TweetUp with Blood Drives and Help the Red Cross

Step up and help the Red Cross.

The local Red Cross (Lee County Red Cross) helped over 180 evacuees before and after Gustav threatened southern Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

With more storms coming, American Red Cross needs our help. They need donations of

• blood.
• time.
• money:   1-800-REDCROSS  or to the Lee County Red Cross

In Auburn, AL, we are having an #AUTweetUp (not a meet up). Those Twitters in the Auburn, AL area are encouraged to:

1. Give blood at any of these locations:

Tuesday, September 9 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. at Auburn University New Student Union.

Wednesday, September 10; 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. at Auburn University New Student Union.

Friday, September 12; 1-6 p.m. at Philly Connection, South College St., Auburn.

Tuesday, September 16; 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the Lee County Justice Center on Gateway Drive in Opelika.

2. Tell others through Facebook, MySpace, in meetings, at church, and in classes to give blood.

3. Tweet using #AUTweetUp hashtag when you make the trip to donate blood.

4. Tweet when you are encouraging others to give blood.

5. Give a monetary donation to American Red Cross.

6. Plan to get training to volunteer for the Red Cross.

Not in Auburn, AL:

1. Find a blood drive near you or make an appointment to give blood during this next week.

2. Use Twitter to tell about it.

3. Give a monetary donation to American Red Cross.

4. Plan to get training to volunteer for the Red Cross.

Why you may ask that I am using this space to encourage your donations to the Red Cross?

After listening through Twitter to @leeoALredcross , CovCoRedCross, @RedCross, @JenniferRyan, and @jefferybiggs, I realize how much help the Red Cross needs and how very hard Red Cross staff work for the purpose of helping others.

I supposed Twitter has really helped me understand the importance of their work and develop a new respect for those leaders in the local and national level of this great organization.

In this weak economy and because Gustav was not as destructive as Katrina, Rita, and Andrew, people have not donated like they do when larger, more destructive storms hit our cities.

American Red Cross needs donations. From Washington Post, Hurricane Relief Efforts Create Red Cross Debt.

The American Red Cross said this morning it is going deep into debt to fund a $70 million Hurricane Gustav relief effort, an unusual occurrence even as the nation's biggest disaster-aid charity braces for a trio of powerful storms lurking in the Atlantic.

The Red Cross has raised less than $5 million toward its Gustav expenses, officials said. To recoup its Gustav cost -- most of it borrowed money -- the nonprofit organization plans to roll out an aggressive national campaign Monday.

Donate time, money, and blood to the Red Cross this week!

And, to Jennifer Ryan and Jeffery Biggs, keep up the good work.

del.icio.us Tags: Red Cross,Twitter,Blood Drive