[Rich Kressly]

Alright. I've been reading, thinking, and talking to many others about how we as a family can best help. Trying to synthesize all the best from above, here are my thoughts. Competing in FIRST should barely be on anyone's mind here. Without going into a complete lesson on Maslow's Needs, lets funnel the bulk of our energies toward anything that aids survival, safety, or recovery:

a. Monetary Donations: donating to FIRST directly and having them funnel money to sources adds to the workload of an overworked group and only slows the process. We don't need to know how much was sent or to which part of the relief effort, we all just need to send what we can - NOW. On the other hand, if we could work out something that sends a portion of our FRC registration fees, that could work. For instance, if registration fees could be increased by $25 and if there could be some sort of matching effort, we could generate a lot of cash over 1,000 or more registrations.

b. Clothing or Supplies: If you can't write the check right now, you can dig around and put a bag of clothes together to quickly find out where to drop them off. Every event, offseason and regular season, should have the ability on-site to take monetary AND clothing donations to be sent off.

c. Volunteers: My wife is a career nurse and I'm not afraid to do anything needed. We have already begun to try and figure out when we might be able to juggle the time. People will be needed for years in this effort to stabilize and recover. If you or a group can afford some time, organize things and go help. I believe the Red Cross is asking for a minimum 2-week commitment, but over time there will be lots of opportunities of all kinds I'm sure.

d. If teams can be located, find out what they need to survive, find eachother, stabilize, and rebuild. If you want to host them, GREAT - open up your home and let them stay. Talk about robotics and participation only after all else is taken care of. Please don't forget about FLL here. As a Sr. Mentor I received an email from Nancy Paul about the status of our FLL partners and teams in the region. Some have been found, others may be among the missing. We have large numbers of FLL participants in New Orleans and on the Gulf Coast.

e. Competing: In my individual opinion, I have very mixed feelings about raising any funds for extrance fees of displaced teams when there are homes, communities, and lives to rebuild. However, I like John's idea of focusing on the affordable (FIRST Vex Challenge perhaps, adopting team members, etc). I would love to see all students who want to participate as part of their individual recovery be able to do it.

This is a time for compassion and sacrifice. If you want others to really look up to you, take the lead in a positive and kind way and make a difference (no matter how small) for someone suffering in the south right now.