<p>on one hand, i can see speeddemons point, as people abusing this for egotistical purposes. but on the other hand... who cares about the motive????? Regardless of whether you are doing it for the feeling of telling people you helped out, you are still helping out!!! If the motive for a generous action must be as pure as the results in your mind, kill yourself now because your life will be awfully depressing.</p>
<p>Hey im very glad to see that most of you are still aware of whats going on in the world and trying to help out. Its terrible whats been going on. We feel so isolated and secure here in our home. Like someone said, we're stressing like hell over our college applications. I'm reading stories here about children losing their whole families. I can't even imagine that. I'm not that involved in my school to be able to organize something like this, but i will work hard as hell to set something up.</p>
<p>I completely agree with you blindc1rca and bigjake - that was my point exactly. I made this board partly because I wanted to see HOW many people were aware of the issue or has been active in it, as well as encourage action in people who have not been made aware. So I was actually very glad that people are coming forward with what they have done. Hopefully it will encourage others and provide new channels for the funds to travel. (I was introduced to savethechildren.org by a person who posted on this board, and now I'm planning to direct all the funds I raise to that organization) I've received many PMs already asking what people can do to help and how they would go about setting up a fund-raiser, and the response has really been awesome so far. Either way, instead of sitting on your cynical *ss and complaining about the world, why don't you go out and do something about it?</p>
<p>some new years we got lol</p>
<p>Thank you for this post pebbles. I am having my Key Club at my high school collect donations (we give the people who donated ribbons to wear) and then we are going to donate them to the disaster-relief efforts through Kiwanis.</p>
<p>It's really such a tragedy. I cannot even begin to fathom what 120,000 deaths mean. Doesn't it make you think? While we're worrying about college applications and enjoying the new ipods we've received for Christmas, people across the globe are cold, wet, and desperately struggling to survive. It makes absolutely no sense to me. Rather than trying to empathize (cause I can't), I send my hopes to those that have lost so much. Lets start this New Years by trying to help. And thanks for this post and the great ideas you guys have suggested. Once Monday hits, I'm going to start something with my Key Club. And again, speeddemon, it saddens me to know that there are people like you out there. You may call us dreamers, but we're not the only one.</p>
<p>im not saying its bad to help out im just saying how about people dont wear their donations on their sleeve, it just seems to me that when people say i donated 10 dollars! that they arent saying much about their care for the people in need as they are about telling everyone how great they are</p>
<p>"And again, speeddemon, it saddens me to know that there are people like you out there. You may call us dreamers, but we're not the only one."</p>
<p>im not quite sure what that means in this situation, but im amazed at how quickly the comments came out to, further shows how self-conscious people are, taking what i said as an insult to them,
jeez, take a moment and think</p>
<p>i hope all the best to the victims and their families, and youll never know if i donated or even much less how much to the cent that it was</p>
<p>and to respond to c1rca, i think the ends certainly dont justify the means, if by killing someone i help out the relief effort in asia, it becomes something good? sure what were dealing with isnt as extreme but its the same idea, and for one so generous and helpful to those in need im not quite sure why you were telling me to go kill myself, that seems a little harsh</p>
<p>Hm... though you are speaking like a coherent person instead of just throwing insults around, I must say I do not agree with you, speeddemon. It's not a matter of ends and means, it's a matter of a network of people supporting each other and incentive. You will never change human nature, whether regarding yourself or others, so it's useless to insult it. Sure, to some, or even to most, having others SEE that they have contributed is a motivating factor. Hence the livestrong bracelets. Why do people give away ribbons and bracelets and stickers to people who donate? It's incentive. It will attract donations, it will SPREAD awareness, people will ask about the ribbon, the bracelet, this and that, and will be motivated to donate themselves. </p>
<p>"and to respond to c1rca, i think the ends certainly dont justify the means, if by killing someone i help out the relief effort in asia, it becomes something good? "</p>
<p>Your analogy of is completely off. It is not morally condemnable to boost one's own ego, and it certainly does not harm another person. It causes no damage to society and has no detrimental effect on the lives of others. If anything, it helps spread the cause. Again, despite your apparent nausea at the mention of the livestrong bracelets, how much money did they raise? Do you want to try to raise that much money for cancer research yourself - with the guideline that in order to donate, one must tell NO ONE that he donated??</p>
<p>As much as I'm humoring your cynical presumption that humans only do things to benefit themselves, for most of us, the incentive to be "praised" or "recognized" is no more than 10% the motivating factor. Believe it or not, it feels DAMN good to help out, to do something, to make some sort of a dent. I would volunteer if I could handle seeing the carnage, but I know I can't. So I do this. What are you doing? That's all my thread asked. If by bringing it to the surface and having people discuss the issues involved, we inspire even 5 more people to go out there and do something, then it has all been worthwhile. Whether it's $10 or $10,000, it's food, it's clothing, it's drinking water, for some poor kid who lost his entire family and then some. That's the motivation, I hope you have it in you to see that.</p>
<p>calm down ppl..... fighting over this won't help those inflicted victims..</p>
<p>Of course it will, it bumps the board ;)</p>
<p>We're wasting valuable energy here people! Channel that energy elsewhere! Go finish your apps or something and return to the vapid lives we live in. I hope the hunger pangs of those suffering could only be heard by people in leadership positions. I'm glad the US increased our donation from a measly 35m to 350m.</p>
<p>It's still kind of hard for me to imagine how one set of waves can kill 150,000 people...</p>
<p>I wouldn't be surprised to see the number hit 1,000,000 deaths when this is done, and possible way more. The US has upped the current money to $350,000,000, with I'm sure loads more to come later.</p>
<p>The US also deployed a Carrier group to the region (I think the EU should do the military thing... but yea)</p>
<p>You can donate to the Red Cross through Amazon.com here: <a href="http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my-pay-page/PX3BEL97U9A4I/002-4428055-9227226%5B/url%5D">http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my-pay-page/PX3BEL97U9A4I/002-4428055-9227226</a></p>
<p>First Hand videos of the Tsunami coming in can be found here:
<a href="http://jlgolson.blogspot.com/2004/12/tsunami-video.html%5B/url%5D">http://jlgolson.blogspot.com/2004/12/tsunami-video.html</a></p>
<p>hi everyone. just want to say thank you on behalf of all the victims to know that Americans are really kind people.
actually it's one big wave and thousands of smaller ones.</p>
<p>speeddemon, you are overthinking this one. The $$ amounts mentioned were totally inconsequential and only noted as a logical way of completing the thought, "I donated XX to the relief effort". I didn't see anything like, "Oh, you gave $10? well I gave $20! oh yeah? well I gave $100" Of course, nothing wrong with that either if it ups the ante! </p>
<p>I do understand the concept. In the past I have scraped together a significant (for me) contribution to my school only to read about a $50mm donation from a wealthy alum!! which made me think... "why did I bother?"</p>
<p>In this case, let us all just do whatever we can to help simply due to the enormity of the tragedy. You generally try to help out when there is a tragedy in your community. This time, the "community" is the whole world.</p>
<p>And back to the top!</p>
<p>I donated most of my christmas money, which came from my dad winning a lot in Vegas, so, out of the hands of the casinos, and into the hands of those who need it.</p>
<p>to repeat what pebbles said...
why must we bump this thread? :(
pebbles, please check your PM's</p>
<p>Hey guys, I wanted to inform you of another easy way to donate.</p>
<p>If you go to Amazon (<a href="http://www.amazon.com%5B/url%5D">www.amazon.com</a>), they set up 1-click donation to the Red Cross. It's a small ad at the right side of the page. 100% of the money goes to the organization, and it's really simple. Just put your credit card number and you're good to go.</p>
<p>It truly is a tragedy, and I hope that lots of people donate.</p>
<p>Our PALS ( peer Assistance leadership (play with lil kids)) class is going to try and go around the classes and ask for donations. Our principal seems willing to allow us but wants my teacher (me with her signature :-P) to write a proposal with a clear plan of what exactly we will do . I want to just go door to door evey schoolday a week ( maybe I'll push to two). and we are thinking of doing a community thing too.</p>
<p>the charity is Food for the Hungry and their website is <a href="http://www.fh.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.fh.org/</a> </p>
<p>and here is some information from a watchdog group <a href="http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.summary/orgid/3713.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.summary/orgid/3713.htm</a></p>
<p>They are doing this cool program where every dollar u give essentially becomes 62 dollars? How? They already have all the supplies ( food, medicine, etc). they just need to ship it. And it costs one dollar to ship 62 dollars worth of supplies. Unfortunately I cannot find this on theri website. I have a letter from them instead. If U are interested, I will find the link or you could just call the mand request for it. </p>
<p>If that is convoluted, I apologize. 1:45 in the morning.... aca deca bites to the xtreme</p>