{giving back}

Last summer my city was hit by 3 hurricanes in 2 months. We were without power for weeks at a time. I personaly couldn't use any water in my house for weeks due to line breaks. We ran out of gas, out of water, out of food at some stores. When help came, most of it came from the gulf region of the US. We have a power grid in our parking lot at work and I said good morning to Progress Energy workers every morning on my way in. Men from the Carolinas, from Georgia, from Alabama, Lousianna & Mississippi. Men that were away from their families for months on end. Not only the power workers, but the ones that brought their chainsaws & flat bed trucks to remove trees large debris. The police officers that came to help direct traffic in intersections where lights were out, damaged or just plain gone. The roofers that came to help. So many people. And a majority of them came from the places that Katrina has now wrecked havoc on. These same people are now in so much more need of help than we ever were.
These men gave up their home life for months to come here, live out of hotels & help our lives get back to normal.

Now it's our turn.

The radio station I listen to decided on Tuesday that they wanted to do a live remote on Thursday to collect donations for the American Red Cross. They took it to mangement and got told NO. Wasn't possiable. They couldn't get the logistics together in time to be able to take the show on the road. You don't tell those guys no. They were adament that they would be there, so that our community can give back to those that helped us. They were again told that it couldn't be done, the enginerers would not be there to fix things if they went wrong. Again, no was not an answer for them.

This morning the Doc & Johnny Morning Show of XL106.7 was split in two, with Doc & Alex at the Altamonte Mall and Johnny & Grace at the Florida Mall. Local companies donated not only money, but gift certifactes & goodie bags to be given to peoplewho donted money. Doc & Alex had to do the show on their cell phones once their connection to the station failed, but they did it.

In four hours, they collected $102,000. A local body shopped dropped of a check for $30,000 and asked to not be named on the air. They didn't want the promotion, they just wanted to give back. Children brought their piggy banks & dumped them on the table. Many people came to give back to the orginazation that helped them last summer when their home was destroyed. The kicker here? Lowe's Home Improvement called in & is going to match today's donations. Dollar for dollar. That means that today's 4 hour broadcast, the one that management said could not be done, raised $204,000 for the American Red Cross. There is another donation drive in the works for next week.