A note on donations -- Katrina-related, feel free to skip if you've had too much

[helvirago]

In catching up with my friendslist, I'm seeing a lot of people wanting to donate clothes/food/supplies directly. Which is, of course, laudable. But if you take things directly to the Red Cross, it costs the Red Cross money -- they would have to inspect it, sort it, and ship it. In fact, at the moment, they won't take these donations: http://www.redcross.org/article/0,1072,0_312_4498,00.html

That said, it looks like people are taking things into their own hands to avoid donation-center bottlenecks, so there are some possibilities. http://beenthere.typepad.com/been_there/ is running a clearinghouse for goods donations and looks like it's matching up the need with the supply. It's also worth noting that people who are in need of help locally are no less so because there are suddenly thousands more in the southeast, so it's always a good idea to take the stuff to your local helping place.

And I got that information from katrinarelief, so if you're looking for ways to help that's a great thing to keep an eye on.

In any case, people are going to need help for a long while. The chance to help will not rush by if you can't catch it right now.

Ooh look, cool stuff on the Red Cross online store! Shiny. Er, sorry, easily distracted. I'm off to Virginia to see my father, so take care, everyone!