Katrina Donations

[Allofus123]

While I am sure several of you have given to a charity of your choice I have a request from the members here. I have adoped a family that has been relocated close to where I live. The story of how they "escaped" would send chills up your spine. They lived in the press box of a high school football stadium for several days after having literally 15 minutes to get out of their house after the levee broke. They lost everything including their pets.

Here is a picture out of a second floor....

Find the brownish looking object just to the left of the tall snapped tree's floating in this picture. That is a ship buoy bell floating in their yard.

This picture is the High School football stadium after the water had gone down a bit. They told me the water was up to the first three rows. To give you an idea of how deep it is look real real close to the very center of the picture and you should be able to see the top of the football goal. Now imagine the water up to the third row of the bleachers.

After meeting them I can tell you that these are the kinda people that if the shoe was on the other foot they would be the ones helping. They have three children that will be going to school here ranging from 9 to 15 yrs old. They have nothing but the cloths on their back and a lot of pride.

I am soliciting Walmart gift cards for these people. The amount doesn't matter. Anything is helpful. Also, there are other needs besides $. Pots and pans, plates, silverware, anything that you would use on a daily basis is needed. We can use anything here.... if not for this family I assure you I can find another. Anything that you can give can be shipped to:

Adress edited out to add: Thank you to all that donated!

Anything, any amount, even well wishes help. Please be sure to include your real name (family) along with your CP name and address.

Thanks in advance to all that have found it in their heart to help. It is no longer about what should have been done..... its about what are we doing now.

 

[Allofus123]

bump

 

[Lee]

Kenny, my wife and I talked about doing what you have done! That is awesome! I'll see what I can do.

 

[indyrob]

Need Shoes? I wear a 14, my fiance wears a 7 1/2, all my kids are young girls, but if they have girls around 8-9, I can help out with clothes and shoes.

 

[theorangeman]

Good idea Indyrob. Hey Allofus123 - could the family use some clothes? I could certainly go through my closet and find some nice stuff to donate. I'm about 5'8, 150lb male - I could probably find some pants, shirts, shorts, etc. Just let me know and I would be happy to help out.

 

[Allofus123]

First I want to thank everyone that has responded to this so far and hope that I have PM'd everyone that has PM'd me. If I haven't please except my apology. Its not that I'm ignoring you but more of I'm overwhelmed with the need. Its really been crazy around here. Helping this family opens the door to more people...every one of them with similar needs. You can help all day long but they don't stop coming....... its unbelievable.

Some of you have offered cloths and such and here's my thought on that. Its labor intensive to sort clothing. With that said, if thats what you have to give, I will take anything you send. If one family can't use it I will find another that can or give it to our church to distribute. Please do not send something you wouldn't currently wear. I don't mean to sound picky but paint stained cloths, old t-shirts and such are not what they need. The labor it takes to sort the cloths and toss the unuseable stuff is great and a waste of time and energy..... something we don't seem to have enough of. The people we're helping are ones that are working to rebuild their lives so please don't send anything that you yourself wouldn't wear to work, interview, shopping, church, etc.

The amount of need is staggering. Someone PM'd me that he was sending a little something and how odd it felt that what little he was sending couldn't help these people back to where they were. I wish everyone would send just a little.... to these families that have nothing, a little is a lot.

Please help with whatever you can.......

 

[Allofus123]

I'm not letting this go away...... bump!

Those that know me know that this is out of character for me, asking people to donate. I have always been of the mind that it is either in your heart to help those less fortunate or its not.

I'm begging for you to skip going out to dinner a few times, skip buying a box of cigars, skip buying a comfort item one time, hell, skip buying sodas for a week and allow someone to use those funds to start their life over. There is no amount to big or small.

Please............

 

[theorangeman]

Allofus123,

What is MOST needed? Is it money? I would like to help in some way, but want to make sure that what I donate is really needed. As I mentioned earlier, I have some pretty nice clothes that I could send but if money is much more preferred, then I could scrape together some funds as well. Perhaps there's other items that I and others aren't aware of that could really be used as well. I feel for these people, and although I certainly can not understand completely what they're going through, my family sufferred a hardship when I was younger and through the generousity of our community we were able to build our lives back. Therefore, I know how important it is for us ALL to help out!

 

[Allofus123]

Anything! Gift cards are the easiest to deal with and gives the family more control of supplying their needs.

Thank You..... I'll post more when I get back.

 

[Allofus123]

Back to the top....

I want to thank those that have been stepping up here. I've hesitated to say anything as I don't want people to think all is well....its not. We've had a few set backs with securing an apartment which in turn sets us back with enrolling the kids in school but we're pushing forward. Many people are seeing the news cast about this $2,000 debit card. I'm very pissed about this because the picture the goernment is painting is that everyone is getting these and people feel that their $25, $50, etc isn't needed. The real story is that some people can qualify UP TO $2,000. One of the more assnine requirements is that they need to be enrolled in a shelter. Families that decided to take care of themselves as best they can and not subject their kids to the shelter enviroment are having little luck in securing these resources.

Please do not believe the goverment is fixing this. They can not and IMO, the handouts that some people "expect" from the government is part of the problem but lets not go there. This is about us helping our neighbors. Please, if you haven't yet, please give.... it doesn't have to be to this family just do it.

Thanks again to all who are helping....

 

[SKYDIVNEKD]

Instead of sendin' money to Red Cross or another charity, and not knowin' who you're helpin', I hope you can send to Kenny and his "adopted" family.

Kenny is one of the good ones and will make sure they get the money. These AMERICANS need our help and we should be helpin'. Even if it's only $10, send it down there. I'm sure they would graciously accept anything since their "pot" is completely empty. C'mon, guys. Unass the weekly beer money and help these folks out!!!!

Floyd T.

PS: Kenny, keep up the great work!

 

[theorangeman]

A quick option if you want to donate a gift card is the following link:

Wal-Mart Gift Cards

God Bless!!

 

[ggiese]

A quick option if you want to donate a gift card is the following link:

Wal-Mart Gift Cards

God Bless!!

[snapback]223970[/snapback]​

Very good call!!! Done!!! Kenny, expect a gift card in the mail...

And Kenny is right - apparently they are no longer issuing the "debit cards" for [/I]UP TO $2,000 - they are issuing checks or putting the funds in a bank account for the recipient - which still presents all kinds of problems for the displaced families...

And if you think about it - even if you were given the full $2,000 - would that be enough for someone to re-establish themself? I think it helps, but definitely is not the answer to their problems. Hopefully the contributions you're getting from members of this board are enough to take care of them...

Good luck, bro - I hope all works out well for your "adopted" family - and thanks for doing this for that family.

 

[Allofus123]

And if you think about it - even if you were given the full $2,000 - would that be enough for someone to re-establish themself? I think it helps, but definitely is not the answer to their problems.

[snapback]223979[/snapback]​

You hit the nail on the head. Yes, $2,000 sounds like a lot, and it is in a way, but when you have nothing it doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. Try buying a depedable car for $2K.

I wasn't going to post an update until I could speak with Alex (the husband) again but figured this would be easier than responded to every PM I get. Please don't think I am ignoring you if you don't get a response right away on PM but my time has really been limited.

The company Alex works for has put them back to work. This means he's in LA while his wife and kids are here in TX. From what his wife has told me Alex and several other workers sleep on a barge. Alex is a laborer and is payed accordingly. We thought we had a line on some housing but things fell through...twice now. Because of this the kids have not been enrolled in school.... they don't want to get their kids settled in a school only to pull them out when they find housing. Other than that there's not much to add. Its typical boredom and hurry up and wait.

I do want to thank all for their donations and words of encouragement. Also a big thank you to TheOrangeMan for posting that link and making it as easy as possible for people to help if they so choose.

Thanks and anything you do will help.

 

[moki]

toppers

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