I Need Your Help: You Decide How Much I Donate to Storm Relief

by Gary Leff

I was supposed to be in New York this past weekend, and it was a pleasure trip, so I cancelled it (for obvious reasons).

I grew up on Long Island, and have family on Staten Island. My uncle there, a first-responder, has been a part of search and rescue efforts. My family is fortunate to all be ok and to have just property damaged.

The storm there is shocking in so many ways, and almost a week later they’ve only just scratched the surface of recovery.

Mommy Points came up with an idea of ‘Comments for Contributions.’ The original idea was something like ‘100 for $100’ where a blogger would donate $1 per comment, up to $100.

But bloggers can be a competitive bunch, and a collaborative bunch too, and we’ve challenged each other to do a bit more. The combined comments (in a designated thread) on each of six blogs:

…will determine how much is donated, up to 1800 comments in total for $1800 in contributions.

Living in DC I was only barely affected by the storm, sure the city shut down for a couple of days but I lost power for less than 18 hours. I’ve been lucky in so many ways.

So I’m glad that the group of six of us can both give to assist in relief efforts, and also help engage our readership in that effort as well.

More on how you can help decide how much I donate in a moment. First, a word on how you can make donations, while tapping into either matching contributions from travel providers or mileage-earning incentives (or both!) at the same time.

Mommy Points put together a list of mileage-earning opportunities for contributions and also mileage donation opportunities, along with help from Wandering Aramean who lives in Lower Manhattan.

Now, here’s how you can help right now and in this post.

I don’t usually like talking about my own charitable giving, I feel like charity shouldn’t be ‘showy’ and at least speaking purely personally I prefer to do it quietly.

But there’s this challenge on the table to help and the involvement device of a comment helps bring more attention to giving for others perhaps and generating some incremental social excitement could help spur involvement from others. So I’m willing to break my own rules or at least strong preferences here.

Leave a comment about the storm, either how you were affected, what you’re doing to help, or how it’s weighed on you.

The six of us will collectively donate $1 for every comment received in the relevant post on our blogs. Leave a comment here in this post by Noon Eastern on Thursday, November 8th. The goal is $1800 to charity to support relief from the storm.

In that way, you can help direct my charitable dollars and those of three other bloggers to hurricane relief.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  3. […] but here is one more Sandy post.  View from the Wing, along with other Boarding Area bloggers, is sponsoring a comment-based donation to the hurricane relief effort.  All you need to do is comment on their blog posts and they’ll donate to […]

Comments

  5. I only lost power for 12 hours, but our friends are still out, probably until the 1th. We have fed them, let them hang out here, and let them take showers. (They do not want to sleep here, even though we offered.)

  7. This is a great initiative, Gary!

    We just got rained on in Virginia, but most of our family in NY/NJ/CT was without power for days, and is still mostly without transportation due to the scarcity of fuel. Business with anybody in Hoboken or lower Manhattan is still very much on hold till further notice — though we have connected with all our colleagues by email and social media, and know they are at least riding it out safely.

  13. I have an idea. Why don’t you make another useless post and slap all your CC affiliate referral links into it. Then all the revenue that is generated from those applications/clicks you can put towards charity. You’d be well above $1800 in no time flat.

  14. I live in Christchurch, NZ, so the storm didn’t impact me, but I know full well the devastating impact a natural disaster can have on people’s lives. Good luck.

  15. I go to school in the Atlantic City area which was affected by the area and I have family in Northern NJ. Fortunately, my family is okay and there was no property damage.

    I plan on volunteering in the Atlantic City area at a rescue mission.

  17. Actually I kind of like my idea. How about “Applications for Contributions”. You put up your CC affiliate links on a certain day (or week), and we apply thru them and the proceeds go to charity. I would actually consider applying thru blogger CC application links again if you guys did something like this. In fact somebody else has already beat you to the punch on this, although he’s giving 50% of all CC affiliate link kickbacks AND 50% of all profit made from hotel bookings (and more?) made on his website for the rest of 2012:
    http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19612942-post2.html

  18. I live in Washington, DC, and feel like we really dodged the bullet here. I lost power for about 30 seconds and was grumbling to myself sitting in the dark for half a minute. Then I talked to a friend from New York who spent 9 hours in a line to get 1/2 a tank of gas, and was amazed to hear from him that he feels lucky just to be alive, considering the destruction around his house. It really puts things in perspective! If I can help raise $1 more for 30 seconds of my time here then I’m all in.

  19. I donated to the Red Cross before the airline incentives were announced and again after the announcement.

  20. Priority club is accepting points donations. For every 5,000 points they will convert that to a $20 donation.

  21. I live in NYC, and was one of the people in lower Manhattan that was without power for 5 days. That said, I feel fortunate. There are so many people who continue to suffer severely from the effects of this storm. Some areas are like war zones.

    Your goodwill is very much appreciated.

  22. I plan on volunteering either in Brooklyn or Staten Island over Thanksgiving break when I am back visiting family.

  25. I live in Chelsea and had no heat/electricity/internet/cell phone service for 4 nights. And it was cold. VERY cold. Thanks to Gary and this blog, I had applied for the Chase/Hyatt credit card and managed to spend two nights at the Grand Hyatt, saving me $400/night + tax which would have put me out at close to $1,000. I spent one night in my cold apartment because there was no availability in any of the hotels and that experience taught me how quickly and easily we take things forgranted. I’ve never sat in coach since 2004 and could never fathom how anyone will fly economy. Well, I also never knew how fortunate I was for the past 8 years. This experience has been a walk down to memory lane – humility.

  27. I would donate if I could find a direct way to help. I don’t trust these big organizations to use the donations in a smart manner or even to use them for aid at all.

  29. I donated to the American Red Cross via United Airlines. Thanks for what you are doing on Boarding Area.

  30. I live in Ct on the coast where some parts of the state got hammered. For some reason we got lucky, the town to west and to the east of us both got hit hard but for some reason it wasn’t as bad here. Lots of power outages and trees down but not a lot of damage to homes like in the other towns. Nice to see you and the other bloggers being so generous.

  34. I flew in and out of SYR on Sunday and Monday, just as the storm hit NYC, and got rebooked five times as flights went down like dominoes. I’m grateful to have gotten my business done and gotten home without issue, and I’m going to donate as soon as I figure out how to optimize points… (charity is good — but mileage reflexes die hard!)

  35. Randy, et al should commit to donating any and all ‘proceeds’ from their lawsuit against US, et al.

  37. I hope the difficult conditions of people in the northeast will bring some awareness to how many billions of people in the world live without electricity and clean water daily.

  38. Go Gary Go!

    I live in CT and wasn’t affected much. I grew up in NJ and my folks still live there. They’re fine and well. I was concerned for a childhood friend living in southern Jersey, but after some communication I was relieved to hear that he fared well.

    I dig hobo13’s comment.

  39. Lost power at home for two days and at my office for four days. Otherwise we came out OK. Lots of people fairly near us were not so lucky. My wife and I were on the Board of the Red Cross for about 5 years. Trust me, Every little bit helps out. Thanks to Gary and the others.

  40. Grew up in Coney Island, Brooklyn which got hit pretty bad. Currently living in oceanfront South Florida condo which is supposed to get hit by hurricanes (not the Northeast). Been texting lots of donations to the Red Cross which has been an easy way to give.

  44. My parents were without power for six days after the storm. I’ve donated points through priority club which will turn into dollars for storm relief.

  45. Thanks to all of you bloggers for coming up with this idea. I live in northern NJ but was fortunate enough to come out of this ok.

  47. This is kind of bs. Why not just donate $1800. It would be one thing if the challenge encouraged people to interact with a relief orgs site of social media presence, but peopl interacting with you collective sites does no one any good…but the 5 of you. Donate your points and encourage others to do it…wanna help, simple as that.

  50. I live in midtown Manhattan and was lucky to never lose power. Instead I made frozen drinks for those affected…

  56. I live in CT and not affected by Storm this year. Donated few dollars to Red Cross. My prayers go for the people who were affected. Last year during winter storm we were out of power for a week and it was terrible. My support for your effort. Thanks.

  60. My suggestion is this:

    How about you donate your credit card referral kickbacks from any applicant in DE, MD, PA, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, and NH from the past year, plus any from the next year. That would really add up, and help us get back on our feet! Many of us have lost a lot, not just money, but our sense of safety, our homes, pictures of loved ones from the past….irreplaceable.

    I think donating those referral fees is just the right thing to do, and I hope you can get the rest of the “first class” bloggers to join in. Maybe they could join most of the rest of us in coach once in a while!

  61. Pawtime, would you be willing to put up the same amount that you’re suggesting Gary donate?

  62. I live inland CT and really didn’t have much damage near me but still lost my power for 5 days.

  64. First of all, I live in new york and I have seen the damage firsthand. I have also had my grandmother lose her house multiple times to hurricanes down in New Orleans. I would like to say thank you Gary for your assistance. Please ignore all the trolls criticizing the way you are choosing to donate. When it comes to charity, it is a highly personal choice. I don’t know your financial state, I don’t know what other causes you give to, and it is not my place, nor the place of others to question you when you are trying to do something nice. Thank you for your help.

  65. Neat idea. Best of luck to those affected by the storm. I am fortunate: I am on the left coast.

  69. From a Hoboken NJ resident who thankfully sustained just a little damage and just got power back Saturday, thanks for what you’re doing to support my neighbors and everyone else affected by the storm.

  70. Thanks for the information. However, you need to edit your post. Hilton is giving 10 points per dollar, not 110 as your post states.

  72. Small beer compared to most, but my Missus had to go the long way home from MIA to avoid Sandy. Keep up the good work here.

  73. Another dollar raised! Luckily the storm did not have as much an affect on me as it did on others in NYC. For once the UES was the cool place to be.

  74. Some friends are currently homeless. Hopefully temporarily. One on Long Beach Island NJ, and one in Long Beach NY.

  75. I donated $100 to Americares because I had just
    watched people on TV being interviewed in Staten Island dissing the red cross. I donated through the united airlines link.

  78. We had a 2 hour delay (I’m a teacher), I’m far enough away to not have deal with anything other than some rain. Unfortunately, I can only donate money. My church has a sister church in Manhattan and they said to not send people to volunteer yet because more people just take more resources. Great idea with the other bloggers!

  82. Was not directly affected by the storm as I live in upstate NY, but my friends lost power for a couple of days. And this is a great initiative!

  86. I’m from Long Island too! It’s been heartbreaking to see my hometown (East Rockaway, near Oceanside and Lynbrook, not part of “the Rockaways”) have so much damage and so many of my friends lose their homes. Thank you for doing this!

  88. As someone who was directly in the eye of the storm but suffered absolutely no damage, I’m torn on this “let’s donate for hurricane relief” stuff. The two things most folks still suffering in NYC and New Jersey still need are power and gasoline. I don’t see how these donations — or ANY donations — will speed this relief.

    Otherwise, there will obviously be rebuilding expenses. Most of those expenses will obviously be borne by government and private individuals (or, more realistically, their insurance companies). Does any of this disaster relief money go to rebuilding? And to whom? It just seems like donors would get “more bang for their buck” if they could pick a small charity (let’s rebuild a park) instead of a macro relief donation where nobody knows where the money will go.

  90. My dad and brother live in southern Connecticut and were without power for almost a week. Luckily both they and their house were fine. Even though it was a bad situation, I realized it could be a lot worse. For them it was just a major inconvenience. For others, it’s a dire situation. Thousands aren’t just waiting for the power to come back on at home, they’re waiting to have homes again. I really feel for these people and it’s great that you and the other Boarding Area bloggers want to do something to help.

  92. Best thing to come out of the Superstorm: people coming together to help one another through the tough times.

    Great job to Gary and the other bloggers in donating and helping out the relief efforts!

  95. Live in Uptown Manhattan, was spared the wrath of Sandy but missed work and class due to this and subway being shut down. Helped out by providing relatives in Zone A to crash at my place.

  97. Thanks for doing this. And don’t forget Haiti. they got Sandied, too. I am donating to CARE.

  100. I stay in PA and it was tough storm to beat. We did not face major problems but our friends in NJ were without power for 1 week. This is a great initiative.

  101. I’ve never been to the area, but I have friends there, including one who has been without power for over 200 hours now. It’s amazing how resilient people are, and how they come together in times of crisis.

  102. We were fortunate to just have a lot of rain in VA, and no significant damage. Great to see this help from boarding area bloggers for the folks hit hardest.

  103. NJ Transit being crippled is causing some inconvenience, but we were lucky to only be inconvenienced

  104. we lost electricity for 5 days, are dealing with gas shortages, but were so much luckier than a lot of others. neighbors came together to share resources and make sure the elderly were cared for.

  105. I live in California so wasn’t really directly impacted by the storm. However, this has me thinking … West coast seems pretty good from an overall natural disaster risk factor. To be honest, this post is prompting me to better consider donation options. So thank you.

  113. Two of my DO attendees left the Monterey weekend early to make it home before the flights shut down. Thankfully, they both traveled safely.

  131. Having grown up on Long Island/Fire Island, this storm has had a huge effect on the area. Still trying to identify how to help.

  138. Very good of you to do this! I just donated all my Delta miles and I just donated $$ through the Hilton portal thus extending the expiry date of my points. I think that this makes a win, win, win all around!

  141. Thanks for doing this. Nice to see my daughter-in law and son teaming up with you all to help those in need.

  142. This is a great idea! Incredibly generous. I’ve donated money and wish I could do more to help in person.

  144. Thank you for doing this. I donate to the Red Cross monthly, was told it helps them plan their budget.

  148. One of my good friends from Jersey talked to me about seeing the places from his childhood memories destroyed and washed into the ocean…I’m not going to forget that for a long time.

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