Spurred on by Chris' generous offer here, I'm giving this the front page treatment. A word of warning: This is football-related in only the most tangential sense.

For those of us on the Gulf Coast, those of us who have friends or loved ones here, and/or those of us who just want to help those who could use a hand in a trying time, your Houston Texans and Bob McNair have created a method for donating to the Hurricane Ike relief effort. It's appropriately called "Texans Helping Texans," and more information (including a link to donate) about the charitable effort can be found here. Basically, the goal is to raise at least another $650,000.00 before the Texans host the Colts on 10/05/08.

I'll close with this: The vast majority of us are very lucky. Many of us escaped the absurd destruction of Ike with our lives and the lives of our loved ones. At the end of the day, there's nothing more important than that. What we did lose in many instances, however, are the things that nearly everyone takes for granted. Property. Electricity. Clean water. Compared to a human life, that stuff is worthless. But when it comes to functioning on a day-to-day basis, those comforts are of significant value, and the fact remains that a large portion of our neighbors are without those things. If you can give anything to alleviate some of that discomfort, please do so.

On behalf of BRB, I thank you.