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As you know, Hurricane Katrina devastated a wide swath of the U.S. Gulf Coast last week. The sheer magnitude of the destruction and the aftermath are unimaginable. Many of you are, like me, frustrated with feelings of helplessness as we watch footage or read news from New Orleans, Mississippi, and Alabama. Our company is based in Northern Alabama, and this feels like it's happening in our backyard.

If I may, I respectfully request that you please use some of the money you've saved reading our sites to make a donation to hurricane relief. For every dollar you donate to the American Red Cross from now through September 15, dealnews will match 100%, up to a total of $5,000. Our goal is to raise a total of $10,000 including yours and our donations. Update: dealnews is now matching up to $50,000 for a total of $100,000. See our update at the end of this article.

How it works:

• Make a donation online at RedCross.org or, if you can't get through, Amazon.com's Hurricane Relief link for the Red Cross.
• Keep your confirmation email and forward it to hurricane-relief-2005@dealnews.com.
• We'll match 100% of your donation until we hit our $5,000 limit $50,000 limit or until September 15.

As always, dealnews respects and protects your privacy.

Please note that we're only matching donations from today (September 2) onward. If you've already made a donation this week, I applaud you. But our matching donation is an attempt to encourage those who haven't made a donation yet, or to encourage those who've already given to "double their money" if they give more.

Our goal is to raise a total of $10,000 total of $100,000 to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Thank you for your contribution.

Yours truly,
Daniel de Grandpre
CEO, dealnews.com, Inc.

Update: The response has been staggering. As of 11:45 am ET today, September 6, our readers have so far donated an incredible $46,295. There just aren't words, folks. Given your generosity so far, we don't see how we can leave our commitment at just $5,000, so dealnews will now match up to $50,000, for a total fundraiser of $100,000. Please keep donating so we can hit the $100,000 total today. Click here to donate...

Update: We've hit our $100,000 goal; we'll update you with the final tally shortly.