Samhainn Mear, Indeed
As my sensei would say, frontin’ with the Celtitude… hoo-yah!
So Happy New Year and enjoy the twilight gloaming ‘twixt the living and the dead. There’s someone here at the office dressed up as a Christmas tree who makes me nervous every time she walks by. I’m not sure if it’s the clanking of the ornaments around her butt or the way the little angel perched on her head is watching me. I realized halfway to work this morning that it’s Halloween and I could have worn my BDUs and fluffy slippers to work today. Damn. ;-(
So, since it’s not just about me, despite what you readers-three might have been deluded into believing by the shiny thing hovering just at the outermost edge of your peripheral vision, here are some ways to contribute in the burgeoning aftermath of the California wildfires. The TV news stations are calling it Firestorm 2003 - for some reason they LOVE using the word *storm* in their taglines to make everything more dramatic, but in this case I have to agree. Drama, smoke, flames, death, angst, loss, and gratitude have broken over our heads in a storm that finally seems to be subsiding - it’s not over ’till it’s over, but I can see clearly now… (yeah, okay, so that was a gimme, whaddya want from me, original prose? I’m behind deadline and tuckered out, but at least I can breathe).
If any of you are local Californians who made it through, or just wish you were as hot and sexy and smoked out as we are, check out some of the groovy ways The Grand Poobah came up with that you can help the survivors:
• American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, or call 800-HELP NOW, (monetary donations only).
• Los Angeles Times Family Fund/KTLA-5 Charities Fire Relief Campaign, or call 800-284-5625. For every dollar donated up to $1 million, the McCormick Tribune Foundation will donate an additional 50 cents. Donations and matching funds go directly to organizations, such as the Red Cross and other agencies, providing disaster relief to fire victims.
• FOODShare of Ventura County, 4156 N. Southbank St., Oxnard, CA 93030, 805-983-7100. They need food donations and seek volunteers to help prepare food for evacuees.
• Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, Fire Disaster Aid, P.O. Box 15095, Los Angeles, CA 90015-0093, or call 213-251-3498.
• Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles Southern California Fire Emergency Relief Fund, 6505 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048, or call 323-761-8200.
• Salvation Army California Wildfires, 900 W. James M. Wood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90015. For in-kind donations, call 800-95TRUCK or http://www.satruck.com
• Community Foundation, 3880 Lemon St., Suite 300, Riverside, CA 92501, 909-684-4194. They are accepting monetary donations for victims in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
• Fire Relief Fund, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, 210 N. Avenue 21, Los Angeles, CA 90031, 323-226-1762 or 323-855-0320. They are seeking monetary and in-kind donations.
If you can’t give money, how about an extra blanket, those sneakers you’ve gotten tired of because they’re the wrong color, or last year’s winter jacket? The folks who have lost their homes in the fires have lost everything but the clothes on their back - face it, despite what you told your mother when you were seven, nobody wants to wear the same pair of underwear for weeks at a time. We’ve all got something more than someone else, which means we’ve all got something we can give. Don’t wait until someone you know personally is in need - Blanche DuBois shouldn’t be the only one relying on the kindness of strangers.