Dear Everyone,

From what seems to be the self indulgent comfort of my living room couch, like so many of you, I have watched on CNN the utter destruction to property and the incalculable misery wrought on the Gulf Coast residents by Hurricane Katrina. Tears have streamed down my face as I have heard stories of the elderly drowned in their beds in nursing homes, husbands who lost their wives to swirling flood waters, families trapped in their attics, hospital patients unable to be evacuated for fear of sniper fire, people literally starving to death or dying for lack of medication, babies suffering from heat exhaustion, and survivors left in a sea of sewage with no drinking water.

As the Coast Guard valiantly rescued and plucked people from roof tops, and doctors and nurses struggled to keep their patients alive, I kept wondering, when is relief from the federal government going to reach these people before more people die?

I have asked myself what can I do to help? Usually after these kinds of natural disasters, we have all kinds information on flood clean-up, and products which are helpful in flood clean-up such as dehumidifiers, water purifiers, air cleaners and vapor steam cleaners for sanitation. We routinely donate or give disaster relief discount packages, but after this hurricane, there are simply few houses left standing to clean-up.

At AllergyBuyersClub.com, we are doing what we can. We are fundraising for the Red Cross by matching dollar for dollar what our employees raise, while we figure out what additional help we can give to Katrina victims. Please give generously to a reputable disaster relief fund; we should take care of our own.

Since one third of this nation's oil comes from the Gulf Coast, we are heeding the tips given to us by the State of Florida last week on energy conservation, so as not to exacerbate this nation's gas crisis. I am reprinting their email to us below.

I myself am an old hand at conservation. My first ever entrepreneurial venture was an energy conservation consulting company in the early 1970s and much of the advice we gave our corporate clients over thirty years ago have stuck with me. As someone who was born in England where energy prices are much higher, I have always been concerned about the energy habits of this nation. I already own a hybrid car, which I bought at the time not so much for gas savings but as a statement of someone who needs to lead by example. In a later edition of this newsletter, I will share with you some of my accumulated wisdom on home energy conservation over the years.

Also at a later date, I will tell you about our upcoming Fall Catalog, which many of you should receive by mid-September, and all the wonderful new and useful products in it. For now, I need to mourn with the rest of the nation as they begin to discover and bury the dead in the Gulf States.

Mercia