Geeks Helping Out

As some of you know I live just outside of Birmingham AL. A few weeks ago this area was ravaged by a series of devastating tornados. Over 200 people were killed, thousands are homeless in the aftermath.

As needs were expressed, a lot of immediate ones were met, such as food, water, clothing. One interesting one that came out was for luggage or other bags to carry things in. Many folks were getting help in the form of clothes and groceries, but had nothing to put them in.

Having been to many community events I had more than my share of backpacks and bags, and cheerfully donated them. It occurred to me other geeks might have the same situation, more backpacks than you can ever use, but too nice to just throw away.

So I put a shout out to some of my fellow SQL MVPs, and have already received some bags. I want to give a special shout out to my fellow MVP Paul Turley, whose bags were not only the first to arrive, but his kids included some backpacks especially for other children.

I wanted to extend the opportunity to other geeks in the community. If you have backpacks or other bags from various events, or perhaps you’ve run an event and have tons of swag bags left over, please send them to me! I’ll be glad to coordinate sending them to my local drop off center.

If you have other left overs, such as t-shirts and the like, you are welcome to send those as well, we’ll take whatever we get to the various relief centers.

If you want to help just send me an e-mail and I’ll pass along further details, you can get me at n4ixt @ hotmail.com.

Note, as I write this I see some severe tornados have hit Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas in the last 24 hours or so. I don’t know anyone in those areas, but if you live close to them you might consider helping those folks as well, I’m sure they will have many of the same needs as those here in in the great state of Alabama.

Thanks too to all those that have already helped out.