It Warms My Heart

For the past week, I&ve simultaneously cursed and welcomed my role as a journalist. I went home last Thursday night pretty depressed, frankly, wondering about the impact of Hurricane Katrina on CRN&s very own solution provider community.

Then the e-mails started coming, and I emerged from my funk. In short, you care. And you care a lot.

Last Friday morning, I heard about how members of The ASCII Group are donating basic connectivity services (e-mail, DNS and Web site hosting) to other members located in the Gulf Coast.

Similarly, Decisive Business Systems of Pennsauken, N.J., has reached out with a proposal to donate data-center space and managed services resources for displaced solution providers, and Alvaka Networks from Huntington Beach, Calif., said it was ready to do the same.

Then, D&H Distributing stepped up with a plan to donate 1 percent of its sales from next Monday (Sept. 12) to the American Red Cross.

Likewise, specialty distributor Alternative Technology said it intends to donate 2 percent of its gross profit from the entire month of September and 10 percent of the gross profit from its eStore portal to the American Red Cross 2005 Hurricane Relieft Fund. In addition, it has coordinated an effort with Rajant to donate outdoor wireless equipment to relief workers.

And Intermedia.Net, an e-mail hosting provider, announced its intention to bring small and midsize businesses in the region online for up to two months free of charge.

Here's a partial list of others in the high-tech community that are stepping up to help.

I know there&s a whole lot more going on out there, and the editorial team here at CRN wants to know about it. At the very least, our role will be to get the word out. Ping me with your thoughts at [email protected].