What people are saying about the...

Energy Hotline

"This summer my neighbors went to Lebanon, as they have in past summers, to visit their family. They are a lovely family of six, four children ages 3-15, who we know quite well as our children play together. The husband works at Dell, as do I and many others on our street. This summer, the wife and 3 youngest children went early in the summer, and the husband and oldest boy followed the Sunday before the recent war broke out. Another neighbor received an email from the wife pleading for our help to get them out. They had experienced bombs demolishing the gas station behind the home they were in, the roads and bridges to Beirut were damaged, the phones were out and they couldn't reach the embassy, and the children were terrorized. She said she was afraid for their lives, and asked that we call our congressmen and senators to help them get out of Lebanon (they are American citizens).

I was overwhelmed with a desire to help, but felt my little letter would probably not do much good, in all reality. Then, I did the best thing I could do for them, I picked up the phone and called the hotline! Shortly after that, my husband suggested I send a letter to Michael Dell. I thought that was a brilliant idea as his voice would surely bring about more action than my little letter to our legislators, or even letters from my entire neighborhood! I wrote the letter to Michael Dell and Kevin Rollins, the two top executives, and asked them to help our co-worker get out safely. I waited, and the next day I received a note from the Sr. VP of WW Global Security - I didn't even know we had a Global Security department - and he said they had been on the phone with the TASK FORCE AT THE EMBASSY IN LEBANON checking on our neighbors' status, they had been put on a priority list, and he was checking with the task force twice a day until he found them!! Miraculously, about 30 minutes after I received his email, I received an email saying our neighbors had driven out of Lebanon safely through Syria, and were in Dubai. I am clear the Energy guided my friends home safely and made the small steps I took toward my goal hugely successful!!"