> Larry, that was a compelling story.  If you could figure a way to make
> "contact" with a family, perhaps one or more folks would do the same.  So
> you have a great idea, now we need a high-level plan of action that lets
> one of "us" get in touch with one of "them".  I'll assume that calling the
> Red Cross or Salvation Army to get that information would be a
> contradiction on your approach.
> So, Larry, how would we go about adopting a family, where do we start.
> Where would you start, what steps would you take, how can we do something,
> like that.  Critical right now is food, medical, housing.   (Did you
> checkout the FEMA site... as we are now into recovery)
>
> And for what you did Larry: God Bless You... awesome: dr
>
>> CellGuy <cellguy@seemessagebody.com> wrote in
>> news:1fz9h11xh1h96$.11w61z0om9s52.dlg@40tude.net:
>>
>>> Ditto.   My favorite is the Salvation Army.   They always seem to be
>>> at the scene with food, etc.   BTW, I'm not a religious person.
>>
>> For 9/11, I called one of the firehouses that were all over the TV and
>> asked the chief to find me a fireman's family who died in the towers so I
>> could help his wife DIRECTLY, without paying some fatcat Red Cross
>> administrator a new Rolex or Lexus on the way.  I gave him my email
>> address
>> and got an email back from a lady with 2 kids in NJ whos husband died in
>> Tower 1 when it collapsed.  She was still waiting for the NYFD
>> bureaucrats
>> to send some help to pay her bills as they held up hubby's paycheck for
>> the
>> lawyers.
>>
>> I told her to send me her electric bill and I'd pay it.  I did for 6
>> months.  At Thanksgiving I tried to get a local NJ restaurant to cater
>> Thanksgiving dinner for them when she told me her parents were coming
>> from
>> Ohio.  The restaurant refused my money, saying instead that they would
>> take
>> great pleasure in providing such a meal noone would soon forget.  Two
>> vans
>> full of food, servers all dressed up in tuxes, with all the fancy
>> tableware
>> astonished them all in a complete surprise.
>>
>> You don't know how much happiness I received from my gifts.  After the
>> smoke had cleared, I even called the chief back to see if we couldn't
>> make
>> her checks happen a little faster.  I like to think I had a hand in
>> getting
>> that to happen faster, too.
>>
>> Right now?  I'd say find a family holed up in a hotel in some far off
>> place
>> waiting for word on when they can go back and look at the slab that used
>> to
>> be their home.  As paychecks have stopped or are having trouble finding
>> them, I'd bet lots of people are wondering how they are going to pay the
>> hotel bills or the credit card bills the hotels are creating.  Your
>> donation could be protected by simply asking them to mail you the bill
>> and
>> you send the money to the hotel to help pay for their now-extended stay.
>> These direct payments, like my electric bill payment to the power company
>> in NJ, free up their personal funds for other necessities...like eating.
>>
>> Find someone who knows someone in coastal MS, LA, AL and just ask them
>> who
>> would need this kind of help.
>>
>> Sending it to some aid bureaucracy might feel good, but, alas....you'll
>> hear that great sucking sound.
>>
>> I found some Red Cross website in Idaho or someplace out there.  It said
>> over $1.051B, with a B, was donated for 9/11 to the Red Cross
>> bureaucrats.
>> Then it listed something less than $300M to victims and had some other
>> bogus handouts to "aid workers", which probably means THEM.  Well?  Why
>> not
>> send the extra SEVEN HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS to the Gulf!....If it hasn't
>> been wasted building Red Cross office buildings and paying six-figure
>> salaries to bigshot bureaucrats.
>>
>> I like my way better.....So did she!