The Neon Nurse's Charting

I was unable to get rolling today. I just felt stuck in front of this monitor, unable to break away from reading all the stuff out there about the hurricane. But on the bright side, I got some good ideas from various people on LiveJournal.

I know the conventional wisdom, and most of the advice going around right now, is to just SEND CASH and let the big name charities sort it all out. Which makes sense for the actual hurricane struck areas, I admit. But.

Non-earmarked for bills cash is not something I have a big supply of, just at the moment.

On the other hand, as someone who sells on eBay and the internet, I have Stuff by the boatload, plus an excellent working knowledge of shipping and how to get Stuff from place to place safely and as economically as possible.

So when some people on my Friends List came up with vetted candidates for getting some good used goods to the hurricane refugees who have made it to Houston or other locales, it really perked me up. Yes! Something useful I can DO!

So, here are a couple links. If you know of others, tell me!

1) CoffeeCup Software is located in Corpus Christi, Texas (a couple of
hours south of Houston), we are calling upon anyone who receives this
e-mail to send 'Goods' to our office. This will directly help the thousands
upon thousands of American refugees that will be entering Houston,
Beaumont, and througout Texas within the next days and weeks.

Our office will collect what you send and will drive these items by cargo
truck to the refugees where they are located. Over 25,000 people will
arrive at the Houston Astrodome tonight and we expect many waves of
refugees over the next month. We will collect items for the next 60 days
and will make trips once a week or more as needed.

Currently many Charitable organizations are overwhelmed and we want to make
sure the Families and Children will be given what they really need without
wait. Send as much as you wish, we have plenty of storage.

Some items we believe they need are:

Diapers, Baby Wipes, Infant Care Items
Personal Care Items (soap, razors, shaving cream, toothpaste, hygeine
items)
Clothing (socks, underwear, shirts, shoes, pants, shirts)
Long Distance Calling Cards, Batteries, FM Radios, Walkie-Talkies
Toys (coloring books, crayons, puzzles, any activity toy)
and more....

Our Address is:

CoffeeCup Software
c/o Hurricane Aid
226 South Tancahua Street
Corpus Christi, Texas 78401

You can also order things online at places like Amazon.com,
WalMart.com, Target.com, and others and have them sent directly to our
offices as
well.

Please do not send food, water, or money. This will be handled by
Organized Charities. Send what you would personally want if you were placed
in a very uncomfortbale position for a very long time with little or no
money (use your best judgement).

http://www.livejournal.com/users/odogoddess/109546.html


2) Where to send yarn, clothing, non cash items
HURRICANE KATRINA HELP
_Introduction_
(http://home.earthlink.net/~linkslilyray/#intro)

_Desperate Need_
(http://home.earthlink.net/~linkslilyray/#need)

_Send Donations
_
(http://home.earthlink.net/~linkslilyray/#send)
_Large Donations_
(http://home.earthlink.net/~linkslilyray/#large)

_Red Cross Donations
_
(http://home.earthlink.net/~linkslilyray/#red
cross) _Helping Displaced
Animals
_
(http://home.earthlink.net/~linkslilyray/#animals)
_Show Your Support
America!_
(http://home.earthlink.net/~linkslilyray/#americans)


First, thank you for viewing this site. Any and All help will be much
appreciated.

I live in Lafayette, Louisiana. We are taking in evacuees from New Orleans
and surrounding areas that have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. As of
today (8/31) we have a few thousand people being given shelter in our Cajun
Dome alone. Many of our schools and churches are also acting as shelters.
People here are even opening their homes, having sometimes 10 to 15 people
sleeping on their floors. This is the largest disaster to hit the U.S.
ever. Our situation will get more desperate before it can even begin to get
any better.

I know that crocheter's and knitter's are some of the most generous people
in the world. We need ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING.
Many of these people have only the clothes on their backs. We have no place
for the people to bathe.

We need:
Clothes - new or old
Clothes - hand made or not
Toiletries - toothpaste, deodorant, baby wipes etc.
If some of you that currently run charities have anything you can spare
please help.
Yarn from your stash - I have a bond knitting machine and can crank out
baby blankets, regular blankets or small
clothing items fairly quickly. I do not care what type of home it comes
from (smoke free - pet free etc.) We are desperate.

Anything will help. These people (and more still coming) will most probably
be here for over a month. Even after they can begin to return to their
cities, there will be nothing left for them to return to. We will be in
need for several months to come.
I have arranged for my postman to hold all packages marked Hurricane
Katrina at the post office so that I may take them
directly to the shelters.
Any of you that have websites, your friend's website, business website,
etc. please post a link to this page.
_http://home.earthlink.net/~linkslilyray_

(http://home.earthlink.net/~linkslilyray)

Please send to:
Kim Rutledge
Hurricane Katrina
1901 Eraste Landry Rd.
Apt. 1063
Lafayette, LA 70506

DO NOT SEND ME MONEY. Please make any monetary donations directly to the
Red Cross. (_http://www.redcross.org_
(http://www.redcross.org/) )
Anyone may contact me with any questions via _kimrldg@earthlink.net_
(mailto:kimrldg@earthlink.net)

Sending Large Donations
If your charity has large amounts of items they would like to send, please
bear in mind there is only so much I can carry directly to the shelters. I
urge everyone wanting to make large donations to follow the links below to
the television stations,
particularly _http://www.wafb.com_
(http://www.wafb.com/) to find out where you can send large amounts of
stuff. The red cross
is currently only wanting money. WAFB is trying to help those who want to
help communicate with those who can accept, sort, and distribute the
donations.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/torn_soul/274614.html

# posted by Susan : 11:56 PM