So... I live in America, and I am naturally concerned about the people who were affected by our recent hurricanes, Katrina and Rita (and Wilma!). However, I didn't give any money to the Red Cross because I'm cheap, young, and don't know anyone personally who was affected by them.
Not only that, I'm a news junky. I have been hearing more and more that people are suffering from this phenomenon "
Donor Fatigue"
. Apparently, people have given so much money that they just don't want to give any more. That makes sense... ALSO, I heard that the red cross had to borrow $340mil (washingtonpost.com & NPR) to cover their disaster relief fund.
So, combined with a sense of guilt and a sense of duty, I've decided to give to them. However! There is one other thing that made me decide to do this. I heard a
Great Idea:
When people come home from work, they often have a pocket full of change. I do anyway. Looking at these coins, they will see quarters which currently have individual states on the back of them. Now take all of the gulf state quarters (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas) and donate them to the red cross. This is one out of every one HUNDRED quarters.
How? Go to coinstar.com and look at it. Have you ever seen these change counters in your grocery store? If you put these quarters in them, you can choose an option on the machine that will donate that amount to the Red Cross. This keeps the quarters in circulation, and still donates money.
If everyone did this, the Red Cross would recieve approximatly $7mil dollars...a DAY.
So that's what I'll do. I'm starting today.
I heard this story on one of the news programs that I listen to constantly... Sounded credible to me, and looks pretty neat.
