Results tagged “redcross”

It turns out that it's not such a good thing to be a PC if you want to be prepared for disaster. At the Montlake Community Club disaster and crime preparedness fair last night, representatives from the Seattle Police Department, Animal Control, and the Red Cross were there for presentations and to answer questions. The Red Cross presentation, given by a young AmeriCorps volunteer, was set to be a riveting, 60-minute, all-you-need-to-know showcase about disaster response. Trouble was she couldn’t get the PowerPoint presentation to load. "Are you a Mac or a PC?" yelled some wag in attendance. "I’m a Mac at home, but I had to use the agency’s PC, and it’s got some kind of virus," replied the volunteer. She thought about that a moment and added, "I guess I wasn’t prepared for this disaster."

While those of us in central Seattle enjoyed a three-day weekend, 234,000 people, mostly on the Eastside, are looking at their fifth night without power, and PSE's telling some of them--mostly in eastern King County (Duvall, North Bend, etc...)--that they won't be back on the grid for days.

Seems like everybody and their mama has been raising money for the Red Cross or other agencies helping in hurricane relief efforts. Even Seattlest's local karaoke dive bar was taking cash for the cause last Sunday night. What follows is by no means a comprehensive list, but just a smattering of upcoming events by local businesses where your money can make a difference:

You've seen the before/after shots more times than you can imagine, you've heard New Orleans mayor Nagin begging for more help, and you've given money to the Red Cross or other organizations, but you still feel helpless to really do anything about the havoc wreaked on the Southeast by Katrina. Get off your kiester, and drive/bike/bus it down to the Seattle Red Cross office and volunteer to help displaced evacuees that are being sent to the Seattle area for relief from the Katrina disaster.

Seattlest would like to treat it as more than a coincidence that our Mountaineering First Aid class started last night. It dovetails nicely with a weird sense that although it's frustrating that we can't do more than donate money to the Red Cross for the displaced hurricane victims, we can at least be prepared to help out should the shit go down here. (And as for the "mountaineering" part of it--you'll be thanking us when we shore up your broken bones with a splint made of twigs.)

The Big Easy is either slipping further into decay or seeing the light at the end of the tunnel today, depending on which news outlet you've been paying particular attention to (Seattlest is partial to this guy holed up in a downtown tower and the NO Indymedia outlet) or which area of the city you're talking about. Sending money is a good idea and there are plenty of places that will happily facilitate that, beginning, of course, with the Red Cross. Check out the KING5 Relief page for more options, including The Northwest Medical Teams.

If, like Seattlest, you've been thinking of it but haven't got around to it: Click here to donate to the Red Cross. Choose "Hurricane Relief 2005" to ensure that your bucks go to New Orleans and Mississippi.