Donation Reminder

The left-leaning blogs have been doing an impressive job of encouraging people to donate to disaster relief efforts. I've already posted the above link, to the Red Cross. If you want to choose another option, you can look at this list.

Some tips I've picked up over the last few days:

1. Give cash, not goods. It costs more to transport goods than it's worth, and people need water more than they need a can of garbanzos or a muffler.

2. Give the organization leeway. The more restrictions you make with your donation, the tougher it is for them to use it effectively. Choose a reputable organization, and trust them to do the right thing with your dollars.

various blogs are keeping track of how much their readers donate, and I like the fact that there's an effort to gather $1,000,000 in the name of progressive blogs. I don't know if we'll see that, but I've already seen some $20,000 that's been collected in less than a day. Not bad at all, even if it is a drop in the bucket.

Just heard on the radio. The Red Cross has already been given $71,000,000 (as of 12:25 EST) since the hurricane. That's probably peanuts for a calamity of this magnitude, but it's good to see.