After watching a gut-wrenching morning of post-storm coverage, it dawned on me that perhaps M2C2 (and all MINI owners for that matter) can coordinate their efforts to gather canned food, clothes, toys and whatever else in our area and forward it down to Louisiana and Mississippi through the appropriate local chapters of the Red Cross, etc.

I am willing to make my office available as a staging and collection area and will arrange to have everything collected transferred to the appropriate people so they can get seriously-needed help ASAP - maybe we can have the drop off take place at a set time this week or during Labor Day Weekend?

I'm in North Raleigh near the intersection of Creedmoor Road (Hwy. 50) and Strickland Road (about a mile south of I-540).

Anyone's thoughts are greatly appreciated!

 

I think it would be great if we could put a project together.

I haven't been watching the news today, but this morning they were saying money is more important than supplies. They are afraid the supply lines will be clogged with donated items and they may not have the manpower to organize/hand out these items. Can anyone confirm this?

 

I suspect that may be correct. At least after Hurricane Andrew, there was dry ground following the storm upon which to set up staging areas. Since at least New Orleans is compleytely flooded, the supply line situation will undoubtedly be dire. That having been said, it was my intention to notify the necessary parties that we had the supplies ready to go when they would be needed as at some point hard goods and food will be required as the flood waters recede.

This is going to be a long road back for those in the Mississipppi Delta.

 

Makes sense. You're right about it being a long road too. I remember how it was here with the flooding after Hurricane Floyd and we didn't have the severe winds they experienced.

 

Great Idea Dave,

I'm willing to collect any items and deliver them to our local groups that are already providing support (Manna Food Bank & Red Cross, etc) from here in the Mountains .

I'm in the Asheville area and off this week so let me know if anyone needs me to pick the stuff up or we can coordinate a meet-up location.

 

Here's a thought to ponder. As bad as the devastation is the demand for items will not go away anytime soon. A lot of people will be in need for quite some time. What do you say about collecting items from your various regions and bringing them, or sending them via someone else, to our annual meeting in three weeks. One of us, or Ed Keady, can contact the appropiate agency to come by for collection.

With the extra time allowed, we could probably come up with a larger collection of things that would still be a benefit to those affected.

 

I just caught this on AOL. If you want to make an immediate cash donation here's a page with alot of links on it to do so.

http://www.networkforgood.org/topics...hannel.aol.com

 

I iwll be there. MY family and I will be able to donate some money. Our church also donates money also. We donate like 100% of the money to the relief. If anyone interested I can get it set up where we can. But i will be there sept 24.

Nathan

 

This is a copy of an email that will be sent out later today to our membership:


Fellow M2C2 members,

In the wake of the tragedy in our southern states it's been decided that M2C2 should do our part in the relief efforts. We're asking for donations from our members to be collected and handed over to proper representatives of the diaster relief efforts. This will happen at our annual meeting in Charlotte on the Sept. 24th.
Any items that could benefit the hurricane victims or relief teams, especially canned goods and cash donations, would be of major importance to this effort. If you're planning on coming to the meeting, bring your donations with you. If you can't make the meeting, I implore you to mail a donation the the M2C2 address listed at the bottom of this message.
Let's pull together to reach out and touch someone in need.

Thanks for your time,
Bob Smyntek
president, M2C2

Mail donations to: M2C2
PO Box 16301
Greenville, SC 29606-7301

 

Guys, just a suggestion but I think we all should consider "pop-top" type canned food items when we can get them. Many folks won't be able to open regular cans. This is what the relief agencies around here are suggesting. A can of food ain't any good if you can't open it!

 

Good suggestion, Eric!

 

My mom passed away and we have tons of clothing and canned food that would be wonderful to donate to the victims of Katrina. I've visited the American Red Cross site, Catholic Charities and others, and have contacted local charities in Maine and New York. They are unanimous that they will not accept donations "in-kind" but only cash. Their rationale is that even without collecting the items, they have to sort, package, transport and distribute them which is an inefficient use of their resources. NAM members are to be applauded for their caring hearts, but I thought you might appreciate this information.

 

I've heard it said numerous times this past week that relief agencies don't want contributions other than cash. It costs them more money to transport, sort, distribute cans, blankets, etc. -- and haul the junk away to the landfill -- than it's worth. They need to be able to help now.

As far as cash contributions go, those who wish to help would do better to go to the Red Cross website -- http://www.redcross.org/ -- to learn how to make a direct contribution. That would relieve the m2c2 treasurer from having to deal with the contributions and would earn the donor a charitable contribution on your income taxes.

Lee Johnson
Vice President, m2c2

 

I agree. After having gone through Red Cross training, I believe it is better for the club to suggest donating money to the Red Cross or another charity listed on the FEMA website. Red Cross organization is not set up to receive donations of mixed goods from small organizations. The best thing to do right now is donate cash. If we do want to collect food and clothing, then we must deliver it to an organization that is set up to sort and distribute these goods.

I reiterate my aggreement for M2C2 to donate a couple hundred dollars in the club name to the Red Cross.

Chris Suich
VP Raleigh Chapter

 

We're checking on the status of "goods" donations. If they don't want any I'll revamp our announcement.

And yes, donations can be made directly, though the idea was to do our part as a club.

 

I was thinking about picking up a bunch of inexpensive can openers and donating them......

Thank you Lee!!! You can make a donation in the name of m2c2...

 

I would like to suggest that we take up a collection of money not items at the M2C2 Annual Meeting at Hendrick on the 24th. We could then give the funds to Trainman and he could write a check to the Red Cross from M2C2. This gives us several weeks to collect from members that will not be at the meeting who could mail their donation to the PO Box. I will be at Hendrick each Saturday until the meeting and would be glad to collect form members who could stop by on Saturdays that will not be at the meeting on the 24th.

From what I keep hearing at this time money is needed most not actual items that must be sorted and shipped.

 

We'll be taking only monetary donations for this. No goods this time around. If you're going to mail a donation please do so at your earliest opportunity so we get it in time to have it at the annual meeting.

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

I'll be writing and sending the club check to the Red Cross at the annual meeting...

 

Hey guys,

Sorry i have not posted in a wile. I have been in mississippi helping with the hurricane relief. I went down friday with my church and helped there. IT is really bad down there. I will post some pictures on my gallery soon so take a look.

Nathan