I currently live in the NYC area and I can tell you right now that things are getting back to normal at a turtle’s pace. I have never seen Manhattan and the mass transit crippled like this in my life time. The water surge, that hit around 12 feet, flooded bridges, roadways, and homes. The amount of burned down homes in Breezy Point Queens due to the uncontrollable fires was astonishing. According to NBCnews.com, “70-mph winds blew embers the size of baseballs through the heart of this close-knit community on the Rockaway Peninsula in New York City’s Queens borough.” I can only imagine what the people there are going through.
The destruction in New Jersey where the eye of the storm made landfall was the worst, completely flooding and destroying coastal towns. This was just beyond comprehension. This historic and tragic event shows two things, how people can come together and help one another, and how we need to adapt our infrastructure and transit systems to a harsher climate.
To help out during this horrific event, and take some weight off of government agencies, Apple and the Red Cross have partnered to provide an easy and anonymous system of donating through the iTunes Store. Because the service is linked with existing credit cards on file through Apple’s servers, users can quickly give $5 to $200 simply by signing in to their iTunes account and clicking the “Donate” button.
According to the terms, iTunes will transfer 100 percent of all donations directly to the American Red Cross without sending users’ names or contact information. Apple will not allow iTunes Store credit to be used when making donations.
