It was certainly a busy weekend.
Someone decided to set up a Red Cross shelter at a local church here in town. It happened to be my mother's church.
The decision was made at around 2pm and by the time I got there a little after 6pm, the place was packed with donations of clothes, shoes, bedding, toiletries, children's toys and books, and food...lots and lots of food.
In 4 short hours, the place was overwhelmed with supplies. It was mind blowing.
The volunteers were braced for 200 evacuees headed our way but after a few hours, we found out they were diverted to another shelter along the way.
But that was ok, I knew more would come and they did.
What I found amazing was that no one took more than they needed. Toiletries were sorted into bags with with a toothbrush, toothpaste, a bar of soap, a comb, a stick of deodorant, etc...
However, if someone just needed a tube of toothpaste, they wouldn't take the whole bag.
There were thousands of articles of clothing and one person could have replaced an entire wardrobe but they would only take one or two shirts.
Of course, there was that one guy who rolled up in a Lexus with Texas plates asking for one of "those gas cards I heard about on the TV". He was turned away.
I was exhausted when I got home Friday night and very depressed from listening to the stories and watching the news and just KNOWING of the horrors that people were going through as I drove home in the air-conditioned luxury of my car.
I drug my ass up the stairs to my apartment and waiting for me at my doorstep was a box with that familiar Amazon logo emblazoned on the side.
"I didn't order anything from Amazon!"
I opened it inside and found a copy of
Edith Wharton's House of Mirth and a brand new DRY copy of
Czeslaw Milosz' Collected Poems.
I recognized these titles from my Amazon wishlist.
Someone, out of the blue, sent me a gift. Who was the benevolent stalker person? Why, it's the original J-Snooze!
Thank you Jimmah! You made my weekend!
The rest of the weekend saw intermittant volunteering, laundering, embarrassing moments on Yahoo Messenger, and bathroom floor scrubbing.
My mom donated a loveseat and recliner to a family of 10 who lost everything in New Orleans and was generously given a house to live in for 6 months, rent free.
They had nothing but some bags of clothes, some pictures and a couple of donated air mattresses.
But by the time we got there, others had donated more air mattresses, a HUGE diningroom table and matching chairs, a TV, DVD/VCR player, tons of food and water and various toys for the children.
I was thinking it took me years to accumulate that kind of stuff, these people got it all in just two days.
Absolutely amazing!
I have to stop watching the coverage of the hurricane destruction and the victims. I've been watching it non stop since it happened and I can hardly think of anything else.
I can't stop thinking of the pets left behind (sometimes forcibly).
I can tell you right now that I wouldn't leave mine behind. If I had a choice of getting on a bus to safety without my dogs and staying behind with them, you can guess what I'd choose.
No question.
You're welcome, De. :-)
Czeslaw Milosz wasn't on the list though. I snuck it into the order using my krazy hacker skillz.
(Okay, there really wasn't much skillz use there. There's a little known hole in the wishlist system that lets you buy anything you want for somebody as long as there's at least one wishlist item on the order. I still feel sneaky clever about it though. ;-)
Posted by: Jim at September 6, 2005 12:23 PMOk, so this is the deal. Milosz WAS on the list but for some reason it didn't show up because it said it wasn't available anymore.
However, you were able to buy it, further proving your amazing hacker skillz.
You rock, Snoozemeister!
Posted by: De at September 6, 2005 12:33 PMYeah, there was a warning about "1 copy available" and I jumped right on that sucker. Hehe.
Posted by: Jim at September 6, 2005 03:00 PMWe've got some friends from New Orleans staying with us for a while and, like you, we're glued to the screen and drinking it all up, De. Yesterday, we were able to summon NOLA imnages and zoom into the French Quarter avenue where their house is situate--no flooding, thankfully.
And I would not leave animals to fend for themselves, either. I understand how some of these suffering people feel when tehy say tehy won't leave their animals. I just can't imagine how it would feel to make such a decision. I would stay ...of that I am sure because I've always been an intense animal.
Posted by: damian at September 7, 2005 09:16 AMOh dear, I meant to say I am an'intense animal lover' and somehow the last word jettisoned into cyber space. Honestly, I'm not an intense animal who posts on blogs!!
Posted by: damian at September 7, 2005 09:19 AMHaha! It's ok. I liked you being "an intense animal" better! :)
Posted by: De at September 7, 2005 10:50 AMI cringe at the pet stories... a friend will be driving from Canada to go and "rescue" some from a shelter and bring them here. While I shudder thinking of the bureaucratic crap he will have to go through (and let's get real, over imagining my princess cat that literally sh*ts herself if an agressive cat comes into play, and my 170-lb wuss of a dog that shows her belly at the first bark), I shudder more knowing that I will likely take in at least one of the rescued animals. How can I not?
But how do I explain to the princess? or the puss? sorry, wuss?
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