This is just a quick update for those who might be wondering how things are moving along for our vet in need, in Dallas, whose situation was brought to our attention by llbear.
[A quick note: I spoke to llbear this morning. He sounds good but his father is not out of the woods yet, so please keep them in your thoughts.]
Some of you - I hope many of you - may be familiar with the diary series that gitmo bay has written, regarding Sean Hannity's Freedom Alliance organization, and its purported assistance to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. It's an eye-opening series, to say the least.
Then along comes a guy with no real name recognition to speak of, and an audience of maybe a few thousand, asking for assistance with one veteran's needs and WOW! What a difference!
I wanted to acknowledge the response and generosity we've seen from the dKos community in just three days. llbear tells me he's rec'd nearly 200 e-mails offering support for our vet in need: cash contributions, household items, moving help, time and effort of every stripe, networking... again, WOW! I'm overwhelmed, emotionally; llbear is overwhelmed emotionally and logistically. He's taking a day to settle things down a bit at home, and we'll see if I can take some of the organizational work off his hands over the next few days.
llbear has engaged a professional apartment finder who's offering their services to help our vet's family secure a decent residence that's closer to school. I'm working with this person to take care of a few details so the move is stress-free. We hope to have some details for you volunteers next week, so you can let your love flow, as it were.
Oh, back to Hannity - I opened a checking account for this drive with $100. How many tickets do you think Hannity has to sell to actually get $100 to the families of vets who need some assistance? I can't even begin to imagine. We don't need celebrity, we don't need endorsements, we don't need TicketMaster. We have everything we need to support our veterans, neighbors and fellow citizens in our hearts and souls.
Final thought: Again, The KINship Project is simply acting as a facilitator for this particular outreach. Thanks to all of you who have so generously offered financial assistance to our vet's family, but I want to re-emphasize that this is not a general solicitation for TKP contributions, nor are we (TKP) asking anyone to donate to this specific cause. I'm happy to help because I have some spare time on my hands and we've already set up a system for handling PayPal contributions. llbear hasn't asked me, or TKP, to do anything beyond provide some logistical assistance.
I believe llbear may be posting a diary tonight but I just wanted to give everyone a quick update, so you know what's going on. And I hope you'll send positive vibes to llbear, his father, and the rest of the family as they deal with this health challenge.
dKos... YOU ROCK!!!
[Update] - Someone just e-mailed me and reminded me that, while we're not asking for contributions, it doesn't hurt to have a link posted. So...
Make a PayPal contribution
Again, please don't feel pressured to contribute, especially if contributing will put you or your family in a financial pinch.
Scott -