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NEED DEMANDS ACTION
By Gail Paparian (January 18, 2005)
Each day the news grew worse. The horrors being experienced by the victims
of the tsunami and their rescuers appeared to be beyond what humans had
previously experienced. The living were still trying to determine the
whereabouts of family and friends. Hundreds of thousands had already been
reported dead. I felt deeply saddened; and helpless.
I went into my office, worn out from the newspaper accounts I had been reading
and the explicit pictures I was seeing on television. I searched through the
pile of papers on my desk. I picked up a handful of invitations I had yet to
deal with. Yes, each one was a good cause, but I simply cannot afford to do
everything I want to.
I looked through the pile. There was $35 here, $45 there, a slew of $15… and a
couple where I swear the comma was entered in the wrong place. I added them up.
Yikes. I went to my computer and typed in http://www.redcross.org/.
It didn’t take me long to find out how to donate. What did I donate? Not as much
as I would’ve liked, but I did donate the amount that it would’ve cost me to go
to those luncheons and dinners.
American Red Cross is not necessarily my favorite charity. It was the first one
I thought of. Please choose your own. Any amount, I suspect, is better than not
giving at all.
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