Donate to Hurricane Sandy – One Comment at a Time

Living in NYC I’ve seen the disaster of Sandy first hand. Well actually, I haven’t been out to Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, or even Battery Park, so I’ve probably seen nothing. As Mr. Deals mentioned yesterday, we did a huge Costco run yesterday and donated essential items to a local drop off place who was then distributing these items to those areas in need. It was so wonderful to see that probably half the line at Costco was doing the same thing. We stalked up on bandaids, lysol wipes, diapers, blankets, bread, garbage bags, plastic utensils, etc.

I was very fortunate that I did not lose power, a window, a car, or most importantly a home. Many others were not that fortunate and many clean up efforts are in full effect. To help with those less fortunate, a bunch of BoardingArea bloggers (the blog platform that I am part of) are donating $1 towards the Hurricane Sandy relief efforts for each comment on  our respective Hurricane Sandy posts. Between six of us bloggers, we will donate up to $1,800 – that means 1,800 comments are needed amongst all the blogs from you all!

In addition to commenting in this blog post, there are many ways to can actually earn miles for your donation. While this is by no means a cheap way to earn miles, it is something for contributing.  Another blogger, Wandering Aramean, compiled a list of those airlines/hotels giving out miles for those who donate:

• JetBlue is matching customer donations up to the first $50,000 donated to the American Red Cross and also offering 6 points per dollar to their TrueBlue members. JetBlue is also making their presence felt on the ground in New York City, paying for meals from the Wafels & Dinges food trucks to be distributed to residents.
• Delta is donating $100,000 to the American Red Cross relief efforts. Additionally, SkyMiles members can also donate miles or money to the Red Cross; there does not appear to be any miles promo associated with it at this time.
• United Airlines is matching up to $100,000 in donations to three charities: the American Red Cross, Feeding America and AmeriCares. As of this morning their member have already donated more than $300,000 to the charities so the match is maxed out. Additionally, members who give a minimum of $50 will receive 250 bonus miles. Donations of $100 or more will receive 500 miles. The company will issue up to 5 million miles as part of the effort.
• American Airlines is offering 250 AAdvantage miles to members who donate $50 and 500 miles to members who donate $100 or more.
• Hilton is offering 10 HHonors points for every $1 donated (through their GlobalGiving site) through the end of the year.
• Starwood Preferred Guest will match points donations made to the American Red Cross through November 30th.  Donations start at 2,000 SPG points.
• Salvation Army accepts donations of United and Delta miles with a minimum of 1,000 miles.

You absolutely do not have to donate at all, just need to comment stating how you would like to help others in need. Since this is for a cause, there is no prize winner, just the motivation to get some of us to match your comments and donate. Please please please just one comment per person (per bog that is).

Make sure to comment on these other bloggers post as well who have joined the relief efforts: View From the Wing, Mommy Points, The Wandering Aramean, Ghetto IFE, and Very Good Points.  At 11:59pm EST Thursday November 8th, we will tally up the comments and between the six of us donate up to $1,800.

So sorry about all the Sandy posts, but this hits close to home for me. I am so happy to see all those from around the world checking in to see what they can do to help.