Via Glenn Reynolds, we see that Chuck Simmins is tracking private donations for Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. But there are many relief efforts that are virtually untrackable.
Late this afternoon, I received a text from a friend of my nephew who now lives in Richmond. She’s heading to New Jersey/New York for her birthday this week, and wanted to know if I could donate goods/clothes/whatever to help the hurricane victims. I was at a friend’s house in a different neighborhood, so I asked her to call her neighbors. I came home with the gate of my Jeep filled with food, maternity winter clothes, a glucose meter, and toiletries. I have cash donations I will spend at Costco, as well as three sweatshirts I never wear currently being washed. I left messages with my neighbors as well, and expect to get donations tomorrow.
Tens of thousands of Americans are donating goods like this. These are the efforts that you can’t track, but that doesn’t mean they’re not happening.
Find out what you can do in your neighborhood. I’m sure we all have someone or some organization that can channel goods and funds to hurricane relief.
All the synagogues in the community have been collecting and filled up trucks to ship to New York and New Jersey. All the rabbis have be collecting money for help. They are getting everything together so as to be able to send to a centralized set up so that the things will go to where they are needed.
I met someone in my shul who had just gotten back from driving a load of generators up to where they are needed.
I have not seen news reports of all of this activity and it is being done without government or big organization pushes or publicity.