Helping Children who were Tornado Victims

I spoke with Jennifer before putting this hear and I hope you all understand.  I live in Alabama almost smack in the middle of the towns that were demolished.  We were lucky, literally, I'm about 60 miles out of Phil Campbell and Hackleburg, 30 miles out of Cordova, 90 miles out of Tuscaloosa and 50 miles out of Birmingham...which puts me smack in the middle of those towns in the unscathed area.

That said, I went into several of the towns looking, talking, listening and what I saw was a beautiful sight.  Communities were binding together to provide food and shelter for their neighbors.  I also noticed quickly that the youngest victims of them all were expected to just "get somewhere and play" while the adults fretted the hard stuff.  I know that sounds cruel but put yourself in their shoes, the kids were out of school, the parents were desperate and needing to make arrangements for their family.  Stress does that to us.

My husband and I talked about it and then I talked to some of my fellow Mom Congress delegates and we decided to see how many stuffed animals we could gather from drives across the nation to distribute to the youngsters and to gather as many bicycles as possible and refurbish them (if they needed it - we ended up with some new ones even).  Right now, I cant smile big enough but I can't tell you how happy the kids are going to be.  I am trying to make sure I have a big truckload before I go out (which should be tomorrow) so that I don' t leave any one area without addressing all the children.  I don't want to leave and say, "I'll bring you one next time" to anyone. 

That said, if you have any gently used toys, books, stuffed animals or something else you believe helpful (someone local said that the kids were asking for things that could be their own, to have their own towel for instance, not have 2 towels for the whole family), please let me know.  You can find more information on my post on Education Uncensored.

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help.