Katrina

[wray]

I know this has nothing to do with the WPT but it has to do with our neighbors.

I had a hard time starting this thread because I'll probably get some of the jerks around here telling me I started this so people will tell me how nice I am. That isn't the case. I'm starting this to promote thought and maybe people can help out.

I live in Memphis Tn. and everywhere I go there are Louisiana and Alabama license plates. I heard on the radio these people are not allowed to go home until next Monday. Then it's only with I.D. and only to get clothes etc. Then they must leave again for 1 month.

I wanted to do something besides donate to the Red Cross. I wanted to be able to see the face of someone I help. I thought maybe buy a tank of gas or buy dinner for someone. I went to dinner and saw some La and Ala license plates but they weren't wearing nametags!!

After dinner I went to a gas station and there were some pretty big lines for fuel. I saw a female with La plates and asked the dumb question "Are you up here because of Katrina?" She said yes and went straight into about how she just found out today they lost everything but that her father and brother were ok.

I told her I wanted to pay for a tank of fuel for her. She didn't look poor like it meant she was going to eat that night or anything. But her eyes just started to water up like she was going to cry. I explained that my wife and I wanted to do something for people like her and didn't know exactly what to do. She said it made her day and it certainly made me feel great.

So if you know someone who's in need you might want to help. I plan on going back and doing this a couple more times over the next few days. Now I'm not rich I just want to help. For those of you that know me and trust me to do what I say feel free to PM me. If you want to help me financially speaking then maybe we can do this quite a bit more over the next month.

[MicroBob]

First - Very nice gesture. I hear you about 'wanting to do something'.


I know the games in tunica have to be quite juicy right now...but I can't really bring myself to go down there and play because I know there's the possibility that my opponent could be some guy who is ultra-depressed from losing his home and is gambling his week away (as well as his life-savings perhaps) because he has to do SOMETHING to forget.
He's probably going to lose his money anyway I suppose...but I don't want to be the one taking it from him.


Second - I heard some story on the radio this morning that some couple here in Memphis who had evacuated up here got car-jacked or something.
I only caught the very tail-end of the morning-guys talking about it and they were going on about how terrible it was of course.

The hospitality that many Memphians and mid-southerners will show will be terrific of course. But it only takes a couple REALLY bad apples like these car-jacker guys to screw things up for someone who is already in REALLY dire-straits.


Your point is well-taken though.
We are hearing about all the flooding and injuries and fatalities down there.
30k people at the New Orleans superdome are now being evacuated to the Houston Astrodome for crying-out loud.


But the ones with cars and with a little bit of money who were able to get out of there in time and escape to the Memphis area aren't exactly in great shape either.

They know their home is probably gone. They know they have nowhere to go back to. Possibly no job if their place of employment was destroyed too (or they owned a small-business).
Some won't be able to pay $50/night for a hotel-room forever but they have nowhere else to go and it really is quite a sad situation.

There are a lot of people down there AND up here in the Memphis area who have no freaking idea what they are going to do...but they are pretty sure that their money to support themselves isn't going to last forever.

[lozen]

Chances are your Local Red Cross has a fund set up and they have the best reputation at disaster relief.

[wray]

You're right about the Red Cross and I do donate to them. I just wanted to doante face to face as well.

MB - I played a lil 4-8 at the Grand yesterday and the games were crazy. I won 158 in 2 hours.

I've played at The Grand 3x in the past 2 weeks. I've noticed the 4-8 game has been very loose looser than normal. Might be worth the trip for ya.