Our Knitting for New Orleans grassroots fundraising efforts are really going well. I had asked a few knitters I know at work if they were interested in doing this, and since then it's blossomed into us, the spouses of some of our coworkers, and some friends of the knitters I work with who heard about this and wanted to contribute some items.
We have about 11 items up right that you can bid on. Remember, 100% of the money is being donated to the Red Cross for the hurricane relief efforts. They're all decorative scarves right now, but a few of us are thinking of whipping up some hats, small bags, and other similar items.
Because MissionFish and eBay make it so easy to donate to charity from the sales of items, I think I'm going to keep this up and maybe have a small regular charity knitting group going from the girls at work and any friends who are interested.
Vice President Cheney on the relief efforts.
"I think we are in fact on our way to getting on top of the whole Katrina exercise. We've got a lot of work ahead of us," he said.
Wait, what?! Hang on a second, let's analyze this:
"I think we are in fact..."
Look, either we are in fact or we aren't. You can't speculate on a fact.
"...on our way to getting on top..."
Whoa there, Mr. Veep. Don't you think we should have been well on our way by now and in fact well past being on our way and actually on top? Have you not had enough time to prepare? To paraphrase Ted Koppel from Nightline in his interview with FEMA Director Brown, stop speculating about what you're going to do, because what you're going to do should have been done already. You should be on top of this. You've had plent of goddamn time.
"...of the whole Katrina exercise."
Katrina exercise?! Wait, this is all an exercise to you? Possibly thousands dead, hundreds of thousands homeless, hundreds who died from lack of water, food, and the help you were supposed to give them and it's all an exercise to you?
You, Mr. Cheney, are a despicable, pompous, insensitive, and ignorant ass. I'm sure this is really cutting into your time looking at waterfront real estate that you can actually purchase.
Watching the devastation and horror of both the hurricane in New Orleans and the disastrous response afterwards, I felt depressed at not really being able to contribute much to the relief effort. Then I realized that I could contribute $25 to the Red Cross, or I could take that money, buy some yarn, throw in my time, and make something with my knitting skill that people have often asked to buy in the past. Then I asked fellow coworkers who knit if they'd be interested in doing the same thing.
So I've started a page to gather up the knitting that we're auctioning off. 100% of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross or other nonprofit charities helping with relief efforts in the Gulf states. More knitted items will be added over time. We plan to knit on our lunch breaks and during any free time we get (which is at a premium these days as our projects are in crunch mode) and then put the items up for auction as soon as possible.
Please feel free to pass the page of items on to anyone you think may be interested.
