The Formula for Helping

Robyn reports that Tampa station WFTS says there is a strong need for small containers of liquid baby formula in the area most affected by Hurricane Charley. They still don’t have electricity or an abundance of water. So, they can’t refrigerate the larger containers, and they can’t mix up the powdered stuff.

If you would like to help, then send an e-mail to the baby formula manufacturers (Enfamil, Similac, Nestle, Bright Beginnings) or retailers (Albertsons, Eckerd, Publix, Target, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, Winn Dixie, etc.) and ask them to donate a case or two. You can even use the same e-mail Robyn wrote. If everyone that reads the blogs of the STG Network contributes an e-mail or three, then at least one of those corporations should respond.


Dude. This is like the ultimate in computer nerd activism. Cutting, pasting, e-mailing… all from the comfort of my own computer chair. I can even grab myself a cold one, since I’m one of the lucky bastards with power!

And it’s not like I was gonna to go out and volunteer to do any real work or open my wallet and donate cash. I might as well do something simple (and free) to help. Same goes for you. It’s an easy thing you can do to Strengthen the Good.

Don’t just fight evil: Strengthen the good.

UPDATE: Don’t bug Albertson’s too much. They already chipped in!

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11 Responses to The Formula for Helping

  1. Kat says:

    Thank you Sol!!

  2. picklejuice says:

    Dude – helping people in Florida? SO last week. And babies? Who the hell helps babies, anyway? If you ask me, they need to get themselves some damn jobs so they can buy their own formula. You gotta think of the economy!

    (Yes, I totally just commented something that is better served in our private IMs but that’s just the kinda guy I am.)

    One issue I’ve found in this type of…erm…activism is that there is very little threat to the company’s sales if they don’t respond. Moms don’t have “brand loyalty” to a formula, necessarily – it’s which formula their baby handles the best. And dudes like you can hardly boycott their product since you’re not in their demographic. Best thing you can do in this case is either buy some formula yourself or send a donation to Red Cross (or whomever) and include a note on the memo line that it’s for formula. It then has to be used as a restricted fund for formula. The companies and manufacturers know of the need and if they haven’t responded by now it’s unlikely they will because of a bunch of emails come in. (Of course, this isn’t the case for the retailers, so I would certainly suggest contacting them.)

    At the end of the day, money is always the most flexible tool you have.

    Keep up the good work, though, with pointing out these charitable efforts. It may seem cliche but it totally does make a difference.

  3. kat says:

    Wow. Kinda harsh.
    I guess you would have to live through one of these before you could understand the need of the small things and yeah, you could just send cash but they are using the cash to get other things. They don’t want people to drop off clothes either. These items that we are asking for is what the areas affected are asking for.
    For the religious in the group, there but for the grace of god go I.
    This was our storm and they got it. We need to give them our supplies and help them. What kind of people are we if we don’t.

  4. kat says:

    P.S. And Sol, my whole family is going down there this weekend to do whatever they want us to do. I can’t lift debris or carry gallons of water but they need people to read to the kids and the elderly and rock and change babies while the parents clean up the mess.
    Every little thing is needed and appreciated.

  5. Solonor says:

    Nat: I know! Stupid babies just lay there drooling. You can’t get ’em to do no damned work!

    Kat: Natalie runs a food bank that feeds thousands of starving kids around the world. In fact, she got ready and shipped a whole bunch of food down here before the storm even hit. She knows what she’s talking about.

    I kinda wondered about the effectiveness of e-mailing companies that should already know the need and have donated by now. But it never hurts to try. You’re right, the formula manufacturers certainly should have been contacted by the Red Cross or someone (assuming they didn’t have the brains to think of it on their own), but the retailers may not know of the need. Definitely one of those things where you can put a little community pressure on Wal-Mart to be a good neighbor.

  6. robyn says:

    Can’t say it better than Kat, except to add “THANK YOU” from me, too!

  7. picklejuice says:

    *cough* Thousands, Sollie? Nah, more in the range of millions. But thanks, ya bugger. :^)

    Seriously – if you designate your funds to go to a certain project, you (as a charity) are legally obligated to earmark those funds for that project. You can’t count the number of spreadsheets I have that are for various countries in the world…if someone says their donation goes to Afghanistan, it stays in the Afghan fund. If someone says their donation goes locally, it stays in the local fund. If you say it’s for formula, then that’s what’s bought. It’s a complex system but it’s effective.

    Two of our offices (in Orlando and Tampa Bay) are literally at “ground zero” in these regions helping out. They don’t want to have to sort through clothes and donations that are sent from far away, usually, because it takes so much damn time and effort. It’s easier (and there’s a system in place to accommodate this) to go to local places and say, “Listen, this is my dollar – what can it buy for the victims of the hurricane?” THEIR dollars go a hell of a sight further than our dollars from people that aren’t immediately impacted – why make it worse?

    It’s not harsh – it’s the most effective system we have for dealing with things like this. Everybody wants to help, but sometimes people that don’t know the system actually clog things up so it doesn’t happen as easily as we’d like to think.

    And remember – at least we have homes TO lose. There but the grace of God… Count your blessings that we have insurance adjusters and the like. Most of the world?…

    It’s nice to think outside of yourself and care about hurricane victims, but there’s a much larger “outside of yourself” that most people don’t think twice about. That’s what I do, so forgive me if I’m a little bit whole lot passionate.

    I’m “in the system” as it were, and even I have a hard time making sure that what I send is used properly. I can’t imagine what it’s like for anyone who’s trying to make a difference on their own.

  8. kat says:

    Sol did explain what you do for a living and so I apologize for coming off the way I did but I just felt your comment to be cold and uncaring.
    I just know for myself, hearing and watching my very local, very close to the situation news, that this is what they are asking for from us. They are not asking for us to just send money, they need very real items and so I will continue to ask people for those items.

  9. picklejuice says:

    Last night I cried myself to sleep after watching a video of AIDS orphans in Liberia. I’m not cold and uncaring. I care too much, if anything. I just know the system. And you’ll find my happy ass in Monrovia this October taking care of kids, so there’s nothing cold about me. Cold is not the same as clinical – it’s perspective.

    If a local agency wants a specific thing than I am totally behind taking care of them. Please email me at work and I will do anything more than I can. I’ve already sent over seven thousand meals and over a ton of medical supplies and a ton of personal items but I would be more than happy to put some more of our efforts into the Florida crisis.

    Honestly, please do email me and let me know where I can send the formula so that it’s immediately used. I would be more than happy to send items to a specific agency that can handle the distribution.

  10. kat says:

    Sent it to the only email I could find on your site. The food one. 😀

  11. Sugarfused says:

    Highlights

    The Formula for Helping Fun with animation Well of Words You need what? Candle Lighting For Zo’ on August 22, 2004 Mr. Sun! Wet Dream After all we’ve been through, Sergei??…

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