The Gulf and it's plight has not faded. It has amped up to a million, and it seems we are all just day to day coping. That fight, sadly, will last until I die, and I find SOME way to work against it every day. I will never look away, and I will never let others. And true to Coastal Folks long-time reputation, even with all their trials and tribulations, they are trying to find ways to help OTHER suffering folks, here and abroad. Bless their hearts*.
In light of what storm victims are suffering all over the world, including in my stomping grounds, the already multi-ravaged South (and now the poor Midwest) USA, I have been concentrating a lot of my efforts toward Shelter Box USA.
Two of my girlfriends, one who is a severely Deepwater-Horizon affected coastal resident (her 111 yr old family home is ON Mobile Bay) and hardcore activist in her own right, Amanda Bacon, started Facebook pages to help raise money for the folks in Alabama who are homeless now, and there are many.
"Our goal is to help 50,000 families who lose everything in a disaster every year and we can achieve this goal with your help... We respond instantly to natural and manmade disasters by delivering boxes of aid to those who are most in need. Each box supplies an extended family of up to 10 people with a tent and essential equipment to use while they are displaced or homeless. The ShelterBox solution in disaster response is as simple as it is effective. We deliver the essentials a family needs to survive in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Each large, green ShelterBox is tailored to a disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family of up to 10 people, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items."
See what's inside!
I've been lucky enough to be able to contribute nearly 1/10 of a whole shelter box myself, and though that seems like so little, if that tent is housing an entire family of 10, that's shelter for one adult to help take care of 9 other people.
***Please consider donating to that good cause if you can (or come with me to volunteer at a site!!! time IS money, help, love!)
right here with you, even when you can't see me over the swell, swimming, swimming...
<3 - s
*Despite what some MISPLACED MEAN YANKEE WOMEN** BELIEVE, this is not ALWAYS a bad/mean phrase. It's really just when we're talking about Y'ALL. *oo, snap.*
**and two white gloves and a Kool up to those of you who came here, acclimated and became such wonderful Steel-Town Magnolias. WOOT! <3
***this picture shows the REAL reason i chose shelterbox. BESIDES being incredibly tangibly helpful practical useful immediate, there is love and thoughtfulness. there is art and expression and communication in this box as well as survival. all my love to these people.
