Rallying Cry

I surveyed the damage out at Mary McGroary's apartment today. There were a handful of us out there organized by the best friend a girl could ever ask for, Scot Sanders. (For a while there was also a guy who must have thought he was at the worst garage sale ever until we enlightened him to the situation.)
There was not much to salvage unfortunately. We spent a lot of time trying (without much success) to save photographs, continuously reciting the mantra, "everything else can be replaced."
And it can, but it won't simply happen with the wave of a magic wand.
Stop for a second and look around your house or apartment. Go ahead. This blog isn't going anywhere (this is Google, not Yahoo!). Look around. Now, imagine if you lost all of your stuff. All of it: books, cds, furniture, kitchen items, bedding, everything.
Now imagine that on top of everything else you lost your beloved pet.
I talked to Scot a little more about the full ramifications of the loss. Renter's insurance does not cover floods. It is not certain at this point if Mary is liable for the remainder of her lease or for any of the costs of cleanup or disposal. The Red Cross was able to offer only a couple of hundred bucks toward a storage unit.
The rest has to come from somewhere, and, since Mary is one of our own in the theatre community, I think that we should rally together and pool our resources. Now, we don't want Mary to end up with fifteen toasters and seventy-five soup ladles, so Scot said that he will start working on a list over the next few days. For now, money is the best way to help. All of that info is in my previous entry as well as on John Moore's blog.
I know that we're all tightening our belts a bit here, but come on, actors and directors: how much was your bar tab this weekend? Techies: cut your stash with oregano to make it last a week longer before you need to call "your guy."
I make jokes, of course, because I am a ridiculous and ineffectual man, and it's the only thing I can do.
However, you dear readers, can do so much more than I can. For one, people like you better. They do. They told me.
Rally the troops! Circle the wagons! One of our happy band of players is in need, and it's time to step up and do what we can.
It would be nice if there were a few generous patrons who would be able to help Mary out, but I think we all know that it's more likely going to come about by a lot of us doing a little.
Spread the word, people. We can do this.