Larchmonter’s Website Connects Hurricane Victims & Helpers

Site Named Best of Blogs (BoB) Award Finalist

by Joan R. Simon

(January 26, 2006) A Larchmont author and mother, Emily McKhann, was one of thousands who wanted to find a way to help after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. So she developed a unique internet site, which caught the attention of both relief victims and donors, as well as the Best of Blogs judges who have recently selected it as one of their finalists.

"Cooper and Emily" appear on Been There Clearinghouse

Ms. McKhann and her writing partner, Cooper Munroe, had a parenting blog, Been There, which offered readers information and anecdotes about mothering. All that changed after Katrina. “We felt so helpless,” Ms. McKhann said, “It was horrible watching it unfold. On Monday the levies broke, on Tuesday everything was flooded, and on Wednesday we thought maybe we could use our site to help.” And overnight her “mommy blog” morphed into www.beenthereclearinghouse.com, connecting thousands of displaced hurricane victims with generous donors across the country and even the world.

The website exploded from 300 visitors a day to 10,000 and “before we even knew the full extent of the hurricane damage, thousands of people were using the site to get clothes and food and household goods into the hands of people who desperately needed them,” Ms. McKhann said.

Ms. McKhann remembered living in New York City on 9/11 “and everything was sent to the city and was stockpiled and no one could get to them.” Been There Clearinghouse solved that problem by putting donors and recipients in direct contact. The concept is simple: people with goods – toys, clothing, household supplies, etc. – post what they have on her website. People in need of help go to the site, see what is available and contact the person offering the goods directly. The donors handle the shipping arrangements. From gently used baby clothes to an entire mobile home, listings poured onto the website and found grateful recipients. In time, help evolved into more than just supplies. Job training and resume writing were also offered. Individuals and groups, from churches to families to book clubs, sponsored displaced families and often provided temporary housing.

Other Larchmont families got on board as well. Kyle deLasa, mother of two young boys with a third child on the way, said, “I knew that I wanted to do something for the victims and I felt completely at a loss as to how to reach out to them and if anything would get to them.” She went to the site and began “reading some of the beautiful and sad stories. I went through my closets and I was ready to give anything, from changing table for babies to car seats to books to clothes.” After posting some items, she started receiving emails asking for the specific items she had listed. “As I was going to Mailbox Etc. and sending this stuff off, it made me feel weepy.” And then she would receive letters of thanks, “in a wonderful southern style and so profoundly grateful.” Her conclusion: “It worked!”

Site Named as Finalist in Best of Blog Contest

After nearly six months of active service, the site has been named a finalist in the Best of Blogs (BoB) Awards in their Most Inspirational category. Ms. McKhann commented, “ While we all love to win things, this time around it's particularly great because if the site wins, more people will learn about the Been There Clearinghouse and will use it to help the many people who lost their homes and livelihoods.”  

Ms. McKhann is the mother of two young children ages 3 and 5 and the co-author with Erin and Doug Kramp of an Oprah-celebrated book, Living with the End in Mind. Before Hurricane Katrina she and Ms. Munroe were using their “mommy blog” as a springboard for a book on parenting, although the continuing need for help in the Gulf region has put that book on the back burner for now.

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