At The
End Of The Day,
It's All About Your Family.
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As news of the
earthquake in China broke on
Monday, local Chinese and
other area residents with ties
to the country responded
quickly.
Jimmy Chen, a businessman in Puyallup and co-chairman of the Washington State-Sichuan Province Friendship Association, was trying to organize a team of disaster-relief experts and rescue dogs to leave possibly as soon as today. Washington
state has had a sister-state
relationship since 1982 with
Sichuan province, where the
quake struck. |
Mercy Corps:
Donate via www.mercycorps.org,
800-852-2100, or China Earthquake
Fund, Dept NR, P.O. Box 2669,
Portland, OR 97208.
World Vision: Donate via www.worldvision.org, 888-56-CHILD, or P.O. Box 9716, Federal Way, WA 98063-9716. Next Of Kin Registry: Free online service where family and friends can register possible victims/missing persons and contact information. http://nokr.org.
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| "Last
year, I had the honor of hosting a
delegation from Sichuan on the
occasion of the 25th anniversary of
our sister-state relationship,"
Gregoire said in a statement. "Even
though the earthquake victims are half
a world away, they are also our
neighbors." The mega-city of Chongqing, where deaths were reported, is sister city to Seattle. Yunbo Deng is a board member of Chinese Microsoft Employees, a group of about 2,500 people, many from mainland China. The group is hoping the company can match donations of aid from employees, and hopes to partner with other local organizations to help. On Monday morning, Lu Zhao, a program manager at Microsoft, talked to her parents in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. Her father, a university professor, told her most students had been evacuated from the dormitories, and her mother, a doctor at a hospital, said patients had been moved outside of the hospital. Both Zhao's parents were OK. She had been more concerned about her grandmother, who lives in a fifth-floor apartment. "I worried about her — how she would get out," Zhao said. Zhao's aunt later found her at a nearby park. Other organizations also are helping: Both Federal Way-based World Vision and Portland-based Mercy Corps are providing disaster-relief assistance.
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There is a front doorstep that Grapevine police Capt. John Luna will never forget. As a rookie cop in San Marcos, Luna sat in front of that door for more than two hours thinking about how he was going to tell a man that his wife of only a few months was dead. The 20-something's vehicle was hit broadside while she was on her way to cash the first paycheck of her teaching career. "It was such a tragedy," Luna said. "Two young people with their whole lives ahead of them, and it all came to a screeching halt." Death notifications are a daunting task that officers will likely face at least once in their careers. The job is usually the responsibility of chaplains, grief counselors or a medical examiner. But sometimes they aren't available. |
 Grapevine police Capt. John Luna still remembers when he was a rookie officer in San Marcos and had to tell a man that his wife of only a few months was dead. |