UPDATE: Below, at 5:30
We joke a lot about how Syracuse is "New York's College Team," but the truth is that folks like us are crawling all around New York City and the greater metro area. We wear our orange with pride -- and deride those in blue and gray for being mugs with a taste for kitten blood -- but the fact of the matter is this: It's time to prove it; if Syracuse really is the king of New York (and the surrounding area), we need to start acting like it. And given the fact that so much of the surrounding New York City region was absolutely decimated in Hurricane Sandy, we owe it to the metro area to try and help out the best we can. We don't only rule the Orange Empire, we're also part of its realm.
To that end, I'm asking all of you going to a gamewatch tomorrow at one of the listed bars in the New York metro area to think about doing a drive for your local -- or just any -- community impacted by the storm. This is your chance to be a leader in the Nunes community and do a little good when a lot of good is needed everywhere. All it takes is getting your hands on some cardboard boxes, spreading the word (Facebook and Twitter seem to work best), and pounding it into your alumni clubs to make a drive happen. It's that easy! Start with the comments and move it out into the world, babycakes! I'm sure that between East End and the rest we can make a little bit of difference for some people that really need help. And if you're not at a New York metro gamewatch -- in Syracuse, Omaha, or Belarus -- pass the hat or collect donations and send them in from afar to your favorite cause. Every little bit helps.
For all you knuckleheads in Astoria, Queens, we're going to be doing the drive at our regular spot -- Daly's Pub (31st Street right off the Broadway stop on the N next to Parisi Bakery). I'll be there with others starting at 10 AM. Here's the initial blast about the effort from my friend Mayra:
Friends, I'm working brunch and hosting a Donation Drive for those affected out on Rockaway Beach at Dalys Pub-Astoria tomorrow starting at 10am! Please bring canned goods, bottled water, work gloves, heavy duty trash bags, sternos, batteries, flashlights, socks etc.. I'll post more of what is needed as updates to this post. A bunch of us will be driving out to Rockaway to distribute what is collected over the weekend. Look forward to seeing you and thank you in advance for helping our friends in Queens out.
In addition, the Rockaways are looking for Surgical Masks, Gloves, Baby Wipes, Adult and Baby Diapers, Batteries, Boots/Wellies and Bleach. You don't need to tailor your efforts to the Rockaways -- Staten Island and many parts of Lower Manhattan, Long Island, and New Jersey desperately need relief as well -- but that's where we're going with our efforts tomorrow.
Please consider contributing to this project in any way that you can. Hell, you're already going to be surrounded by dozens of people tomorrow; why not help out dozens more that can't be with you?
If you'd like to help, please e-mail me at: hoyasuxa44 at gmail dot com. I'm looking for gamewatch captains to drive the efforts.
UPDATE: If you think this is too hard or that you won't be able to pull this off at your gamewatch site, I give you this:
The first Facebook message about a relief drive at my bar was sent four hours ago. You can make this happen in your neck of the woods. To the moon!