THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS

Tuscaloosa, Alabama now looks like a war zone. A tornado destroyed 15th street.

Now the Mississippi River crest is overflowing, and attacking Memphis, Tennessee.

Today I am flying from Louisville, Kentucky to my home in Los Angeles. Yet my stopover is in Memphis.

My biggest worry is that my flight will be delayed and I will have trouble making it home. Yet when I eventually arrive in Los Angeles at least I will have a home. The same cannot be said for those affected by the recent storms.

It is moments like these that me and many others realize how fragile everything we cherish truly is. Self-reflection and even self-criticism can be very healthy, and with that it has resulted in me deciding to make an alteration with the Tygrrrr Express blog. The change will be negligible, but it needs to be done.

It is time to give the Tygrrrr Express more “meaning.” No, this does not mean it will become boring. It just means that there is plenty of time to discuss foreign policy and presidential candidates. Right now people are suffering, and we all need to pitch in and help. In many cases people want to help but do not know how. So when I find out how, I will do a better job of disseminating that information in a quicker manner.

A brilliant article in the Wall Street Journal (redundant, I know…we get spoiled by how the brightst minds on Earth seem to keep the intelligence bar higher than everybody else.) tells the story of people helping others and how we can as well.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703992704576306903995203790.html

Clear Channel Radio in Tuscaloosa has a mainly white, conservative audience. Yet apparently that has not stopped the community from helping their liberal black brothers and sisters. Christian “zealots” are practicing their typical “religious intolerance” by loving their neighbors, and feeding and sheltering those in need.

Make no mistake about it. This is churches and churchgoers helping people out of love.

Clearchannel Tuscaloosa has removed Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and other national figures from the airwaves. Instead, the entire station is now a conduit connecting people who need with people who have and are willing and able to give.

Now I am continuing the pipeline by getting this information to all of you.

Gigi South is the station manager. God bless this woman. It was her decision to alter the programming. It comes at significant financial cost to the station but the human cost of not doing so would be greater.

People are dropping food and clothing off at the station, and others are getting it out to the people. In some cases people are just calling the station to say where they are and what they need. Then minutes later others call in to say they can deliver it.

This is what religious Christians in Alabama are all about.

Everybody is pitching in. From the Greek fraternities to the historically black Stillman College, students stayed and cooked over 7000 meals.

As expected, “evil” Walmart is stepping up bigtime.

The phone number of the radio station is 205-344-4589.

The fax is 205-366-9774.

The address is 3900 11th Ave North, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401.

Other organizations that I trust that I know will get the job done are Chabad of Birmingham and the Alabama Republican Women. I have dealt with people running these organizations personally, and they love their community and have the manpower and womanpower to help effectively.

Chabad of Alabama is located at 3040 Overton Rd in Birmingham at the Beis Ariel Cultural Center.The phone number is 205-970-0100.

The Alabama Republican Women have all of their information on their website.

http://www.afrw.org

As always, B’Nai Brith and the Red Cross continue to excel at relief efforts.

The Alabama Republican Party is offering constant updates.

http://algop.org/node/1303

I am more than happy to take information from people besides Republicans and Jews. Yet since those are my circles, I have better contacts, who get back to me quickly. I want everybody, everywhere to help.

Ok, I spoke too soon. One of my sources is an Alabama Christian Democrat  who also happens to be gay. Tornadoes don’t care about sexual or political orientation.

He told me that a group on Facebook called “Toomers for Tuscaloosa” is worth checking out.

He also told me to emphasize that many other towns got belted hard. Hackleburg, Sawyerville, and Phil Campbell are among them. Because these are small towns that are lesser known, it took days before people knew that cell phones were dead and power liens were down.

Let this be a call to action. Everybody get me information and I will get it out.

Raging Southeastern waters have caused devastation, death, and pain that will be lasting for a long time after the media moves on to the next story.

Yet if we all roll up our sleeves, we can help. Use Facebook and Twitter. Continue the chain. Let people know about the situation and the sites I mentioned.

For those of you who can, send money. Every bit helps.

We are Americans. We rise to the occasion when our neighbors are hurting.

We can do this. Time to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

eric

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 at 11:31 am and is filed under POLITICS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.