Hey, East Coasters! Remember that earthquake we had a little while ago? Of course you do. These things don’t happen on our side of the tectonic plate all that often. It was a decidedly interesting distraction for several days. The quake was also felt around Twitter and the internet as people compared stories and jokes. Natural disasters are usually not funny, but since no one was seriously injured, we were allowed a bit of silliness.

Not everyone got off so easily. But with the power of the interwebz combined, we can help! So keep reading…

Louisa County in Virginia is a lovely, mostly rural area between Charlottesville and Richmond. The 5.8 magnitude earthquake on August 23rd was centered near the town of Mineral, causing damage to local homes and businesses. Two public schools in the county have been condemned and closed, and I’ve seen signs at my doctor’s office advertising to collect umbrellas for students who have to walk between trailers for their classes. THEN there was hurricane Irene. And recently, there was a tornado spotted and recorded in the county. Though the earthquake did by far the most damage, you can say that the location has felt the trifecta of Mother Nature’s rage.

A few weeks ago, the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied Louisa County’s request for money to rebuild. Residents have been relying on the generosity of neighbors, but that’s just not enough. If the quake was felt all over
the East Coast and discussed all over the world, I figure that we can turn it around and do something to help the area rebuild. Turns out, there is already a foundation set up to take donations and distribute the money to local residents who cannot cover the costs of home repairs, and to help out the local schools.

So, let’s all be neighbors here. This is my challenge to you. If you are reading this, go over there and donate a few bucks. I know, I KNOW money is tight and everything is being occupied in protest. But look, did you feel the earthquake? Did you talk about the earthquake? Were you amused by pictures of fallen lawn chairs? Well, consider this a small payment for the distraction and, dare I say, entertainment for that week.

But wait, there’s more!

Donate via the website by Novmeber 5th and send me a confirmation of your donation of $10 or more and I’ll give you a virtual hug! What’s that you ask? Well, it’s like a hug, only not the same as in real life. But I can hug a stuffed animal (might be a DSBK mascot, might be Ambien turtle, could be something else…) for you and send you photographic evidence of that hug. I figure, I’m not an artist or a singer or award winning podcast host, but at least I can be pretty damn adorable when I try.

Also, the very generous Ray Sanders at Dear Astronomer has donated a Galileoscope to give away to one lucky person randomly drawn from the donators. What?! You get to help and can get a telescope? Awesome.

So, go to http://louisacares.com/donate.php. Donate. Send me proof of a $10 or more donation at nicole [at] noisyastronomer [dot] com and I’ll hug you. Virtually. You can crop or block out your personal information, as long as there is a confirmation number and total in there somewhere. If you already donated when I tweeted the link, that counts as well! Offer for the Galileoscope drawing is good until November 5, 2011! I’m happy to give hugs, real and virtual, any time.