Pat's Wundermission - 9/16/2008

When I want to know what's going on with the weather, I go to Wunderground, which is short for Weather Underground. I've been doing this for a long time, starting way back in the Little League Baseball days, when mostly I was worried about thunderstorms and rain. Then, when The Oldest went to college on the coast of North Carolina and Middle Son in New Orleans, I started paying close attention to hurricanes. By then, I was a regular reader of Dr. Jeff Masters' Wunderblog, and perhaps particularly his lively regular commenters. I've learned over the years, which ones to listen to, and when there's foul weather afoot, it's a Wunderblogger named Patrap whose every link I follow, whose own Wunderblog is linked in the New Orleans section of my right gutter. Patrap, a husband and father, is a former Marine, a New Orleanian and a veteran of the Cajun Navy, a man of action.

 

The photos above are from the U.S. Geological Survey and were taken on September 9th and September 15th, respectively. Seeing what Ike's done to the coast of Texas, and, well, having been there, so to speak, Pat's just up and done something about it all. With a small band of other Wunderbloggers and regular commenters on Dr. Masters' blog, they've organized a convoy into Texas. Folks are gathering from Louisiana to South Carolina and points in between to help the people struggling and suffering in Ike's wake. Here's Pat's Wunderblog posting about it:

To drop off Bulk Relief Aid, Water, MREs, unopened only..and other Food stuffs. Or a Donation by check...

Contact Patrap in New Orleans at pjp1201@yahoo.com for a Drop off Location.

Hurricane Ike Relief Effort
As most of you know, several WU members are currently working to assist the folks that have been impacted by Hurricane Ike. The goal of this project is to provide assistance and supplies to the folks that are off the beaten path that often do not get the same relief as the mainstream areas. There are many ways to donate and help the folks in Tx and La, and however you feel is appropriate; please help out. If not through this effort, then through many of the others.

Blogger Presslord has been kind enough to use a charity that he has run for over 10 years as the face of this effort. The name of the organization is Portlight Strategies, Inc. You can currently donate by check, and there will also be a PayPal account set up as soon as possible, if that suits you better. If you send checks, the faster they can get to Portlight the better as we plan to be on the road by the end of the week. All checks should be made payable to:

Portlight Strategies, Inc. Link
2043 Maybank Hwy.
Charleston, SC 29412
MEMO: Hurricane Ike Relief

Or donate through PayPal.




Portlight has sole access and responsibility for all funds.

Portlight Strategies will be in charge of all funds, and make sure that the supplies and monies get in the hands of those that need it most. They are also working with several entities in South Carolina to raise additional funds.

Any Checks received by me in My Name and Address via mail will be endorsed and deposited into the non-profit account.


Patrick
 

Just in case any of you fine folks who wander by here might want to help out, I thought I'd make sure you knew that there was this great way to do so. These are just regular folks like us, who wanted to do something, so, well, they just did.

Peace, out, y'all.

Edit: These are some Big Pictures (be warned, they're literally, BIG), but well worth the click if you want to have some idea of the scope of the damage left by Ike. Wow.