OT: Necessities for Katrina Victims

Karen C - California said

I may be ignorant but I ain't stupid, especially about chocolate

At the risk of offending TIA Mary, I still think wet wipes are a good idea. Even if the shelters have bathing facilities or just sinks, the lines may be horrendous or their ambience may be extremely off putting.

Me too! I know that in that position, and the humid conditions down there, I`d give my eye teeth for wet wipes/baby wipes! Plus toilet paper, clean knickers, etc. I see that cell phones are back on, which is excellent and stuff is starting to get through.

Pat P

I suspected that, but some people think choc melts at a much higher temp than it actually does. I have yet to impress on my friend in Germany that it's great when she sends the fancy choc at Christmas, but the stuff she sends for my summer birthday always arrives grey, powdery and inedible.

My boyfriend and I were talking last night about how nice it would be if each of the millionnaires in the US would give up a measly million, pocket change to them. I saw Barbara Streisand gave a million, and I saw an article on Sports Illustrated.com that they were asking NFL players to give. And perhaps there are many welathy folks giving money that we simply don't hear about. But, think of what good that could do if each of those highly pid NFL, NBA, etc. players could give up a million.....and all those highly paid actors, CEOs, etc. etc. etc. We truly have a huge number of millionnaires, it's a shame we can't make more of a difference with them. Sara

AND make you smell better both to yourself and everyone else! That, in itself, makes you FEEL better.

Pat P

And just as an aside, *candy* is one of the items that is almost never in short supply at regional food banks.

Ann

Even more reason to donate dental care items! :-)

Pat P

While they *may* be a good idea, they are NOT a necessity. I keep posting that the very BASIC things are needed immediately so that when the people finally get here and walk off the bus, someone can hand them a bar of soap, a toothbrush, toothpaste and a disposable razor and then send them off to the showers. THIS is the stuff I am buying and collecting. Later in the week we can worry about wet wipes and candy and the other non necessary things that make life a bit easier. If you have a bar of soap and can brush your teeth and shave your underarms, you can get all your parts clean. While shampoo would be wonderful, it's NOT necessary -- you can wash your hair with bar soap and would likely be happy to do it after having NO bathroom facilities for a week! Same for deodorant -- if you shave under your arms and then wash daily, you can manage to live without deodorant. I'm not saying to do this forever but in the short term (a week or so) it would work OK. I'm waiting to find out if all of this stuff will be used long-term for people stuck in one of the huge relocation centers or if it will be given to people who will be going into apartments, etc. If we are talking a huge re-lo center with "group" shower facilities, then maybe a gallon jug of shampoo would work -- be a lot cheaper too. If it's for individual residence use, then I'll have to buy the "regular" size bottles of shampoo. If I was to buy ALL of the things everyone thinks is a necessity -- for just one family -- well, I am not selfish but I'm not made of money either! DH and I made our monetary donations to the Red Cross and an animal charity and we put a nice amount of money into the fireman's boot today for use by the re-lo centers. I'm doing my part -- if you guys want these people to have wet wipes, YOU buy them, send them to MOI and I will deliver them :-)))! From the comments I have heard some of the evacuees make, I doubt if they care one whit about the ambiance of the bathroom facilities they will be using initially. Those poor souls just want a shower and even a cold one would be good! One man said he was doubly blessed -- he got a show AND he had hot water. Don't know whether to laugh or cry over THAT comment! CiaoMeow >^;;^<

Maybe you don't think they are necessary but the church I'm working with in Houston says diapers and wipes are needed so I will continue to encourage people to send wipes.

Last time I checked most men do not shave under their arms. I'd just as so> While they *may* be a good idea, they are NOT a necessity. I keep

I would think that wipes would be very welcome in a situation where access to water is limited. Those little bottles of hand sanitizer, too, but perhaps that is just me.

Elizabeth

Well, guess what?? If I had been asked to supply some of these things then I would be supplying them! Like I wrote when I gave the list -- Feminine Hygiene products (I have gotten both tampons and sanitary napkins), bottled water (I have gotten 6 dozen of those), brown paper grocery bags (haven't found those yet) and TOILETRIES of which I have gotten soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes and disposable razors. I will get brushes and combs tomorrow. As for shampoo, I will wait to see what size will be best but it's NOT absolutely necessary. Neither is deodorant -- men might not shave under their arms but if they wash daily they won't stink. If you will remember, I asked for input on any **necessary** toiletries. I have not been asked to supply diapers and wipes so I won't be supplying them. I don't really know what is so difficult for all of you to understand about my question! At a bare minimum, are there any TOILETRIES (diapers are NOT a toiletry) that are absolutely necessary ON A TEMPORARY BASIS besides soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, razor, brush, comb, shampoo & deodorant? I know I am being a P.I.T.A. It just gets very tiresome when a specific question is asked and there are a bunch of answers and only a few actually address the question asked! And I agree Elizabeth -- the little bottles of hand sanitizer ARE convenient. These people WILL have ready access to water so the hand sanitizer isn't necessary. Maybe I am unlike the rest of the people who are responding to this thread but I don't have an unlimited supply of money to spend on this stuff. I'm not gonna buy stuff that isn't necessary! Years and years ago, the only hand sanitizer available was called soap and water and it worked OK. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

difficult for

I guess I really don't know why you asked. You were given a list, you have your own ideas about what you should purchase and you've been quite nasty to people who have answered. You should know by now that any question asked here gets transformed over time. I didn't answer your original question because I didn't see a need to. I jumped in later because I felt like it and because I think that wipes and hand sanitizers are useful. I frankly don't remember if you wrote that people would have access to water or not. Some of the public restrooms I've been in, I'd rather use hand sanitizer. For me, in that situation, I think it would be comforting and psychic comfort is important, too.

We're all upset about this situation. We're all doing our best to help. Topics on this list wander all over the place all the time and it isn't helping anyone feel better when you jump on them for trying to be helpful to you. Unless, of course, it made you feel better to have your little rant, in which case, you are welcome to it.

Elizabeth

Dr. Brat wrote:

wrote that

Originally, I asked because my list said "toiletries" and didn't specify just exactly which toiletries. I wanted to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything that was absolutely necessary. I HAD forgotten about disposable razors and I think it was a post from someone here that reminded me of them. My post said specifically that the evacuees were going to be placed in one of the large "convention center" type buildings in a nearby town and that they would have rest room facilities and it's a safe bet the rest rooms will start off clean. I said that there was a desperate need for these things -- so desperate that the organization asked for the items **instead** of money. I'm sorry you think I have been nasty and "jumping " on people but I'm not worried right now about stroking everyone's psyche to keep them happy. Did anyone think that they might have hurt my feelings with all of these posts of things that I should include in my "must buy" list? Things so numerous that, if I made a list of everything that has been posted as NECESSARY, I would probably only be able to buy one or two of each item. I'm going to BUY toiletries not make a list of everything these poor people might need. Why tell me to buy diapers and wipes and hand sanitizer and candy and undergarments and all the other things people have told me to buy? HMO -- maybe everyone is trying to make me feel bad because I can't buy all of the stuff the evacuees need? Toiletries is what I originally asked about -- not about anything else -- so that I could make sure I wasn't forgetting something critical. I even said that the toiletries would be handed out to people as they got off the bus and were sent to the rest rooms to clean up in the hopes that people who read this thread would understand exactly

-- looked to be complete. Many, if not most, of the people who have posted have told me what they would personally like to have if they had to use a yucky public rest room and these things had nothing to do with necessary toiletries. Some posted about what they have been asked to buy but those posts had nothing to do with necessary toiletries. Maybe this is all my fault, yet again, because I wasn't specific enough in the header of my post -- I didn't spoon feed it to everyone. I didn't put the word toiletries in the header in big, bold capital letters. I just assumed people would read my entire post, see that I was asking specifically about toiletries and answer accordingly. Obviously, no one has any more recommendations for me about **necessary** toiletries so I won't bother with this thread anymore.

I think that the problemn with reading your entire posts is that you will never use one word when you can use ten - and now you`re stamping your foot and taking your skipping-rope home!

If someone with a bit of nouse (common-sense) would please post addresses in America where people can send donations and relief packages I`m sure that some of we "furriners" would be so pleased to do what we can.

Pat P

The items I'm collecting will be sent to:

First Methodist Church Westchase Disaster Relief

They have already organized a group to distribute c> If someone with a bit of nouse (common-sense) would please post addresses in

Thanks, Brenda - just what I needed. Every little helps - I`ll go shopping tomorrow.

Pat P

Pat P