Earlier in the week I noted there was a tweet-up to kick-off an ongoing tornado victims disaster relief effort, inspired by the experience of its founder, who had lost everything but the clothes on her back in a tornado back in May 1999. Along with many others (it was a very successful event), I attended that tweet-up on Thursday, and put in about three hours volunteering at the donation center at 25 Northwest 9th Street in downtown Oklahoma City. Today I returned to the donation center with the kids, intending to put another few hours in. However, due to an unexpected shortage of volunteers (we had some commitments from a couple groups that were not met), after a few hours had come and gone, my kids and I made up more than half of the volunteers on-site. Thus, we ended up putting in a full day of work, nearly eight hours, which we were happy to do. But the experience inspired Shelby to make a sign, and stand outside, attempting to recruit more volunteers. It was cute, but unsuccessful.
While we were happy to put in the full-day at the center, we think it's unfair for others to have to do the same. And so I ask, if you have a couple hours to spare, please take a trip down to the donation center to help. It's very easy. Mostly you are there to take in the donations people are dropping off (i.e. help unload cars and trucks), and organize them in preparation to be received by those in need. If just a handful of people did this a few times a day, that would be plenty. We're not asking for armies of people (although that would be great). Feel free to bring your chore-starved kids (like I did) to put them to work and give them an appreciation for volunteering. Please see the Facebook Page for the latest info (in case the schedules change), but as of this writing, the donation center will be open from 12-6 tomorrow (Sunday), and 11-7 next week (weekdays).
As you can see from the below photos, we have received a very generous supply (thank you OKC!) of clothing and shoes in mens, womens, and childrens sizes. We have some furniture and household items as well (sorry I didn't take a picture of those), including couches, dressers, beds, toys, bedding, TVs, vacuum cleaners, etc. What we are very short on is volunteers and needy families. I've already made my case for more volunteers. But if you know ANYONE that was adversely impacted by the tornadoes of May 10th, 2010, please send them down to the donation center so they can go away with whatever they need that we have. In the very least, please have them contact us (Twitter #OKdonations is the most effective way, via @thealphafemme and @lofolulu). My understanding is that local emergency management teams have been giving out info about our relief efforts, but please help us further spread the word.
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