As you have all likely heard by now, Hurricane Harvey is hitting Texas and the gulf coast region very hard right now. Millions of people are being displaced by extreme flooding and other hurricane damage, with feet of rain falling over a short period of time. Hundreds of people have already been rescued by brave emergency responders and community members, but many thousands more still need help. Efforts are currently focused on the rescue of people in immediate danger, and there isn't much we can do from afar to help that effort but send our best wishes to all involved. However, once taken out of harms way, these people still need shelter, food and water, medical assistance, and more. This is where you can help, by donating to the relief organizations who are helping these displaced people, both in these crucial moments as the disaster unfolds, and in the years to come as they rebuild. 

 

We all enjoy playing video games that sometimes simulate dire real-life circumstances. This is particularly relevant to me as the creator of some mods that are heavily focused on EMS and Search and Rescue. I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the grave reality that these responders are facing right now and in the days to come. And I would also like to take this opportunity to encourage you do make a donation to support the relief efforts. 

 

I am offering the following incentives to donate to the American Red Cross to specifically support relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey. If you would like to suggest additional relief groups that are deserving of our donations, please suggest them below. 

 

• Matching donations: See instructions below to confirm your donation. Any donation over $10 (Red Cross online donation minimum) will be included. 
  • @PNWParksFan will match the first $100 of confirmed donations as part of this campaign. 
  • @acepilot2k7 has committed to match another $50 in confirmed donations 
  • @FirstThirtyMinutes has committed to match another $100 in confirmed donations
  • @AlphaWhiskeySix has contributed an additional $100 in matching donations
• Coastal Callouts beta access:
  • Anybody who donates at least $30 confirmed will be granted beta access to Coastal Callouts, as if they had donated to me directly 
• Discord recognition
  • Any member of PNWParksFan, Acepilot2k7, or FirstThirtyMinute's Discord servers who donates $10 or more will get a special user role to recognize their contributions to this effort 

 

Donation instructions: 

1. Go to redcross.org/donate
2. Enter the amount you want to donate
3. Select "Hurricane Harvey" under the "I want to support" dropdown 
4. Check "Dedicate this donation" and enter "LSPDFR community" or "Coastal Callouts community"
5. Complete the donation
6. Forward the email receipt for your donation to gtaparks+harvey <AT> gmail.com. If you'd like any of the recognition/perks please provide your Discord username in the email so I know who you are. That's optional of course but I won't be able to give you any perks related to your identity in the community if I don't know who you are. If you do not want to be publicly recognized (e.g. in discord servers, youtube shoutouts, etc.) please let me know in the email as well. 

 

 

I will track the donation receipts I receive as "confirmed donations", and will update with the totals here daily. Anybody who has committed to matching donations will also post a screenshot after they submit the donation. 

 

If anybody has any other suggestions on how we as a community can support the relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey, please let me know below or in a PM. 

 

 

 

Edited August 30, 20178 yr by PNWParksFan

Great cause! I applaud you for taking the time to do this and for getting the members here at LCPDFR involved!

Happy to see a great community like LSPDFR helping out with this terrible incident.  I will match up to $50 in confirmed donations.

Edited August 28, 20178 yr by LukeR

22 minutes ago, Mags said:

Great cause! I applaud you for taking the time to do this and for getting the members here at LCPDFR involved!

 

I second this!  Thanks for getting us involved and giving us the opportunity to help.

Edited August 28, 20178 yr by Kallus Rourke

I'm very happy to support this effort and have made a $25 donation. It's wonderful to see an opportunity to bring our communities together to make a difference and I hope others will be able to contribute what they can.

Thanks to everyone who's donated so far! I'm going to bed, but will update as soon as I wake up tomorrow with all the donation receipts I get overnight. Here is a link to a tracking page for the spreadsheet where I'm recording all the donations. Don't worry if your donation doesn't show up right away, I have to enter them manually, and will update it throughout the day. https://goo.gl/noFk1g

Very nice idea, thanks! I have close friends in Houston, who luckily are doing okay so far, but their surrounding neighborhoods have been heavily affected.. Everyone stay safe out there!

It's so awesome to see people out there that actually care. I live in Katy (Right next to Houston) and my house was nearly flooded last night. When you see someone take time out of their day to do something like this, it makes me completely forget about what's going on around me. Thanks so much for doing this <3

Just a quick update - it's been about 24 hours since this launched. In that time, we've raised $215 in direct donations, with 100% of that being matched so far, for a grand total of $430 in donations to support disaster relief for Hurricane Harvey. Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed so far! For those of you who are still thinking about it, please consider making any contribution if you can. Rescues are still ongoing as we speak, and thousands of people have been displaced and will need all forms of support. All of us here like to play heroes in GTA, here is your chance to be a hero for people in need in real life!

As of right now, we have $345 in donations, and $250 of matching funds, for a total of $595 in donations! Thank you everyone for your generosity! If you haven't donated yet, there's still time. Please consider sending anything you can to help! 

Happy to report that we're now at $475 in direct donations and $350 in matching funds, for a total of $825 in donations! Thank you all for chipping in!

18 minutes ago, PNWParksFan said:

Happy to report that we're now at $475 in direct donations and $350 in matching funds, for a total of $825 in donations! Thank you all for chipping in!

 

Thanks to everyone donating!  Sadly, I imagine there is going to be so much rebuilding needed once this is all said and done.  I hope that overall enough donations and disaster relief are able to put a dent in the building funds.  My mother and I both donated $50 last night and are watching the situation closely in the event we need to donate more.

I will be donating most likely within the day. As for what Kallus said with rebuilding. It will take months just for the water to leave the area's affected. Then rebuilding everything will cost billions. This is truly a sad time in the American society but the fact that so many people are donating and by me, a bunch of organizations are sending their own first responders with boats, water, etc. that are trained in SAR, Medical Services and will be directly working with the Red Cross. I am happy to see a society pull together in a time like this.