Oh New Orleans....

[Jojo]

Hello.


I really feel sorry for those suffering from Katrina these days and probably still the next couple of months, too.
Are there any Classic-Castle members from Louisiana? It's unlikely a big city like New Orleans doesn't hold a couple of AFOLs within its walls. Oh well, I guess losing ones LEGO collection to the flood would be the least problem now.

Best wishes!


Jojo

[eNiGMa]

My sister is in Katrina right now, in Mississippi. I also send my best wishes to those who are in that area; they will be in my prayers.

Thanks for the concern, Jojo!

[Bloody Jay]

My family made a donation to the Red Cross, I encourage everyone else to do the same! Also, ask your employer whether or not the company will match donations, many do. This is truly a catastrophe, the personal stories are terrifying. Forget those KK2 sets, HELP SAVE LIVES!

My best wishes to everyone that was in Katrina's path.

[venvorskar]

I don't have any relatives there, but I have been watching it on the news, and it looks bad. I pray for everyone still stuck there, that they can get out.

[HenrytheV]

I have an Aunt in Baton Rouge, a cousin in St. Charles Parish and an Uncle near Luling. Thankfully they are all safe and I praise God for his protection on them. I pray that many lives will be saved by the Coast Guard, Army and various other organiztions.

[Kanduu]

I was wondering whether or not I should post about this... I'm glad someone did.

Yeah, me too. I just finished watching the latest news about it, and it's pretty awful. There are going to be about 75,000 refugees, who've lost everything, in Texas, and probably about 25,000 in the Dallas metroplex. That's nothing of the million or two people who left before the storm hit. They've lost lots too, I'm sure.

I just find it incredible that a whole city, a large city, is being closed, and it didn't even get hit the hardest. I'm glad I know that this will all work out for the best, even if we can't see exactly how now.

[eNiGMa]

Utah will be bringing in some refugees, as well, right in my area. It's unfathomable to think of all they've been through in such a short time, and what they will go through during the next weeks and months.

My sister was finally able to contact us today, even if it was just a short e-mail. So there's some comfort there.

[Bruce N H]

Hey,

Nathan, it's great to hear that your sister's okay. Our thoughts and prayers are with anyone in the middle of this.

If anyone here can help, The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists several charitable organizations you can donate to.

Bruce

[Recluce]

Yep, its bad down there. My Grandmother's house is about 85 miles from New Orleans, in a small Miss. town by the name of Poplarville. She evacuated the area before the hurricane, but we don't know about the house. The hurricane went right over the town. My cousin who lives in Houston is supposed to be driving in to Mississippi this weekend to see if the house is ok.

[The Hordesman]

Hope help will come in time for all. I still think its wierd the mightiest nation of the world hasnt been quicker and are asking for outside help- but that hopefully doesnt mean no extra help will come.

Agreed Bruce.

[Graynar]

They must remain strong, Mother Nature is strong but she under-estimates us. And sometimes we under-estimate her.

If they stick together and work as a team, they should live through this disaster.

The people of Katrina and other places effected by this evil act of nature, know that we give them our fullest support.

And I pray worse does not come to worse.

...

[Rubberchickenknight]

Why compare disasters, people die and lose homes in each.
I heard something about robbers looting homes that were abandoned, and people getting raped at the Superdome, and getting killed by police for no reason.
God bless.

[Troy]

Watching the news lately has been quite depressing. I think it is pitiful that our governments response to this disaster has been so slow and so lacking. We seem to do better helping people halfway around the world than we do helping people in our own country.

And the only country that I have seen offer to send help is Venezuela? What is up with that? Not that others may not have offered, but the news doesn't seem to have covered it. But how ridiculous is it that the only guy to offer help is one that was recently targetted for assassination by an american religious figure?

Sorry, just had to vent a bit...

AFOL Aid for Katrina

Troy

[Bruce N H]

Hey Troy,

The "AFOL aid for Katrina" link just goes to a COLTC forum login page. Is there some sort of thing we could do specifically as AFOLs (as opposed to donating to a charitable organization, which we should encourage everyone to do)? For instance, there are tons of kids now living in shelters set up for those who have lost their homes. What if we committed to sending LEGO sets, so at least there was something for kids to play with? I could imagine we could start a toy drive among the various sites and donate to a shelter. Perhaps we could get some sort of matching donation from TLC? Hmm, I know that over the long weekend it will be hard to track down these things, but this is more of a long term problem (displaced families), so maybe next week I'll try to track down something, talk to Jake, etc. What do people think about this idea? For instance, both Jake and Anthony live in Texas, would it be possible for us to send LEGO sets to one of them, and have them deliver them to the Astrodome, which is housing something like 25000 displaced people.

Just thinking aloud about how we could get involved.

Bruce

[Troy]

Argh! Foiled again!

Sorry, I did not realize that it was in a forum that you have to be registered to see (but not a member of COLTC).

Here is what was at the link, it is an e-mail from Joe Meno to a member of COLTC, trying to ocme up with ideas for AFOL aid:

Joe Meno is thinking about starting a AFOL Hurricane Relief Effort.
Here's what he passed on to me:

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Hi all,

It was a busy night for me, as I had a conference call to do and I was
busy throwing ideas out for this...

Kelly has already started a thread requesting TLG to send sets to the
Astrodome for the kids, and that's something that I support.

What was thought of after some discussions and feedback from the first
set of posts became two ideas:

1. Have the community order from SaH buckets to all be sent to a refugee
center to make a free-build area for the displaced kids. (This would
hopefully entail getting TLG to sell these at a discount to in effect,
match the orders - and this would take care of the logistics - TLG could
deliver the items to the area in one shipment) This would be the
immediate thing to do.

2. Long-term - set up a relief effort for the children for Christmas -
partner up with a charity (Toys for Tots?) to provide toys for the
Hurricane Katrina child victims....build them a better Christmas. Make
this start ASAP to raise funds and LEGO toys for distribution. This will
last for a couple of months, with the idea of providing something happy
to the children. This is good because this will allow a lot of the AFOL
community to participate by picking up club donations, setting up
donation points at displays, etc.

There are two ideas because one of the challenges faced here in doing an
immediate and quick response is coming up with a quick workable plan.
The first idea has the implied simplicity of having TLG providing the
infrastructure, and the community just go to a place to order.

The second idea is a good one for planning and also to open the
community to a relief effort. While the first idea can go a long way if
finalized (and that's a question - contact has been made on that) and
the community can step in, the second idea can have clubs and
organizations participate to a large extent.

I do need to make clear that this is a community effort. I will do this
in the name of the LEGO Builders community, not for BrickJournal, or
whatever.

Anyways, this is what I am thinking about. Steve Witt will be contacting
Jake on this, and what I ask of all of you is to start spreading the
word for the Christmas idea - the first idea is very much in the air. I
will be posting a note on LUGNET in the .people area when things become
more firm. I have been requested to post there. I will be figuring out
the second plan over the next couple of days.

In the meantime, comments are welcome!

Thanks for the help!

Joe
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