This is Solomon, co-founder of EzPacking. 

Watching the news and seeing the images of Hurricane Harvey's destruction has been overwhelming. Far away in California, my life continues on undisturbed by all the events that took place this week in Houston. I have been asking myself what I, Solomon, could do to help the victims of the hurricane. I realized that there wasn't much. 

This story hits close to home. It was 2003 and San Diego experienced one of the worst fires in our history. Thousands of people had to evacuate their homes, fearing for the worst. I remember when it was our turn... I was ten years old at the time. I distinctly remember flecks of ash falling from the sky. My mom continues to remind me to this day that I made a big fuss about taking a shower before we left the house. I grabbed a few pairs of clothes and my guitar which seemed like my most important possession at the time. We headed down south to a family friend's house to wait. 

We were lucky. I remember seeing the flames off in the distance just before we left the house. After two days of waiting, we were told that we could return home. The fire had been contained and our neighborhood wasn't affected. We were very lucky. 

It looks like many in Houston won't be so lucky. Dozens have died and thousands of Americans are going to need to rebuild their lives. 

After some reflection, I realized that while I couldn't do much as an individual, I could use EzPacking as a platform to make a slightly bigger impact. We've developed relationships with thousands of customers since we started our company two years ago and we could ask everyone to pitch in a bit to help our neighbors in Texas. 

We had a Labor Day sale planned for this weekend. We are going to use the occasion to raise funds to make a donation to the American Red Cross. We are offering customers 15% off their order (using the discount code Harvey) and free shipping on orders over $50.

20% of the revenue we make from tomorrow (Friday September 1, 2017) to Monday September 4th, 2017 will be donated. Here's how we are going to donate:

https://www.redcross.org/donate/hurricane-harvey

I know that we don't compare to other companies like Facebook, Google, or Amazon. It's just me, my mom, and Lucy (our cocker spaniel-poodle fulfillment manager) that make up our tiny travel accessories company. The donation will be a drop in the bucket of what will be needed to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey. Added up though, we along with millions of Americans can do our part in helping Houston recover. 

**update** Friday September 8th, 2017:

We raised $500 for Hurricane Harvey victims on our Labor Day sale! Our sales from September 1 - September 4 totaled $2,268.13. 

Thank you to our 22 customers who purchased EzPacking over the weekend and chose to contribute to our campaign.

20% of $2,268.13 comes out to $453.62. We rounded up our donation to $500. Here is our receipt for your records:

Cheers to being a good neighbor. 

- Solomon and the EzPacking Team