Easy way to help flood victims by giving $10 to Red Cross....here are step by step instructions.

[MLAA]

For my fellow 'I mostly use my smart phone to make calls and to respond with a smiley face when my grand kids text me'

1. Touch your messages icon (the green box with a white text cloud in it)
2. Touch on the little box with a pencil in it to start a new text
3. Type the number 90999 in the space after 'to:'
4. Type Harvey in the text box at the bottom
5. Touch the blue up arrow to send the text

You will be asked to confirm your $10 donation by typing yes and hitting the up arrow again.
You will be sent a receipt 😀

[uppityperson]

1. WARNING! This money will go into the RC general fund, not nec to the current disaster.

We all want to help asap, but it's been found that it's more effective to get donations to people needing help if you wait a couple days to find more local resources.

Lists will be posted after the immediate threat to lives is over. If you want to donate to RC, do so, but realize this money goes into their funds for use later, not for now.

[MLAA]

4. Thank so for the clarification.

I think $10 for the general fund to help keep Red Cross solvent for any future disasters and watching for local specific funds in next few days is a good balance for me. I expect that folks who donated to RC during last disaster are actually helping current disaster victims.

But appreciate you clarifying so folks can make informed decisions. 🙂

[uppityperson]

5. Thanks, it was a shock to find this out after my community collected and sent RC $. Preparing

for future disasters is good. If you want your money to be used for this one, there are other ways.

Thanks for starting the thread. We're all in this together.

[moondust]

9. Plus...

the RC and Salvation Army can now spend the big bucks they were going to waste on their lavish bashes at Mar-A-Lago (that they canceled after Drumpf's offensive comments after Charlottesville) on actual disaster relief--as it always should have been. Do people really contribute to them expecting it to be wasted on gilded parties presumably for executives?

[uppityperson]

2. Here are a couple links with other donation places. Nola and HuffPo

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2017/08/tropical_storm_harvey_here_are.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-to-help-hurricane-storm-harvey_us_59a166dde4b0821444c37515
https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/how-you-can-help-hurricane-harvey-victims

[EarnestPutz]

3. Salvation Army is a much better choice.

Red Cross will show up with a bunch of forms for you to fill out,
as will FEMA. The Salvation Army will be there with sandwiches
and hot coffee and none of your ten bucks will go to a bureaucracy.
Pardon my cynicism but I've seen it happen in Gulf Coast Mississippi.

[crazycatlady]

6. Salvation Army is a fundamentalist church

And won't help you if you're LGBT and often makes people attend their services.

I would much rather prefer to give to a secular organization.

[marybourg]

10. While these 3 statements

may be true, neither of the first 2 affect their disaster relief programs, which are, as the poster above stated, far more immediate, helpful, and personal and far less bureaucratic than those of the Red Cross.

In my family, stories go back to the differences in their relief to the troops on the frontlines of battle in WWII. We have supported their relief efforts for the past 70 years, will continue to do so and will enlighten others about their efficacy.

But your attitude is understandable also, and I respect it.

[lunatica]

8. I've never had to fill out any forms to donate via Red Cross

Or the Red Crescent or any other arm of the Red Cross.

[uppityperson]

11. I think they meant to get services from them

[lunatica]

7. I used Paypal to donate