Friday, September 02, 2005
Small Steps in Taking Action
What my dad's company is doing as part of the Katrina relief effort.
I've left my information on Hurricane Housing, so if one person out there wants a sofa for two weeks, they are welcome to mine. Hell, they can have the bed.
Yesterday a young woman from Mandeville (another town on the North Shore of the Pontchartrain) came into our store. She was a Starbucks employee and refugee from the hurricane, staying with friends or family in the Austin area. She was interested in finding out if she could get her paycheck rerouted to our store, so that she could pick it up. I'm glad I was the one who got to handle her query, as I'm not entirely sure that everyone else would have taken down her name and numbers and the other requisite information for my manager to process her request; but more than that small detail, it made me feel like I was doing something -- albeit something small -- to personally help in the aftermath of disaster. It's just one person, but it's one person who now has her money to live on for the next few weeks, where she would not have before.
I'm tempted to call her and offer her one of my shifts next week, if she wants to work a bit.
Today someone else came in and dropped off an application. Under previous jobs, she had listed a restaurant in New Orleans. Under her reason for leaving was one word: hurricane.
Finally, Foamy rants on the subject. Profane, yes, but I like the basic message: get out there and help.
It is through disaster that we get unaltered glimpses of both the best and the worst of the human condition.
ETA: Art for Katrina. Any artists besides myself,
| 12:11 AM |
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