Some good news!

I am excited by all of the good will, thoughts, and prayers directed to the Gulf Coast. Just reading in journals about all of the things people are doing to help out. It's so encouraging that even if we didn't have something in place for such a large scale disaster, even if we've been predicting something like this could happen but weren't prepared that people are willing to donate time, money, their homes, and anything else they can for their fellow countrymen.

My company does donation matching. Up to I think $500 a year. I'm pretty sure that I'm already maxed on that donation from earlier this year when I pledged to United Way. I won't say how much I pledged, but I think it was a very good amount. Comes out of my paycheck every paycheck this year.

We are also getting supplies together to send as care packages through work.

I am preferring not to donate through those organizations. I'm not sure where the money goes and I just want to make sure when I donate that the money isn't wasted. Our church already sent all of the cash it had to one of my pastor's friends in New Orleans. That church hasn't met for two weeks and the staff, like everyone else down there, hasn't been paid in two weeks. Our pastor also said to send us families and we'd house them. There were a lot of people after the service yesterday lining up to take families in. I really wanted to take a family in, but my mom has family which is displaced. Not to mention the wedding coming up will have folks in the house too. And Matt has a dog which wouldn't work. We don't have a fence for the dog. It's one thing to have him tied up for a little while when we have company, but he couldn't be tied up all the time. But maybe after the wedding we can do something. Things will be much easier. We are thinking of donating money, Matt and I, but we're still in the discussion phase of how much.

Adding good news to battle the depressing reality
~Bas