Friday, September 02, 2005

The Red Cross and the Humane Society

Friday November 25th, 1994 I learned first hand of the generosity and incredibly organized responsiveness of the Red Cross. You see the meth lab in the apartment next door caught on fire, took out half of a San Francisco city block (the corner of Pierce and Haight for those of you who want to know). 150 people were displaced.

The Red Cross was on the scene shortly after the site was declared a disaster. They had counselors on hand, provided temporary housing in hotels, and provided help locating lost pets, provided clothing and food vouchers. They helped us take the steps to rebuild our lives. Without the Red Cross my life might not have come back together so easily.

We lost everything. But we didn’t lose our community. That I cannot imagine. My heart is breaking for New Orleans, for the communities lost, for the lives lost. The Red Cross is there, and doing for those folks what they did for me.

I’d send yarn, but I don’t think that will help. So I will send money, knowing that the Red Cross needs it and will use it in the best possible way.

The Humane Society helped me locate my cat Jack. He had been badly burned, but was alive and in good care at their facility. He lost a few lives that night, but lived another ten years. If you can, help them too.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Chela Jane said...

Sadly it has come to this. Little old me, who is thrilled to get a comment a week, has had to install word verification to weed out the spammers.