Monday night, as superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc across the Northeast and destroyed beaches, towns, cities, and homes, American Apparel saw an opportunity for profit. “In case you’re bored during the storm,” the retailer’s Hurricane Sandy email promotion offered a 20% discount on the entire online collection for the following 36 hours–but only in the hardest hit states.
The Twittersphere naturally blew up in opposition, with calls to forever boycott the store and retweets of “just in case you wanted to burn their stores to the ground.” Followers named the move “pathetic,” in “bad taste,” “downright gross,” and called for “opprobrium.” Not to single out the hipster haven, Time Magazine reported that other retailers such as Urban Outfitters, Catbird, and Lauren Moffat offered similar perks to storm shoppers.
A staggering peak of 8.5 million homes and businesses lost power because of Sandy, while 94 people tragically died. Clearly, this storm was no joke. But despite the for-profit thinkers bringing shame to well-known names, the natural disaster has brought some heroic and heartwarming stories to restore our faith in humanity.
When the generators in NYU’s hospital failed, medical workers labored all night to evacuate at a pace of about one patient every 15 minutes. Nurses carried babies from the neonatal intensive care unit down nine flights of stairs while manually breathing for them by squeezing a bag to provide oxygen to their lungs.
USA Today reported that banks such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citibank, and TD Bank have waived many ATM and late fees this week in light of the disaster.
Here at Boston University, a blood drive was held to compensate for over 300 blood drives that the American Red Cross was forced to cancel due to the storm. Many students’ homes have been either destroyed or damaged by the disaster, and the world of social media exploded with empathy amidst the storm. Despite Sandy memes, complaints of classes, and a very popular @HurricaneSandy Twitter account, people do seem to have a heart (alongside a sense of humor).
Want to help the relief effort? It’s pretty easy:
- The Salvation Army accepts $10 donations by texting “STORM” to 80888 or by their website and phone line.
- The American Red Cross also accepts $10 donations by texting “REDCROSS” to 90999 or by their web site and phone line.
- Save the Children sends emergency teams to assist families and children, and is accepting donations.
- World Vision accepts donations to provide emergency food and flood clean-up kits.
- Feeding America is accepting donations for emergency food to hurricane survivors.
The Huffington Post offers an extensive statistical summary of the destruction brought by Sandy.
