The pictures coming out of Joplin, Missouri are horrific. It’s awful to see what the tornado has done to people’s homes and lives. But thanks to the power of the internet, there is something you can do! In fact, there’s a few ways you can help.
One, a consortium of bloggers is working to raise money for the people of Joplin through Paypal, and it’s an easy way to help even if you’re far away.
Bloggers without Borders (BwoB) is a blogger-based charity whose mission is to help people—bloggers and readers alike—by harnessing the good will of the blogging community. Its founders are Maggy Keet of ThreeManyCooks, Erika Pineda-Ghanny of The Ivory Hut, and Aimee Wimbush-Bourque of Simple Bites. BwoB officially launches in July 2011.
Everyone around the country is deeply saddened by the tragedy that has taken place in Joplin, MO. And sadly, the tragedy has closely touched the life of our blogging friend, Sheila from Strawberry Cake. Her great aunt was killed when the nursing home she was living in was hit by the huge tornado that devastated the area. Other members of Sheila’s family were hospitalized with injuries and have damaged homes.
We know there are many bloggers out there who would like to help the people of Joplin—but, of course, we are not there. We don’t know what the needs are. So we are raising money for Sheila’s family and the people of Joplin. Rather than give it to a large aid organization, we’re going to give it to Sheila so that she can distribute it to the people, organizations or local efforts that need help.
Once the money is collected and has been dispersed, Sheila will share with us what she did with the money—who it helped and how it helped—so that we can share that with you. You’ll know right where your money went.
So please give $1, $5 or as much as your financial situation allows. This money will go to people directly affected by the disaster—given to the people who need it by someone from our own community.
Thank you for your support,
Maggy, Erika and Aimee
Bloggers without Borders
And if you’re in the Joplin area, Runners World is reporting that the organizers of the Boomtown Half-Marathon (held in Joplin) have a plan to raise money as well. They’re donating all proceeds beyond their race expenses towards the United Way to help tornado victims, and in place of an official run, they are asking participants to come and help with the cleanup that day instead. According to Runners World:
Instead, says Race Director Audie Dennis, runners (registered or not) are being invited to show up as planned at the starting line — “Memorial Hall, which is currently serving as a triage site” — on race day, to join in a brief memorial service and then “fan out over the city” to help clean up.
“The idea came out of an emergency meeting of our exec committee yesterday morning,” Dennis says. “We had received a ton of emails from runners saying they wanted to come help, run or no run. While we did not feel we will be ready to host them with a safe, secure run, we felt this would give them an avenue to help in a positive, concrete way.”
Both of these are great community-based ways to help! If you’re a reader of Gear Diary in the Missouri area, let us know if you’re okay!