Occupy Black Friday: Blanket the Earth

Don't risk your health and sanity fighting the mob for cheap plastic crap this November 25; Occupy Black Friday by bringing cold weather gear to your local protesters.

The Rude Pundit:

Ever since I first mentioned the idea of getting cold weather gear to Occupy Wall Street campers around the nation, I've heard from dozens of people about what exactly they could do. Could they donate money? Where could they send gear? What is the plan?

Here goes:

1. The idea: on November 25, the day after Thanksgiving, people will gather in designated spots in cities around the country where there are encampments of OWS protesters.

2. They will have warm weather gear to donate to the protesters. This can be blankets, socks, sleeping bags, hand and foot warmers, sweaters, or anything you think can be used to keep the camping protesters warm throughout the winter. The items can be secondhand (and clean, you know). New items can be purchased whenever, preferably not on the exploitative day coined by marketers as "Black Friday."

3. People will gather in designated places in each city near the OWS encampments in order to donate the items. I will post a list of organizers next week. The organizers will say where the Blanket the Earth group should meet. For example, in Atlanta, they have decided to gather at 60 Walton St. NW.

4. Yes, donations at any time are great. But Blanket the Earth is not organizing as a group to accept donations of any kind. If you want to participate in the day, give someone who is going the items you'd like to donate. Also, I'm not accepting any monetary donations for this. If you want to donate money, that's generous of you, and you should give to things like Occupy Supply.

5. The goal here is to show our support not just through the kindness of monetary donations, but by being physically present to demonstrate that we're here for the protesters.

6. Yes, there is a chance that you may end up being the only person in your town to show up.

7. Organizers should send me a message on how people can contact them in their cities. Write, as ever, to rudepundit_at_yahoo.com (and you can send me questions there). You can also post info on the Blanket the Earth Facebook page or you can follow and respond on Twitter to @blankettheearth.

8. Spread the word. Use your own social networks to get out the information. Let's make sure the people who are the foot soldiers in this movement know that they are appreciated and that we have their backs.

More info to come, including where to meet in NYC. And you can check out this video that says some of the same info, except with OWS in the background:

If you haven't yet visited your local Occupation, you're missing the opportunity of a lifetime. Someday, someone will ask you what you did in the Occupation. If you, like me, can't say you were there all day and all night, you can still proudly say: I brought them coats and boots and blankets to keep them alive in the winter.