The Storms:

Just a few days ago, I was hanging out at home, cleaning up and working random things here at the house, with my girls. I saw a Skype message from Melissa that said she was scared because of a phone call she got from her kids telling her the house was flooding. It wasn’t until a little later in the day when I found out how bad it actually was. If you’ve been following my posts and tweets, you know that their house was filled about 2-3ft high with water, and they’ve lost so much. After setting up the ChipIn widget, and seeing how much love was pouring in from complete strangers, I was just amazed. I started contacting brands that Melissa and I have worked with in the past and asked if they’d in any way be able to donate to the relief efforts, and they did. Amy over at MomSpark then jumped in and started contacting companies she worked with, and was also met with a resounding “YES” from many of the brands she has worked with. It wasn’t long after that we found out how much repairs we were actually looking at.

Reality Hits:

We’ve seen the photos of the devastation. We’ve heard some of the stories of the families affected by the floods, and now we’re seeing the cost of this fiasco. In Melissa’s neighborhood, there are about 170 homes affected. Only 6 of them had flood insurance. Melissa’s estimates are starting to come in. The first one is just for cleanup: $5-7K. From there, she has to buy new flooring, new sheetrock, new paint, tile, kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets… the list goes on… The Life Church is the main hub right now, and they are collecting some of the necessary items to help with cleanup, and restoration.

There is Hope:

In the wake of the floods, there is definitely great hope. We’ve been able to raise over $4,000 that will go towards Melissa’s repair costs. We’ve also received some very generous donations from brands that will not only help Melissa, but a few neighbors as well. Please show your support for these brands and consider them when you’re looking to make purchases. They’ve all jumped at the chance to help, and we couldn’t be more grateful!

To all of the brands who have contributed, THANK YOU! To everyone who has donated, THANK YOU!  Your help has made Melissa and her family breathe a lot easier…

How you can help:

If you are willing/able to make a donation to help the neighbors in The Valley Subdivision, please contact:

Life Church

2001 NW 178th St

Edmond,OK 73012

405-478-5433

Items Needed for Flood Victims:

• Trash Bags
• Fans
• Cleaning Supplies
• Towels
• Food
• Bottled Water/Drinks
• Bandaids
• Sunscreen
• Bug Spray
• Clothes
• Toiletries
• Laundry Soap
• Extension Cords/Power Strips
• Baggies
• Boxes
• Antibacterial Wipes
• Baby wipes
• Paper plates
• Paper towels

If you haven’t seen Melissa’s photos yet from the Oklahoma City/Edmond, OK floods that just devastated the area on June 14th… You have to check them out… She’s got an awesome slide show that just shows how bad it really was. There’s also a really great news article (with video) on KOKH Fox 25 from Oklahoma City! Fox News Reporter Andrew Speno tells me that most of this video was shot in Melissa’s Front Yard! YIKES!

So, the cleanup has begun… Actually, it started just a little while after the water was low enough to get back in the neighborhood. I’ve been keeping up with everything going on, and wow.. I can’t imagine what the folks in OK are going through. I’m getting texts and phone calls constantly with different things that have to be thrown out. Mementos, things that have extreme sentimental value, and some things that they had yet to use, all gone because of a storm. Tears are being shed, and there’s nothing that can be done for most of it. Wedding items, pictures and crafts that the kids made years ago… It really hurts to throw it all away, but would it be worth keeping it if it molded?

The family is doing ok, considering the circumstances. They’re getting through everything, and trying to do it with a smile, but it’s hard. They are staying with @ConsumerKing’s Mom… so at least they have family around to help them.

Something that keeps reminding me about why I started this initiative… and may help those of you who don’t know her personally… Here’s a little bit about how Melissa’s mind works.

She was very upset about things she had bought for her family, but something else that was at the front of her mind was all of the things she had collected and stockpiled for DONATING! Something she has done for a long time. She’s amazing with coupons, sales, and other random deals. Her About Us page says that she once walked out of Albertson’s with 3 grocery carts full and only had to pay $19… WOW! What does she do with all of these “Extra” groceries? She donates them. She usually keeps a storage shed handy just for stocking up on things she can later donate to her church and to the local battered women’s shelter. As she cleaned out her house, she found things that she had stored up in Rubbermaid Totes, that were not touched by flood waters. She took things down and donated them to other families who have been affected by this flood. She’s already told me that if we got any extras of things like cleaning supplies that they could share, they would…

This is exactly yet another reason why I know this is an awesome relief effort. I know that not only she will benefit, but other people who need help will get it as well…

If you are able to donate money, please use the ChipIn widget in my sidebar to donate securely directly to Melissa… They just received an estimate of $7-10 just for cleanup.. That doesn’t include the supplies and labor it is going to cost to make the necessary repairs on the house!

If you are willing/able to donate any products to her, please go to my Contact page and choose CQ Relief in the subject line.

So, I’ve had quite a few blogs step up to the plate and offer to donate ad space. These blogs are offering up a 125x125px ad space to all brands who are able to donate to help Melissa and her Family (and neighborhood if able) in her time of need… This list will be updated as more join the blog ring!

If you are a blogger and are interested in helping out with donating an ad space or a few, please fill out this form and let me know!!!

If you are a company willing to donate product to the Garcia Family.. or beyond.. please go to my Contact Form and choose subject CQ Relief and let me know what you are willing to help out with!!! I’ll reply and will need a 125x125px ad from you to put in our ad rotation!

How the ads will work: My husband will be creating a rotating banner ad. Ads will be shown for 30 days in this ad rotation with 2 other ads. That means that it will not come up ALL of the time, but it will rotate on ALL of the blogs participating. We’ve received many donations, and want to give everyone their credit. To maximize the amount of views, 3 ads will be in rotation at any one time (Subject to change based on amount of donating companies. Not to exceed 5 ads in rotation)

	PARTYBLUPRINTS BLOG ideas and inspirations for celebrating life!

I can not say thank you enough to everyone who has helped out, including the bloggers who have reached out to brands they have worked with. This is a HUGE COLLECTIVE effort and EVERYONE’S help is appreciated!

So I have an idea… I’m going to try to get some donations from companies that she’s worked with and hopefully some that I’ve worked with. She’s lost just about everything.. The water came in just over 2 feet high in her house. She was at work when she heard from her kids crying on the phone telling her that water was coming in from all over.

When she finally got to the house, she was beside herself. Red mud covered everything… Her new furniture, and many of her appliances were destroyed. Her mom’s brand new bed- destroyed… Her kid’s toys and clothing- destroyed… Their bedding, including a specially made pillow from Sleep Number to help her husband be able to sleep- destroyed. We are hoping she’ll be able to salvage their new lawn gear and her vacuum cleaners… We do know that her washer & dryer are OK thanks to being up on pedestals. We’ll find out about her TV and home entertainment electronics when everything has had time to dry out and she can attempt to plug in.. I’ll know more soon…

If you don’t know ConsumerQueen… Please go to her About Us page and see why she is such an awesome person..

So here’s where you can help.. If you’ve already donated money, retweeted, posted, add the widget, or anything.. THANK YOU! Your help thus far has been amazing and totally appreciated. If you’ve been trying to think of how you can help… then please consider this. Like I mentioned above, I’m going to ask some brands that I and/or she has worked with for help. Either by donating products to help out, or consider a monetary donation. I’d like to offer them something in return for their generosity. Here’s where you come in. If you are willing to donate ad space on your website for 30 days to these companies, I’d like to give them a site ring that will help promote them as a thank you… If you can’t do ad space, maybe you’ll consider a blog post thanking them… If you are able to participate, please fill out this form and let me know what you’d be willing to do.

Another idea has been a sponsored tweet of sorts.. If companies/blog sites/whomever would like to buy a sponsored tweet from someone participating, they can do that as well. Please indicate if you’re interested in participating in that on the form as well!

I’m going to create a post for all of the participating blog buttons to go with their twitter links also..

To give you an idea of what happened yesterday in Oklahoma… Her neighborhood is featured on this video at about 3:13..

If you’ve been watching the news at all, you’ve probably seen the crazy flooding in Oklahoma City & Edmond, OK… Well, a very dear friend of mine lives there… and if she knew I was doing this, she’d probably kick me… but… She lost everything in this storm.

You may know her as Consumer Queen.. I also know her as Melissa Garcia… a fellow Walmart Mom … and a truly hard-working, selfless, giving mom, wife and daughter. She has a pretty nifty blog, and uses her coupon and money saving powers to stock up on some awesome products that she donates to people in need. Well this time, she’s the one in need. She is a working mom, her husband works from home due to his disability. She recently sold her home in order to buy a new home with more room so she could take in her mom who has been very ill… They moved in about two months ago, and were finally settling in…

Well, today, while she was at work, her children called her screaming and crying. Water had come in and flooded her house….. Her boss took her home in her vehicle since it would get through the flooded streets. Melissa came home to Firefighters rescuing her pets and family.

I just got off the phone with her, and her family is safe at another family member’s house, but she’s lost everything in her home. Over 2 feet of water came in (red mud and all) and covered all of her new furniture, and electronics. Her appliances are yet to be determined. They are waiting for the water to recede so they can go back and pick through what’s left. They didn’t have flood insurance… They don’t live on a flood plain. Their only hope now, for relief is if they get government aid from disaster relief.

If you can, please help. She gives so much and asks for so little… Please use the chipin widget in my sidebar to donate directly to her…

Thanks so much!

If you blog about this, feel free to link to this post. Please retweet this.

• Update (6:30pm): I spoke with Melissa earlier, and it is pretty bad. Everything under 3 feet was under water.. and it’s not just water, it’s red muddy water. Her entire house is going to have to be gutted, floors replaced, sheetrock replaced, everything. The beds are going to need to be replaced as well as just about all of the furniture and clothing. Her kids lost their Wii and XBox360, hubby lost his new lawnmower and weed eater. Their electronics are gone, including their family room TV, and BluRay Player. The donations you’ve made today (and any further donations) are going directly to her, and you don’t even know how much they are going to help. Thank you so much for your continued generosity!