Yesterday my Rotary Club hosted a donation collection event for victims of the LA Wildfires. It was a long but interesting day. I was one tired puppy when I got home. It was interesting to see the breadth of donations. This event was probably my most rewarding to date in Rotary. As my friend Chantile put it, it embodied the true spirit of what Rotary is.
We had our club members, plus numerous amazing volunteers that joined us in gathering the stuff sorting it into categories and boxing/bagging it up.
Now this may sound critical (and it is) but the lack of common sense some people have is pretty amazing. When we put the word out on that we were doing this, we had a list of items that we would be gathering (toiletries, medical supplies, pet food, diapers, bedding, etc). However we had a few people (actually fewer than I feared we would) that brought small appliances, home decor items, China, etc.
It was nice they were willing to donate these items, but these are not the items the folks who have lost everything need at the moment. These folks have nothing they have no house to put home decor in. So don’t donate that now. Six weeks/six months from now then yes some of those items will be needed. Again a nice gesture but a couple of the folks that donated these felt like they just were cleaning out their garage and wanted to feel like they did something good. We ended up separating those out and taking them to local thrift stores. Thankfully it was a fairly small amount, but still just boggles your mind. We also had a couple of people donate food that was open/used.
Then on the opposite side of the spectrum we had some well thought out and put together donations. The local Methodist church had put together little toiletry kits. They had four large boxes of these kits. The kits had a various toiletries in zip lock bags. I am sure those will be greatly appreciated and needed.
Overall though we collected a nice volume of materials that are needed. The club rented a 26 ft U-Haul to move these items and we filled about 13 ft of it from roof to ceiling with items. The items will go from here to Las Vegas. A fellow Rotarian has a warehouse there that will collect stuff until they have a semi trailer full and then another Rotarian has a trucking company that will transport it to LA to one or more of the relief centers.
I think it is going to be hard to find a tooth brush or tooth paste in Mesquite for the next week or so. The event probably is going to raise some hell with Walmarts ordering system and have their analyst’s scratching their heads, why there was a sudden run on toothbrushes and tooth paste.
Also we have a town of animal lovers. We actually got more donated pet supplies than we did of supplies for babies or kids (although we did have donations for them as well). We also had some monetary donations. It was one of those events that restored some of your faith in humanity.
During the event, we had the weekly parade of idiots that drive around town in their cars adorned in Trump and American Flags honking and hollering drive by. They still drive all over town each week doing this. Interesting that not one of those cars passed through our donation event. Tomorrow we will see the start of the circus and four year shit show.
Last night I got to watch the Washington Commanders and Detroit Lions playoff game. Washington pulled off the upset. It was a crazy game and a fun one to watch. Heath is a Commanders fan, so I was texting with him during the game which was fun.
Well I better get to moving and do something productive, so enough therapy for today.
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