Amal Nahurriyeh

OK, so I was too late to find out this existed to participate as an offerer, but help_syria is an auction to raise money for the UN's fund for Syria. Beyond the fact that shit in Syria and in Syrian refugee camps in Turkey is pretty dire (and leaving aside the fact that humanitarian aid isn't actually going to fix the fact that the civil war is spinning its wheels in the bloodiest possible way), the auction is pretty small and bids are still low, and a bunch of excellent Sherlock authors are participating.

So! Go there! Donate money! Bidding ends at 6pm UK time on Monday, which is 1pm New York time (I assume y'all can convert from there).

I'm a New Yorker, right down to my bones. I may not have grown up in the city (though my roots and extended family are largely in upstate New York), but there is nowhere that has fit me so well in all my life, nowhere as comfortable and completing. And my city, right now, is underwater.

This isn't New Orleans; we were better prepared and a little more equipped. This isn't Haiti; we're a rich city and have resources. But it's my home, and it's just fucking wrecked right now. And I'm four hundred miles away and at a loss.

So, fandomaid. I've put up two offers: one to stitch samplers, and one for fic. I'm not always timely with this stuff, but I at least intend to follow through.

If you'd like to help New York, Masbia is supporting one of the shelters for senior citizens in my old neighborhood in Brooklyn. I haven't yet found a clear link for who is doing recovery work in Haiti, Cuba, and elsewhere in the Caribbean, which is fucked up, considering how much harder the recovery is going to be there, but if I find something, I'll post it.

eid_ka_chand is a community dedicated to promoting positive representations of Muslim characters in fanworks; every year, it runs a ficathon for Eid al-Fitr, the holiday at the end of Ramadan. Well, Eid starts on Friday (I actually have a friend celebrating Eid today, because she has very peculiar opinions about the timing of holidays), and posting will go Friday through Sunday.

In addition to the ficathon, this year they're holding a fundraiser for Pakistan flood relief, encouraging people to sponsor the fanworks in whatever amount they can. I'm down for $0.50/fanwork, but there are people giving only for particular genres (meta, fic, art) and people giving more or less, depending on their ability.

If you've got a fandom with a Muslim character in it (they've got a list here), putting something together for this ficathon would have a huge multiplier effect, because of all the people donating per work. Or, if you don't have the time or a fandom that works, chip in to sponsor your favorite genre of work, or everything. I read through a bunch of last year's stories, and they're really great.

(Oh, and there's a parallel LJ community, eid_fic.)

...

In entirely related news, expect new Caseyverse, er, I guess before the 12th?