected is so broad and detached, and everyone in the country was distracted by politics last night, as yet, there is no central assistance hub set-up. so, at the link, above, you'll find the two agencies with the broadest radius to help the area right now. both take direct donations.

a small-blog swarm on that post (or this comment) would be greatly appreciated by more people than just me. i can't describe how wide-spread the damage is down here. it's enormous. the media, per usual, is only just now waking up to the situation, after their super-duper-let's-all-wet-our-pants-together- tuesday political hangover. like nola, these are really poor folks down here, and have nothing, and nowhere to go.
monkeyfister gives us two places to donate:

right now, i recommend the:

american red cross
mid-south chapter
1400 central avenue
memphis, tn 38104
901-726-1690

and:
united way of the mid-south phone in a donation at (901) 433-4300.

they take direct donations, so you can skip all the national-level waste and delay, and they serve nearly every community in the effected radius.
come on, folks. dig into your wallets and send some luv down tennessee way.

(tip of the kangaroo tail to cernig at newshoggers for the alerts sent our way)

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posted by skippy at 9:27 PM |

4 Comments:

skippy, thank you for bringing this information to us. Yr humble and obt svt, the great Mr618, used to live in Memphis, and has fond memories of the city (except for driving by Corky's Barbeque, which was like taking a crack whore past Marion Barry's house). I even did one of my CPR instructor updates at the Mid-South Chapter, and while no one can deny that national Red Cross has its problems, the folks at Mid-South have their poop in a group. I'll be dending a donation today.

Thanks again, brother.
commented by Blogger Mr. 618, 3:26 AM PST  
Good look, my folks are in memphis thats where i am from, they said it crushd the hickory ridge area
commented by Blogger Torrance Stephens bka All-Mi-T, 10:31 AM PST  
Done, both the post and a donation.
commented by Blogger Batocchio, 10:58 AM PST  
OT--

OK.

Here's a rough update on the status of the Blog Swarm for Mid-South Tornado Relief...

I'm shocked, awed, and overwhelmed tonight!

At least a HUNDRED blogs from every aspect of the political spectrum have taken part in this swarm of goodness. I want to take a moment to thank Chuck Adkins, a blogger at the Town Hall Blog Community and other places for picking up my plea, and spreading it far and wide through the Conservative 'sphere. He's right-- this isn't about politics, but I had to somewhere.

It will be days before I get everyone thanked properly. But, I'm starting right now, and every day, I will post another set of Thank Yous, until either my fingers fall off and my eyes go blind, or I get to the end of the list. Let's hope for the latter.

In the past 24-hours, we raised between $13,000 (minimum) to somewhere in the neighborhood of $92,000 for the Mid-South Chapter of the American Red Cross and the Mid-South Chapter of United Way.

I thank each and every one of you who participated in this immense act of Kindness-- Bloggers and Donors alike. We made an enormous difference between HOPE and Despair today.

Damn, I'm proud of you all. I've never been so impressed and touched like this in my life. If there is a Statistician in the house, I'd LOVE for you to put the calipers on my numbers.

You can see how I derived this large range-spread at my place:

Monkeyfister

I don't think that I am far off.

PLEASE pass this around, as there is no way in hell that I can reach everyone we has participated in this action in any sensible way.

All of my love, and two scoops of IOU to each and every one of you.

Your Friend, Fan and Admirer,

~Monkeyfister~
commented by Anonymous Monkeyfister, 5:50 PM PST  

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