Saturday, September 03, 2005

Texas Bound

Back on the first in my entry on Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, I mentioned that I was seriousy considering going down to help out.

Well it look like everything's falling in place for that to happen. Here's the progress so far:

1. I never heard back from my local Red Cross chapter, but I spoke to good friend and fellow blogger Vulture Six who assures me that the local Red Cross in Houston has PLENTY of room for more people to help out at the Astrodome, and he's graciously offered to put me up while I'm there.

2. a woman in my church has offered her frequent flier miles to cover my airfare, so I have a way to get there.

3. We have at least two and maybe as many as four volunteers to help care for The Lad while I'm away and The Feared Redhead is at work, so childcare is almost all covered.

4. The scheduling department at my work has agreed to approve time off on short notice, the only hting in the way now is supervisor approval if the time in question conflicts with other previous vacation requests.

So it's at least 80% certain at this point that I'll be spending a week helping in Houston. Of course I plan to keep you all apprised of how it goes. But I also have a couple of requests from my readers:

1. If you're in the Houston Area and would like to meet up for an evening aftyer the day's work, drop me a line.

2. I'll be taking along clothing to donate as well as cash to buy more supplies to donate. The cash will come from my coworkers, TFR's coworkers, and members of our church. If any of my readers want to add to the kitty, Vulture Six will be helping me set up a Paypal donation button on this blog. Deadline to give would be Wednesday the 7th. If you don't give by then, please go give directly to a relief organization.

Thanks for your prayers and well-wishes, keep 'em coming.

UPDATE 9/6/2005:

Vacation time has been approved and the flight confirmed -- I'll be in houston Saturday evening.