Thank you all for posting or asking someone to do so for you!  I've been
so worried about some of you, and am glad to hear that it seems that most
have made it through with some property damage, but no damage to any
living creature, human or fuzzy.
 
Folks, if you don't live in the Southeast, you have absolutely no idea
what these people have gone through.  This "Northern GIrl" felt the
remnants of Hugo in Virginia in 1989, no biggie.  I watched through my
windows in NJ as Floyd came by in 1999, whatever.  But let me tell you,
peeking out while hunkered down in Central Florida during Frances was an
eye-opener.  I was over 20 miles from where the eye wall slammed through,
and it was still an incredible view.  As a Northerner, I had heard the
"This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System" things on the radio
my entire life.  But I've NEVER actually heard it used.  Until a couple
weeks ago when they were announcing tornado watches every three or four
minutes.  I saw objects weighing hundreds of pounds lifted up and moved.
I saw trees bending at a 90 degree angle.  I saw stretches of highway
with every single billboard stripped of anything other than it's
framework.  I saw hundred year old trees ripped from the ground.  I saw
two 90 year old ladies come to blows over the last can of sterno in the
grocery store, and too many Home Depot employees verbally abused over
empty shelves.
 
Not only will the shelters have to deal with in many cases significant
damage to their homes, they'll also have to deal with living in
communities which were devastated, where getting simple supplies can
mean waiting hours in a line, where there is no basic utility service,
where everything that was at one point taken for granted no longer is.
 
I'm asking everyone to think not only about the cost of repairing the
damage to the shelters, but also the cost of the extra time that the
shelter operators will now have to invest, just to keep things running
with some sense of normalcy.  Dollars which were once earmarked to feed
the fuzzies might now need to be spent to repair a roof or window.
That's where we can help.
 
If you can, please make a donation to the shelter of your choice, or to
SOS who will try to assist everyone based on need.  It doesn't matter
what you donate, or how, it will be useful.  Send a Wal-Mart gift
certificate to purchase paper towels and laundry detergent.  Send a cash
donation to the vet.  Send a Ferret Store or Jeffers gift certificate.
Or Paypal the shelter $1.  At this point, if everyone on this list sent
$1 to each affected shelter, it would make a huge difference.
 
Anne
[Posted in FML issue 4639]