help Joe Urbz with his bandwidth while he's displaced down the hill

Joe Urbaszewski (aka Joe Urbz), whose blog has been an unceasing source of quality local information about the fires in the San Bernardino mountains, is temporarily homeless (his house didn't burn down, but it'll be a while before he can get back to it).

In the meantime, he's moving to a place that requires an extra $150 to set up DSL. What with additional expenses of being temporarily displaced and loss of one income (he works at Rim of the World High School), his budget can't stretch to cover the DSL bill.

But heck. This is the blogosphere. He's been contributing greatly to it, and I think we oughtta give back.

I looked into how PayPal works (you can pay anyone who has an email address).

So, if you've got a paypal account, send a contribution to him at this email address:

joseph [dot] urbaszewski [at] verizon [dot] net

(reconstruct the address taking out spaces and putting . and @ where they need to be. I wanna send him funds, not spam!)

I wrote Joe and asked if this would be okay with him. Here's his reply (date: 10/31).

Wow, thank you for your thoughts of generosity.

I did not lose my home just yet. It is sitting in Twin Peaks, but by the time we get back to it (to live in it), it will be a while. In the mean time, I have to get my family back on track via insurance (housing and pet housing) and no income from me (My wife's income is half of what we budget). That is the hard part; we lose my income, being I work at the high school.

I am looking into other alternatives to find a high speed line; however, I do have my two kids to look after (with not being in school for at least two weeks).

I am very moved that you would offer something like this. I do want to

continue working on the site. I think there will be MORE news for residents (bad, good, and procedural) to look up on the web during the clean up. Today, it is hitting me hard... I feel it inside.

I was never looking for money; but I know I should continue the blog. I will accept your wonderful offer. Thank you so much and I will do the bloggers proud. :-) If the fund goes over any needs for DSL, I will donate it to those I know in need, if that is ok.

Yes, he's done the bloggers proud already. :-) And as far as I'm concerned, I'd be thrilled if the blogosphere helped out with *more* than just his DSL expenses!