Being based in DC, and due to the tendency for us to generally freak out during any sort of weather display, I'll admit that I didn't take Hurricane Sandy too seriously at first. And yet I spent the afternoon (and evening, and night, and next morning) at a friend's because I was too chicken to go home in the 90 mph winds and rain. No, I stayed inside. The lights flickered and their apartment leaked enough to fill a few buckets of water. Throughout the night and next morning we stayed glued to the television and watched as Hurricane Sandy barely scraped DC and discovered that it had instead saved it's horrible strength for New Jersey and New York.
I cannot believe the images I have seen coming out of New York City and the Jersey Shore these past few days. I cannot. I cannot believe the stories of loss and heroism that I have read today. I cannot believe these things happened a few hours drive from where we were hunkered down, but I must. The death toll continues to climb, and our neighbors are struggling to repair the damage done to their homes, communities, their very lives. We must help our neighbors, despite what our eyes may not believe, and what our ears might not understand. We must help our friends in need. Whether you know them or not, they are our responsibility.
Please consider donating what you can to help recovery efforts.
UMCOR (The United Methodist Committee on Relief) has a top rating by Charity Navigator, and you can donate to their Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts here.
As always, there's the American Red Cross, who needs not only monetary donations, but hundreds of blood drives had been cancelled due to the hurricane and they could use all the help you can give. http://www.redcross.org/
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