Salon.com has a pretty good collection of ways to donate, and it’s a good idea to stick with reputable charities. Scams crop up after every disaster, and some of them, like United Way, just stick around forever. For some reason this is not common knowledge, but United Way has a pretty horrible history of corruption, greed and questionable competence. United Way just takes a percentage off the top before distributing funds to its member charities; they add exactly nothing but overhead (and occasional corruption) to the equation. Cut out the middleman.

Personally, I really love seeing the different grassroots funding drives. For example, Dreamwidth and LiveJournal have various fan-related Help Japan communities, where people are auctioning off their talents and services (the dreamwidth community is open until Sunday and Livejournal’s is open until the 26th), and YaoiCon has their own auction of goodies, open until the 20th as well.

My favorite, though, comes from SomethingAwful. Someone made an idiot of himself, and after he failed his chance to redeem himself, one of the Goons decided that he had to donate $10 to the Red Cross or be banned (temporarily) from the board as punishment. After a little discussion, another Goon pledged another $10 if the rulebreaker had to choose between matching the donation or being banned forever. Wonderfully horrible people that they are, the Goons dogpiled onto this idea, kicking off a massive fundraiser for Japan. The poor guy now has to match all of the donations or be banned forever. If he does match, he gets all the perks and upgrades the forums have to offer, and major kudos.

So far the Goons have raised over $15000.

I think he’s getting banned.

It’s very fashionable right now to donate money to Haiti, but please be careful where you donate; anywhere money flows, there will be unethical people trying to take a cut, and even legitimate organizations can be astoundingly poorly managed. Charity Navigator seems to be a good place to check things out first; they don’t have the resources to check every charity, but they rate most of the big players. Personally, my Haiti-bound donation went to Doctors Without Borders.

On a lighter note, I’ve been spending a lot of time wandering RedBubble lately. My friend Caitlin introduced me to it back in August, when I bought a print of her “Tokyo” project, and I keep coming back, usually just to explore. They have a great talent pool, and their print quality is fantastic if you feel the urge to buy something. One of my favorite recent finds is JenniferB. Really, I think the best way for me to introduce her is to shut up and let two of her poems speak for themselves:

1. I Want To Fuck You With Words
2. To be continued…

Some of her writing is a bit morbidly uncomfortable, but I think it’s still worth reading.

In site-related news, I’ve commissioned Ten-Chan to illustrate one of the Elves stories I finished back at the end of 2008. She says she should be finished soon, and I’ll post it appropriately as soon as I can.

There is no Oakland General Hospital. Oakland is served by Highland General Hospital. It’s 9:00 at night and I don’t know this, not without looking it up. When I lived in the East Bay, I went to the Tang Center on the Berkeley campus. “Five dollars?” It’s the Christmas season. Even if she’s lying, I can afford five dollars. She needs it more than I do. I reach for my wallet.

“Oh, thank you, sir, you know ten dollars would help even more.”

The gears in my head turn, clicking into place, and I drop my wallet back into my pocket. Kindness is an important virtue, but I don’t appreciate being jerked around for a sucker. She watches me expectantly as I stand there, my hand inside my jacket. “Tell you what… no. But…”

“Please, even a few dollars…”

I cough. “If you can wait five minutes, I’ll take my laundry back home, come back, and drive you there myself.”

She takes a step back. “Oh, no, I couldn’t ask for that…”

“You didn’t. I’m offering.”

“No, I should really take the bus…”

“I’ll get you there faster.”

“No, sir, it’s OK, just a couple dollars…”

I shake my head and give her a few singles before I head into the laundromat. Sometimes it’s OK to play the sucker. She needs it more than I do.

That said, we haven’t spoken in about three years. We didn’t fight, and I leave my door always open to friends; I think she just got busy and we drifted apart.

That’s a very long time, and I imagine there that there are a lot of stories for both of us to tell. What do you say to a friend after three years?

Apparently, depending on your name and your friend’s, you say something that looks like this:

Adrian Mailenna,

I’m proud to tell you that I’m being locked up…that’s right, I’m going behind barsto help Jerry’s Kids and MDA. To be released on good behavior I have to raise bail and I need your help!

All you have to do is click here to make a secure, online donation before 05/21/08. Your donation will help families living in our community and help guarantee me an early release.I can’t wait to add you to my list of contributors.

Thanks in advance for your help. Don’t hesitate to call or email me with any questions.

Together we’ll make a difference,
Christanne

P.S. I’m counting on you, click here to donate.

Maybe I’m a stiff-necked, elitist bastard (I have been called far worse), but I really appreciate a well-crafted letter, and this one leaves me just a little bit disappointed. Since we last talked, she changed her name; I almost didn’t recognize her and marked it as spam on the first pass. She was married back in June 2006, but she did not tell me this; prompted by curiosity, my GoogleFu did.

She has her reasons for the form letter, whatever they might be, so I took her up on her offer of emailing her back. I remember her fondly and I’d like to believe that she isn’t the kind of person who would ask for sponsorship from someone she doesn’t actually care to keep as a friend anymore.

Still, that was a heck of a way to say “Hello”.