How many would be willing to donate?

[knotimpaired]

Ivan passed through Grenada last summer.

Our sister island Culebra and our island Vieques spent thousands upon thousands to charter planes and boats (boat's thank to CaribePR) to send items to Grenada.

We first met CaribePR through the plea and have realized that she is one of the finest in the event of a storm in the northern Caribbean basin.

Mind you we are about 5-6 miles away but weather can differ much. Lee and I watched a beautiful lightening show between us and Culebra this evening.

My question is:

How many of this board sent items to the southern caribbean when they were in need?

Just a poll.

[Radar]

I've always tried to be very charitable especially to the Island countries when they are affected by hurricanes... The International Red Cross is just one good example of a charity that provides disaster relief after a hurricane has struck. The best part is, there is probably a Red Cross office in your area. Any time of the year you can donate to the Red Cross, naturally. However after a hurricane you can specify funds to be donated for relief to that particular area. I recommend before donating to an organization to do some research and make sure it is legit, as there will be some fraudulent organizations looking to scam people after a disaster (as sad as that is)....

[caribepr]

How embarrassing! But thank you for the nice words. I think there are many people who, if they only know of a need, will respond. I just get the word out around here, the people who respond are the ones deserving of praise - and while we're slinging praise - Karen & Lee (knotimpaired) are certainly worthy of same, as well as all who donated at the time. My favorite was an very elderly Culebrense woman on the "very loaded with supplies" ferry from Vieques to Culebra who asked what the crazy gringas were doing...and when the *mission* was translated for her, she went home immediately to gather things together, asking first if someone could help her deliver them to the boat. Of course, someone did. Cultural differences are so often spanned by good hearts.
Hoping we don't have to gather up the forces this year![/i]

[SkeetoBite]

Not intending to brag, just stirring folks to action...

In my real job, I am the President/CEO of a company that is completely unrelated to what we do with Skeetobite Studios, Inc. Though our policy is to never release the amounts we donate, I can assure you it is in the many thousands for each hurricane last year and the tsunami relief. Our organization re-built several houses in India and I plan to make a trip there in September.

For those of you who own a business, this is a simple concept. Example: Jane needs a new computer for her office. It will cost $1,800 for the right PC. -or- I can build a 2 bedroom house in India with indoor plumbing for just $1,000 U.S. Unless the computer is completely dead, Jane will have to wait until next year for the new PC.

When we learned that Home Depot was doing a 1 to 1 match up to $1M, we decided to do our cash contributions through them.

All of the current version of the Skeetobite data, development and hosting is also donated.

We find that most folks don't donate because they may have only $5 available. SEND IT IN. Combine your $5 with the other 10,000 people who have just $5 and a great many people will be helped. When a victim has nothing, $5 is an aweful lot.

This is just an example of what you can do if you want to, or are able to. We give a tiny fraction of what other companies are able to do, but it all adds up.

[alicia-w]

i think we started a donation to grenada last year after that awful storm. anyone else remember that? i know i donated money and sent clothes and money down there separately.