So glad you both are safe. Have you thought of setting up an Amazon wishlist for the supplies you want to distribute in your community? Then you could share the link here and we could boost it.
Jendi! I have sooo been meaning to write you to thank you for your kind support and full-on generosity. So I'm so glad you left this note! So . . . thank you, so much. You're awesome. Also, you've had an excellent idea here! The only problematic aspect to it that might be salient is that the sorts of needs we've been addressing are so immediate and specific to whomever we're dealing with and their situation that . . . my brain breaks when I think of integrating that dynamic with the functionality of the Amazon Wishlist. Like, yesterday we were talking to someone we know whose house got basically filled to the top with flood water. The water receded, and then we then had three or four really hot days. So my wife and I go, "So you're living in a giant box of pure MOLD." And the woman goes, "Yes! My kids are breathing in so much MOLD!" And my wife Cat goes, "You need a really high-volume HEPA air filter!" So then we got her one.
Like that. Or we know this other family who were AMAZED that the cat they were SURE had drowned came back. They'd lost everything--but then their cat came back! But the cat wasn't in exactly optimal shape. Well, they didn't have their CAT CARRIER anymore--which they needed so they could take their cat to this tent a vet had set up somewhere. So we got her a cat carrier.
Stuff like that. Do you know what I mean? I wouldn't think to put, on the Amazon Wish List, an air purifier (although NOW I would!) or a pet carrier (although now I would!). And the sort of general supplies that pretty much everyone always needs--baby supplies, feminine products, bottled water--are now readily enough available at official and pop-up locations all over the place. So I'm just not sure what kinds of things I'd PUT on that wishlist, if that makes sense. But I also haven't given it much more thought than the thinking I was doing as I wrote this. So I'm probably missing something here. Let me know if you know what that something is. Thank you, for everything you're doing, have done, and I know will do in the future, Jendi. You're one of the good ones, for sure.
Have you tried contacting Amazon directly for suggestions? Better yet, aren’t Amazon gift cards available in stores? If nothing else, maybe that would work. If you collected enough money maybe have some preloaded? Just throwing out ideas here. I’ll bet Good Will is looking pretty good to some now.
I see your point, John! I will send you a donation meanwhile. We bought a lot of Molekule brand air filters (for ourselves, family, and son's elementary school) at the onset of COVID. Expensive, but I recommend them. BTW, Home Depot is my tween's "happy place".
You're the best, Jendi. Thank you. (And am I seeing correctly that you don't have a Substack blog/newsletter/publication? A writer of YOUR caliber? WHAT?!)
You're so kind. I blog 1-2x/month at JendiReiter.com but I can't find the time to do a newsletter and write my books! But I'm open to suggestions...what do you want me to write about?
I'm wondering about all the children who missed or will miss birthdays. This thought really jerked tears from my eyes even as I watched my granddaughter celebrate her third birthday at a rented community center in rural Ohio. Then there's Halloween and the holidays coming. How are the Asheville children finding joy with annual events and holidays this year? I'm starting to cry just thinking about the situation parents and children face.
Listen, man, you know how kids are. If they’re with their parents, and their parents are consistently showing them how much they love them, then they’re good. If their parents are emotionally stunted cretins, then how joyful are their birthdays and Christmases anyway? I mean, kids all over these mountains ARE suffering, of course. Too much to be thinking about what they might get for Christmas or their birthday, I’m afraid. Love to you and yours, Sam. Hug your granddaughter for us
Just sent you a donation via Venmo. I know you and Cat will put it to good use. Please take care and do your best to stay healthy. (not having running water has got to be hard - I'm sorry it is going to take so long to have it restored) Hang in there!
So glad you both are safe. Have you thought of setting up an Amazon wishlist for the supplies you want to distribute in your community? Then you could share the link here and we could boost it.
Jendi! I have sooo been meaning to write you to thank you for your kind support and full-on generosity. So I'm so glad you left this note! So . . . thank you, so much. You're awesome. Also, you've had an excellent idea here! The only problematic aspect to it that might be salient is that the sorts of needs we've been addressing are so immediate and specific to whomever we're dealing with and their situation that . . . my brain breaks when I think of integrating that dynamic with the functionality of the Amazon Wishlist. Like, yesterday we were talking to someone we know whose house got basically filled to the top with flood water. The water receded, and then we then had three or four really hot days. So my wife and I go, "So you're living in a giant box of pure MOLD." And the woman goes, "Yes! My kids are breathing in so much MOLD!" And my wife Cat goes, "You need a really high-volume HEPA air filter!" So then we got her one.
Like that. Or we know this other family who were AMAZED that the cat they were SURE had drowned came back. They'd lost everything--but then their cat came back! But the cat wasn't in exactly optimal shape. Well, they didn't have their CAT CARRIER anymore--which they needed so they could take their cat to this tent a vet had set up somewhere. So we got her a cat carrier.
Stuff like that. Do you know what I mean? I wouldn't think to put, on the Amazon Wish List, an air purifier (although NOW I would!) or a pet carrier (although now I would!). And the sort of general supplies that pretty much everyone always needs--baby supplies, feminine products, bottled water--are now readily enough available at official and pop-up locations all over the place. So I'm just not sure what kinds of things I'd PUT on that wishlist, if that makes sense. But I also haven't given it much more thought than the thinking I was doing as I wrote this. So I'm probably missing something here. Let me know if you know what that something is. Thank you, for everything you're doing, have done, and I know will do in the future, Jendi. You're one of the good ones, for sure.
Have you tried contacting Amazon directly for suggestions? Better yet, aren’t Amazon gift cards available in stores? If nothing else, maybe that would work. If you collected enough money maybe have some preloaded? Just throwing out ideas here. I’ll bet Good Will is looking pretty good to some now.
I see your point, John! I will send you a donation meanwhile. We bought a lot of Molekule brand air filters (for ourselves, family, and son's elementary school) at the onset of COVID. Expensive, but I recommend them. BTW, Home Depot is my tween's "happy place".
by the way, as soon as the 15th rolls past and I get my obscene visa bill paid I’ll find a way to send you some bux.
& I shared this post on FB
You're the best, Jendi. Thank you. (And am I seeing correctly that you don't have a Substack blog/newsletter/publication? A writer of YOUR caliber? WHAT?!)
You're so kind. I blog 1-2x/month at JendiReiter.com but I can't find the time to do a newsletter and write my books! But I'm open to suggestions...what do you want me to write about?
I'm wondering about all the children who missed or will miss birthdays. This thought really jerked tears from my eyes even as I watched my granddaughter celebrate her third birthday at a rented community center in rural Ohio. Then there's Halloween and the holidays coming. How are the Asheville children finding joy with annual events and holidays this year? I'm starting to cry just thinking about the situation parents and children face.
Listen, man, you know how kids are. If they’re with their parents, and their parents are consistently showing them how much they love them, then they’re good. If their parents are emotionally stunted cretins, then how joyful are their birthdays and Christmases anyway? I mean, kids all over these mountains ARE suffering, of course. Too much to be thinking about what they might get for Christmas or their birthday, I’m afraid. Love to you and yours, Sam. Hug your granddaughter for us
Just sent you a donation via Venmo. I know you and Cat will put it to good use. Please take care and do your best to stay healthy. (not having running water has got to be hard - I'm sorry it is going to take so long to have it restored) Hang in there!
Kerry, you are the absolute best. There. That says it all. And it can’t be said enough. You really are. Thanks for all your affection and care.