I gave to Oxfam during the Tsunami and I gave to the humane society for Katrina (mostly because I couldn't bring myself to give to the Red Cross or the Salvation Army, and if I couldn't give to the humans, I had to give to the animals).

This morning, I gave to ShelterBox. It wasn't much, but I figure, if I gave $$ and I can inspire 5 more folks to give $$ even just a dollar, and then they inspire 5 others and those 5 inspire 5 each, well, you get the point.

So, What's in the box? From Shelterbox:

• One 49 gallon box (The Shelterbox) initially the container for delivery of the materials listed below. Once delivered, can be used as water tank, food store, cot, table, etc.

• One ten-person tent, including two fabric interior privacy partitions, outer fly-sheet and repair kit. These tents are considered ‘winter suitable’ by international relief standards.

• Vinyl insulated sleeping mats and lightweight thermal blankets. More compact than sleeping bags, these mats and blankets have multiple uses. The blanket can also be fashioned to catch water, as a tarp, etc. while the mat also serves as a ground ‘table’ for meals, or tent rugs.

• One pack of 180 water purification tablets or a water purification kit; and one 5 gallon flat-pack water container (Each tablet will purify a full container of water providing 1,800 gallons of clean drinking water which should be sufficient for a family of ten for up to three months).

• Two 2.1 gallon, collapsible, plastic water carriers.

• One collapsible trenching shovel

• Rope, 164 foot

• Repellant-treated mosquito netting

• Ten PVC Ponchos/ ten HD plastic bags

• Tool kit in canvas bag: hachet, jack-knife, screwdriver, hammer, hoe head etc.

• Multi-fueled cook stove

• Eating utensils: enamel plates/cups

• Children's activity kit-simple school supplies, stickers and coloring book

I'm just a working woman in the US. But I didn't think I could stand by and not try to help, even in a small way, my fellow human beings in Haiti.

Please, take a minute and give. If you can't give, and some can't, forward the information to others, perhaps one of those people can, and then encourage those folks to forward the information to others... If we can't help in Haiti now, perhaps we can make sure that Shelterbox has enough resources to make sure that they can provide the next box to the next family in the next disaster area.

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I wandered over to Unbossed again and found something interesting, a listing of their previous reports on the Mine disaster and a bunch of linky goodness to a number of other resources as well.

More on the Crandall Canyon Mine Disaster
unbossed has had many reports on the August 6, 2007 Crandall Canyon Mine disaster. The latest news is Rep. George Miller's call for indictments.

Here are prior stories related to the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster. Feel free to skip them to get to the story here.

February 02, 2008 Mine Safety - The Report of the Crandall Canyon Mine Commission
http://www.unbossed.com/index.php?itemid=1938

February 25, 2008 Unsafe at Any Mine
http://www.unbossed.com/index.php?itemid=1970

November 23, 2007 A Stickler - But Not a Stickler for Mine Safety II
http://www.unbossed.com/index.php?itemid=1855

March 09, 2008 Crandall Canyon Mine: "Murray Energy, disregarded dangerous conditions at the mine"
http://www.unbossed.com/index.php?itemid=1995

Of the events and the committee's investigation, Rep. George Miller states:

On August 6, 2007, a section of the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah became the site of the worst coal mining tragedy of 2007. Pillars of coal supporting a roof burst, sending coal flying and creating enough force to register a 3.9 on the Richter scale. Rubble blocked every exit, entombing six miners somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 feet underground. Three courageous rescuers who attempted to reach them also died in the rescue effort.

The Committee launched an investigation immediately after the disaster, finding it likely that the tragedy was the result of a flawed plan for conducting retreat mining in the area of the mine where the deaths occurred.

In this letter, Rep. George Miller asks Attorney General Mukasey to investigate a cover of conditions up by Laine Adair. The letter recounts events and the reasons for the referral. It also includes references to support each claim.

You can find an overview of events in a memorandum from Miller here.

All of these documents are available from links at this website.

And more Linky goodness from Unbossed
MSHA
mining,
crandall-canyon,
work,
labor,
health,
safety,

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