October 23, 2007
How to Help Your Fellow Californians/Fire Victims
As of now, six people have died and more than 500,000 people are in "mass migration" over the mind-numbingly destructive wildfires happening all throughout Southern California. It is, for lack of a better word, heartbreaking. All of it. When our bottom half suffers, so do we. (Map of San Diego fires)
But some good news: The LA Times has a helpful breakdown worth a moment of your time, on how you can help people (and pets -- don't forget them!) in need right now. We've re-printed it for your convenience:
How to HelpCharitable organizations responding to the Southern California wildfires are seeking donations to assist area residents.
American Red Cross: Cash donations can be made through www.redcross.org or through a local Red Cross chapter. Volunteers also are needed. Information on shelter locations can be found on Red Cross websites for Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange and San Diego counties and the Inland Empire. Donations of clothing can be made at Goodwill locations. Information: (800) REDCROSS or (800) 257-7575 for Spanish speakers.Salvation Army: Cash contributions can be made through www.salvationarmy-socal.org or by calling (800) SALARMY.
Governor's Office of Emergency Services: Businesses wishing to donate large quantities of goods for distribution to fire victims can call (800) 750-2858 between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. Pacific time. Individuals wanting to donate items or volunteer to help with local disaster response efforts should contact the Red Cross or go to the governor's CaliforniaVolunteers website at www.californiavolunteers.org.
United Health Group: Southern Californians coping with the emotional consequences of the fires can call a counseling hotline at (866) 342-6892. The free service provided by the insurance company will be available around the clock for as long as needed.
The Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: Cash donations are needed to support efforts to provide emergency shelter for animals displaced by the fires. Contributions can be made through www.spcala.com or by calling (888) SPCALA1. Food supplies also are needed.
New Leash on Life: The animal rescue group needs help caring for evacuated pets at its Newhall facility. The group can be contacted at (661) 255-0097.
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this map has been the most helpful for me to understand how close my little brothers place was to being evacuated:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=114250687465160386813.00043d08ac31fe3357571
Thanks for doing this; showing people how they can help is simple; but I believe it has impact.
You could remove steps and increase the number of donations by making the URLs in your story clickable so donating takes fewer steps and less initiative.
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Let me also say that your new commenting system is very poorly implemented; it's like some piece of web software from 199x. Forms that don't line up properly? An ID transfer system that asks for info and then has "RESET" instead of submit (as if we know we're in a reset task? We don't), and then I'm given a new password which I am asked to change. I change it and when I go to login in it's a "bad password" error screen. I had to use the issued password since the one I changed to didn't take effect quickly enough? Good thing it was still in my clipboard.
When I changed my profile I'm given that ridiculous panda avatar as a default - no warning that is what would happen and there's no link on the profile confirmation page to take me BACK to the edit the profile to update (presumably what you are trying to encourage people to do by giving them a default they might not be comfortable with).
This isn't rocket science folks! I think your design and experience should live up to the rest of your brand; you've got a quality product, why is this part of it so incredibly lame?
Yeah, the Red Cross did so well with the 9/11 donations. And Salvation Army hates gays.
As usual, I'll save my donations for the pets.
Great map, suckafree. Funny, according to Google, the fire stops right at the Mexican border. Awfully neighborly of us to keep it from spreading to our friends to the south.
Yes, thank you! I've re-posted the info/link on my blog too ...
Me too, bluecanary. Thanks for the info BK!