Let’s Hold a DW Occupy Sandy Drive

If you subscribe to my newsletter, you probably saw the link I included yesterday to an Amazon wish list for victims of Hurricane Sandy. Through Amazon, you can make much-needed purchases for people who are in the midst of cleaning their badly damaged homes, or people who are completely homeless now and in desperate need of basic supplies while they figure out what to do and where to go next. Your purchases are sent to a donation hub in Brooklyn (The Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew, to be exact) where volunteers are making daily trips to neighborhoods hardest hit by the storm. It’s a great thing and some of you already made purchases through the link I provided and I thank you for that.

But I have what I think is an even better idea. It turns out the donation hub that is accepting the purchases through that particular Amazon wish list is only about a half mile from my apartment. Instead of paying an arm and a leg for shipping, you could send me a monetary contribution and I will go buy supplies myself and deliver them to the donation center (there’s a Target on the way). I have a big cart we used to deliver donations last weekend and I would be more than happy to use it again to deliver donations from you, the DW community. This way, you don’t have to spend ten or fifteen bucks on shipping and handling. All your money, whether it’s five bucks or fifty bucks, will go toward supplies — every last penny.

There will be several thousand of you who will read this post. If even half of you donated just one dollar, we could get so many supplies and really make a difference for people who are so desperate for help just getting through each day. The election, which may have distracted some people, is over, but the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy are still very, very much present. Thousands of people are still without power, heat, a bed to sleep on, and food to eat. Thousands of people have months of hard work ahead as they dig what’s left of their belongings out of the rubble left by the storm. We’ve got another storm heading for our very region later today, and, of course, winter is just around the corner which will make the situation even graver.

Please help if you can. Even a buck can make a difference. If you paypal your donations to [email protected] with the word “SANDY” in the subject line, I will use your contribution to buy supplies and deliver them personally to the donation hub where volunteers will then drive them to affected neighborhoods.

I’ll leave the drive open through midnight EST, this Saturday night (11/10), and will shop and deliver the goods on Sunday (with the help of Drew and any other neighbor friends who might want to pitch in). I’ll take photos of the supplies so you can see what your money bought (and if possible, I’ll even try to get an itemized receipt and take a photo of that, too). To read more about Occupy Sandy, the organization accepting and delivering donations, click here. The location I’ll be taking donations to is 520 Clinton.

Thank you so much for your help! We can make a difference.