Day 310: Texted REDCROSS to 90999

About 7 years ago, after moving to California, I was still in the process of looking for my first job out of college.  Since I didn't have much to do during the days that I didn't have interviews, I pretty much sat at home watching TV.  It was only a few weeks after I had moved to California that Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast.  I watched the television coverage of the storm and aftermath non-stop in those days after Katrina hit.  I wanted so badly to go to New Orleans and help those who had been affected by the storm, but didn't have the means or funds to do so.  It really shook me because I chose moving to California over moving to New Orleans with another friend of mine. We took a road trip there in college and I had fallen in love with the city.  I was lucky that I picked California, but I was so saddened by what I was seeing.  I sat there in my apartment watching these people who had lost everything, loved ones, homes, etc., and I was powerless to truly help them.  I was reminded of those feelings this past week when I watched the devastation that Hurricane Sandy brought on the East Coast.  People killed, homes destroyed, lives changed forever.  I have many friends that live in the areas that were directly impacted by Sandy like my friend Pat and all of my co-workers from ZocDoc.  Fortunately, everyone that I know is accounted for, safe, and for the most part unaffected by the destruction.  However, this isn't the case for so many out there.  7 years after Katrina, I am in a better place financially than I was as a fresh college grad, so I can at least do my small part to help.  So today, for my random act of kindness, I texted REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to the relief efforts on the East Coast.  I want to do more.  I hope to do more.  I need to do more.