Sweet Home Alabama

Photo Credit: Legislative Barbie

Wednesday night, a very bad thing happened. I'm sure, by now, you all know what I'm talking about, but just in case, I'll clarify: tornadoes devastated a good-sized, heavily populated chunk of the Southeastern region of the United States. A vast portion of my home state was pretty much leveled, and to top it off, most of my immediate family was in the thick of it.

I'm in Alabama, but way, way, way down at the very bottom of the state. You know the little piece that sticks out and hooks onto Florida? That's my city. Not only was I not in any danger, but I didn't really even know anything was going on until it was over and the Facebook posts started pouring in. My mother, stepfather, and kid brother, on the other hand, spent the night hunkered down in a bathtub in Birmingham. They'd gone on vacation to visit some more family in that area. I can assure you, Mom was mentally clicking beads throughout the night. My family's fine, but it was scary. They were very, very lucky.

See, what a lot of people don't realize is that another string of storms came through Wednesday morning, and knocked out the power in much of the city. No lights. No phones. No television or radio. In other words, when the tornado came, a serious amount of the population had no idea. Hence, the ridiculous loss of life in the state of Alabama.

There are...what's a nice term...idiots out there who are trying to make this political. Others trying to turn this into a religious argument. Heck, I'd be willing to bet that some jerk out there is trying to say the tornado wasn't a Bama football fan! These are probably the same people who said Katrina was our own fault because we don't have building codes down here (Yes, some...ahem...lovely person actually said that to me, and yes, we have building codes. Darn good ones). The point is, there are people out there who are too busy pointing fingers and acting superior to actually come off their high horses and help. Plus, much as I hate to mention this, a lot of people have a poor understanding of the South, and tend to think of us as a bunch of shoeless rednecks living in vans down by the river. That is most definitely not the case. For crying out loud, this blog is written by an opera singer/actress/filmmaker. We have culture down here, darnit! Please don't ignore us because you think we're too ignorant to warrant help!

People died. Entire towns are gone, and their residents homeless. Alabama needs your help.

For those of you who are so inclined, here's a list of places that would welcome your donation, no matter how small. Any help--even a dollar--would be greatly appreciated:

Red Cross: Text 90999 for an automatic $10 donation, or click here and select Northern Alabama/Tennessee Valley for a custom donation.

Salvation Army: Send your check to Salvation Army Disaster Relief, PO Box 100339, Atlanta, GA 30384-0339.

Heart to Heart: Click here to donate.

Direct Relief: Click here to donate.

Team Rubicon: One-time and monthly donations are available. You can also select and purchase a piece of gear to be sent to the relief effort.

Disaster Relief: You can donate items from this list to Disaster Relief, c/o First Baptist Church of Moody, 902 Church Street, Moody, AL 35004.

There's also a slew of places at Legislative Barbie. Cute name, too.



Thanks to Couponing to Disney, NBC, magnolia, and Legislative Barbie.