Help the Red Cross to be able to help others.

I thought people might be interested in a letter I wrote to the editor of my college newspaper at UCLA. If you can use it, please adapt it. I will definitely post the link if they publish it!

“Help the Red Cross to be able to help others.”

To put it bluntly the American Red Cross needs your help. An incredible amount of disasters have hit America this year including Hurricane Ike and Gustav, the worst flooding in the Midwest for 15 years, and, as is all too evident to us in Southern California, another set of wildfires. The scope and cost of these disasters have outpaced the generosity of the American people jeopardizing the organizations ability to fund and provide aid. I realize finances are tight as college students and with the economy we all must be more judicious with our spending, but if you can just skip Pinkberry this one time or hold out on that coveted double-double, the American Red Cross can be that much more effective in response to these disasters.

As our friend at the football game would say, “I need every man, woman, and child” to help the Red Cross. This is not a situation to take lightly, and I encourage you to think about how you can help, whether it is a financial donation or walking over to the VA where our local Red Cross chapter is located and becoming a volunteer. The American Red Cross is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that relies on people like you to keep its mission alive. I hope that our UCLA community can rally behind this organization that has rallied behind our country in its worst times for 127 years.

Pat West, California