Update, and some donation information!
Hey everyone!
So a week and a half after Hurricane Sandy tore up my hometown, chewed it up, and spat it back out, we were hit by a nor'easter (apparently we're naming winter storms now too; this was Athena). We got nine inches of snow over a period of about thirteen hours, most of it overnight. A bunch of people whose power was restored after the storm lost it again (my house included, though thankfully it's already back on).
As you can imagine, this is screwing up Sandy relief efforts left, right, and center. People had started clearing out their houses, throwing away things in the first floors of their homes - sofas, mattresses, washing machines, clothes dryers, refrigerators - I know people who lost pretty much everything, and people who lost all of their things plus their houses. All of this stuff is piled up on the street for collection, and now there's nine inches of wet, heavy snow on top of that. Needless to say, it's a mess.
I've had a ton of support from everyone here, and I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am for that. Knowing that I had people who were concerned, people who wanted to know that my family and I were okay, was really comforting to me. We were incredibly lucky - my aunt and uncle had trees come down on their houses, but in a way that has them just lying there, without having done any damage. My uncle's car had the back end get smashed in by a tree, but it's probably reparable. The worst of the damage is to my father, and it's not to his house or him personally - the substation that powers his house was completely submerged (because some brilliant thinker decided putting it at the bottom of a hill by a lake was a great plan), so they have to replace the whole thing, which will take anywhere from two weeks to a month. They're chilly, but they're okay.
I've had several people ask me how they can help. My answer, first and foremost, is to donate to the Red Cross. They're on the ground here, distributing things to the people who need them and organising things where they're needed. There's a button in the iTunes store to donate right to the Sandy relief efforts, too, so if you use iTunes, they make it really easy. You can also text REDCROSS to 90999 in the US. All donations are tax-deductible in the US; I'm not sure how that would work internationally, but it may apply there. I honestly don't know. ( Red Cross info for countries other than the US discussed here. Thanks, Claire!)
My local food bank is looking for donations as well. You can donate money online, and that's also a tax-deductible donation, just like the Red Cross is.
Habitat for Humanity will be doing work on homes in the area. Again. donations are tax-deductible.
Also, don't forget the Hurricane Sandy relief auction that's taking place on LJ. I have a list of people I know who are offering things; if you follow me, chances are that you and I share some interests, so these might be of interest to you. If you're offering something, please send me the link so I can add it there.
Thank you so much for you support. It means the world to those of us here.
This was originally posted here, where it has
comments. Comment here or there.
So a week and a half after Hurricane Sandy tore up my hometown, chewed it up, and spat it back out, we were hit by a nor'easter (apparently we're naming winter storms now too; this was Athena). We got nine inches of snow over a period of about thirteen hours, most of it overnight. A bunch of people whose power was restored after the storm lost it again (my house included, though thankfully it's already back on).
As you can imagine, this is screwing up Sandy relief efforts left, right, and center. People had started clearing out their houses, throwing away things in the first floors of their homes - sofas, mattresses, washing machines, clothes dryers, refrigerators - I know people who lost pretty much everything, and people who lost all of their things plus their houses. All of this stuff is piled up on the street for collection, and now there's nine inches of wet, heavy snow on top of that. Needless to say, it's a mess.
I've had a ton of support from everyone here, and I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am for that. Knowing that I had people who were concerned, people who wanted to know that my family and I were okay, was really comforting to me. We were incredibly lucky - my aunt and uncle had trees come down on their houses, but in a way that has them just lying there, without having done any damage. My uncle's car had the back end get smashed in by a tree, but it's probably reparable. The worst of the damage is to my father, and it's not to his house or him personally - the substation that powers his house was completely submerged (because some brilliant thinker decided putting it at the bottom of a hill by a lake was a great plan), so they have to replace the whole thing, which will take anywhere from two weeks to a month. They're chilly, but they're okay.
I've had several people ask me how they can help. My answer, first and foremost, is to donate to the Red Cross. They're on the ground here, distributing things to the people who need them and organising things where they're needed. There's a button in the iTunes store to donate right to the Sandy relief efforts, too, so if you use iTunes, they make it really easy. You can also text REDCROSS to 90999 in the US. All donations are tax-deductible in the US; I'm not sure how that would work internationally, but it may apply there. I honestly don't know. ( Red Cross info for countries other than the US discussed here. Thanks, Claire!)
My local food bank is looking for donations as well. You can donate money online, and that's also a tax-deductible donation, just like the Red Cross is.
Habitat for Humanity will be doing work on homes in the area. Again. donations are tax-deductible.
Also, don't forget the Hurricane Sandy relief auction that's taking place on LJ. I have a list of people I know who are offering things; if you follow me, chances are that you and I share some interests, so these might be of interest to you. If you're offering something, please send me the link so I can add it there.
Thank you so much for you support. It means the world to those of us here.
This was originally posted here, where it has
comments. Comment here or there.