Fan Effort Hurricane Katrina Relief

[Jan]

We must create the future or others will do it for us.
We must be kind to one another.

These are two of the themes of Babylon 5. In the wake of this devastating hurricane, I've thought of an effort that we fans might make together. I have some items that I'm making available to everyone here in exchange for donations to the relief efforts.

Up for offer are licensed Babylon 5 Keyrings with a picture of the Station on each. Each of them is still on the original card (I've got about 70 of them), though the cards are a bit worse for wear. These were originally licensed by Creation who do many media conventions all over the country. What I want to do is 'sell' them for a minimum donation of $10 each. 100% of that money will be sent to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief efforts in honor of Babylon 5 fans. I will personally pick up all postage (first class-outside of the US is fine) and PayPal fees.

I don't know what you might have paid for them back when B5 was on. You can find a few of them on Ebay right now for about 8 bucks each. If you'd like a keychain or even just want to donate in this fashion, you can PayPal to the account I used for the Richard Biggs fundraising, [email protected] . I'll report here how much we're generating

Another way you can get a keychain is to let me know that you've sent a donation to the charity of your choice (preferably relief related but not necessarily) of at least $10. Send a note by PM with your address and I'll send you the keychain. I don't need 'proof' of any sort, just let me know the name of the charity you donated to.

Many thanks for any who join me in this.

Jan

[Dr Maturin]

NO is such a mess now. It's pretty much No Man's Land down there, with the fine citizens shooting at relief workers. Someone somewhere failed in getting a grip on the situation before it went bad.

[Jan]

NO is such a mess now. It's pretty much No Man's Land down there, with the fine citizens shooting at relief workers. Someone somewhere failed in getting a grip on the situation before it went bad.

Unfortunately, the ones who stayed in town were either the ones least able to lose what little they had OR the ones who wanted to take advantage of the mostly deserted city.

With the talk of keeping people out of the city for *weeks*, I think we may need to expect riots at some point.

Jan

[David Panzer]

From what I've seen on the news, some stayed because 1) They ran out of gas. My father has a friend from H.P. who lives in NO. The interstates were backed up considerably, cars that had full tanks of gas literally ran out. 2) Some confusion in regard to Katrina, whether it would hit head on or swerve at the last minute led some to think it wouldn't be that bad which leads to 3) A few felt they could ride out the hurricane since they rode out Camille in '69.

With the looting, I have more sympathy for those who are taking food and medical supplies from Walgreens, Wal-Mart and other stores than I do for those who're taking Plasma TV's, Stereos, CD's and other frivolous items.

[Dr Maturin]

With the looting, I have more sympathy for those who are taking food and medical supplies from Walgreens, Wal-Mart and other stores than I do for those who're taking Plasma TV's, Stereos, CD's and other frivolous items.

Agreed, but from the looks of it, not many people were exclusively looting either class of items. And to be blunt, for the most part we're not dealing with the brightest individuals in the world. NO is one of the poorest cities in the nation, filled with people apathetic to reality. It's been reported that police officers are taking part in the looting using the excuse that they're taking the equipment for official use. As a side note, NO has one of the most corrupt PD's.

[David Panzer]

I'll admit that the force is corrupt down there, but even then you do have a few who aren't on the take. I never put a blanket statement over the police, nor do I put a blanket statement on those who stayed.

Idiots in all walks of life are easily identified by their actions. In the case of NO, you have the idiots shooting at helicopters giving relief aid, you have idiots trying to take a hospital's ambulances while the hospital is still trying to get their patients out, and you have idiots in authority who were jerking off until all he-- breaks loose before they send in the national guard despite weather reports saying a sh--storm is on the way.

Apologies for my rant. I'm just some dopey 27 year old still looking for work.

[Jan]

Here's a scan of the keychain for those not familiar with them.

Many thanks to those who've contributed already!

Jan

[Jan]

Thanks, DougO!

BTW, I've heard from several people whose companies match donations. Remember, if you're donating at least $10 by any means, just send me a PM and I'll still be happy to send a keychain.

Jan

[Dr Maturin]

John just sent out a company-wide e-mail. Aside from the undending truckloads of food we will be sending to the region, there will be numerous fundraisers within the company, along with simple donations in the form of a check garnishment.

I just want to make sure the money is spent wisely and not passed too far along the chain. When that happens, money isn't used for its intended purpose. Just look at Africa.

[Golan-Trevize]

This tragedy showed how stupid, inneficient and bad president Bush is, a natural disaster hits is country and he keeps his record long vacation? WTF is that?

[Jan]

With respect, let's concentrate this thread on the relief efforts. If anybody wants to start a thread about preparedness and/or political failures, feel free. I'm sure there will be plenty of blame to go around both locally and federally.

Jan

[Towelmaster]

With respect, let's concentrate this thread on the relief efforts. If anybody wants to start a thread about preparedness and/or political failures, feel free. I'm sure there will be plenty of blame to go around both locally and federally.

Jan

I normally am one of those folks who loves a good argument, but in this case I agree Jan.
They should get their asses in high gear. When the mess has been cleaned up a bit for the people in trouble everybody can start pointing at each other(again).

This only distracts from what must be done.

[Jan]

As promised, hereÆs an update on the fan effort for Katrina Relief/Charitable giving. Wish I could think of a catchy nameàoh well.

IÆve sent $150. to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund so far on behalf of/in honor of Babylon 5 fans. Donations have come from several areas of the US and also from the UK. In addition, IÆve heard from several other folks whoÆve made donations on their own to disaster relief efforts, pet rescue efforts, prevention of child abuse and cancer research. Many thanks to everyone.

Jan

[FuryPilot]

As promised, hereÆs an update on the fan effort for Katrina Relief/Charitable giving. Wish I could think of a catchy nameàoh well.

Many thanks to Jan and to everyone who is contributing to Disaster relief, and to the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon (which also donated 1M dollars to the Red Cross, and ran Red Cross and Salvation Army 800 numbers all through the broadcast).

FP

[Milkman]

Heard my keychain came in the mail today! Cant' wait to see it.

This was a good idea, thanks for setting this up Jan!