10 ways you can help disaster victims

NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans' mayor issued an urgent plea for relief of his flooded city on Thursday as gunshots and looting hampered the evacuation of desperate crowds trying to escape Hurricane Katrina's destruction. "This is a desperate SOS," Mayor Ray Nagin said in a statement read by CNN. Some of the thousands of hungry, thirsty storm survivors outside the city's convention center chanted similar pleas.

Here are some key ways to help the struggling victims of one of the worst natural disasters in American history:

AMERICAN RED CROSS: All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of this disaster by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need. Call 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013. Make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.

OPERATION BLESSING / 700 CLUB: TV's 700 Club's Operation Blessing teams are on the ground in the storm-ravaged regions of the U.S. Gulf Coast. Even before Katrina struck, OBI tractor trailer trucks were already on the move, ensuring partner agencies were stocked with emergency relief supplies for immediate distribution. OBI is now collaborating with emergency officials and making final assessments of the heavily impacted areas. Together with partner agencies like the Salvation Army, a large-scale disaster response is unfolding. Truckloads of food and mobile kitchen equipment have been delivered by OBI to Salvation Army staging areas in Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida. After four mobile kitchens and dozens of mobile canteens from partnering groups are in place, OBI will be helping provide up to 310,000 meals a day to storm victims in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. OBI is also working with local churches and other nonprofits to determine strategic and effective ways to bring aid to those struggling to cope in the aftermath of the brutal hurricane. Donate by phone by calling 1-800-730-2537 or visit www.cbn.com.

SALVATION ARMY: A $100 donation to the Salvation Army will feed a family of four for two days, provide two cases of drinking water and one household clean-up kit, containing brooms, mops, buckets and cleaning supplies. For victims needing assistance, please call 1-888-363-2769. Financial contributions are greatly needed and provide the Salvation Army with the funds to purchase what storm victims need. They also allow the Salvation Army to assess the unique needs of individuals and families, as well as put money back into the economy of those communities affected by the disaster. To make a secure online contribution visit www.salvationarmyusa.org. To donate by phone, call 1-800-SAL-ARMY. To donate by mail, send checks, earmarked "disaster relief," to P.O. BOX 4857, JACKSON, MS 39296-4857. Visit your local Wal-Mart or Sam's Club to donate to the Salvation Army's Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

DIRECT RELIEF: One of the major relief programs comes from Direct Relief International. Visit www.directrelief.org. Direct Relief has already gone into action with the state of Louisiana and federal officials overseeing the Katrina aftermath in the South. Direct Relief focuses on replenishing medical inventories and providing emergency medical material where needed. Direct Relief has in stock medical inventories that undergird health services and respond to emergencies such as the Katrina hurricane. It has a long history of giving backup to official emergency efforts in America as well as other countries around the globe. For further contact, call 1-805-962-3700 or e-mail jm@surfmedia.com.

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE: CWS Disaster Response and Recovery is ready to respond to the Katrina hurricane disaster. CWS plans on deploying efforts to the calamity based on specific invitation for assistance by CWS partners. For updates on how to help, call the CWS HOTLINE at 1-800-297-1516.

CATHOLIC CHARITIES USA: This agency is commissioned by the U.S. Catholic Bishops to represent the Catholic community in such disasters as the Katrina hurricane. The response is to emergency as well as long-term help requests. The Disaster Response Office contacts the Catholic Church's social service offices and disaster programming agencies throughout America. For further information, visit www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/news/katrina.cfm or call Catholic Charities at 1-800-919-9338.

INTERNATIONAL ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHARITIES: IOCC is providing assistance to those in the storm-affected areas. IOCC works with Orthodox Christian churches and the Church World Service and others to assist in efforts of housing, food, and miscellaneous help, particularly to the displaced by the hurricane. Already the bishops have activated emergency response networks. Donations for the IOCC Hurricane Disaster Response Fund may be sent to IOCC, "Hurricane Relief," P.O. Box 639225, Baltimore, MD 21263-0225. Call toll-free 1-877-803-IOCC (4622).

LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF/EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF AMERICA: The ELCA Domestic Disaster Response to the hurricane will include spiritual care for those affected by the disaster, care for caregivers, and hardship grants. Hardship grants are available to those who need short-term assistance for expenses unmet by insurance or FEMA grants, such as rent, insurance deductibles, or special medical equipment. Please send donations to ELCA Domestic Disaster Response, designated for "Hurricane 2005," to ensure that funds are available to be released immediately once community needs are assessed. All 100 percent of your gifts will go to help individuals and communities rebuild their lives following this disaster. LDR coordinators will be organizing volunteers to assist in the debris removal and clean up as soon as possible. Make your check or money order out to: ELCA Disaster Response, P.O. Box 71764, Chicago, Illinois 60694-1764. Mark "Katrina Hurricane" on your check or money order.

LUTHERAN CHURCH/MISSOURI SYNOD: Gifts for hurricane relief may be made out to LCMS World Relief and sent to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, P.O. Box 66861, St. Louis, MO 63166-9810. Please designate your check "2005 Hurricane." You may also call the Credit Card Gift Line at 1-888-930-4438.

SEND CASH, CLOTHING OR FOOD? Yes. Send cash donations – that is, go to your bank account rather than your closet or food pantry, counsels Church World Service officials. "Cash is always preferred over material donations," says Linda Reed Brown, associate director of Emergency Response at Church World Service (CWS), a New York-based humanitarian and relief agency serving the U.S. "With cash donations, organizations responding to disasters can quickly acquire exactly what is needed based on damage assessments," she explains. "Cash also can purchase goods and services in the disaster-stricken community and thus boost its economy at a critical time."

"OK everybody, right now there are three kinds of people. Those in need, those helping the ones in need and we who are too far away but are willing to support the first two."

I already did - for the last 30 years to the tune of $40k a year - that would have paid for the slings that the helicopters and sandbags were waiting on Tues.

Who took my money that would have saved NO?

IOCC on the list.

IOCC’s network of trained emergency responders, led by Fr. David Kossey, will dispatch Fr. Angelo Pappas, a qualified emergency “first responder,” to the region to work with private and government agencies in order to identify the most urgent needs of those affected and to help meet those needs.

“Right now, the most critical need is for cash contributions to enable IOCC to respond quickly to needs as they emerge,” Fr. Kossey said. “I have been heartened by the eagerness of our local churches to set up shelters and provide food and keep people as comfortable as possible during this disaster.”

Thank you for the ping to this thread and a reminder to call IOCC and make a donation.

The thread also reminded me to go donate some blood tomorrow when I can. I've got that "universal donor" kind of blood they always like.

Each state each county, each town of the USA must develop a committee to receive refugees as they arrive in local airports, bus stops, ports, whatever, who can take their names and coordinate them with a local family to stay with. With the support of local business, churches and organization, within six months these American citizens need to be found their own decent home and jobs. This way they will have made local contacts and friend within the local communities and will not become isolated. And will have some support in making their way in a brand new environment. In instances, completely different from where they came from. The time is now to develope this system of networking.

This what we in the northern states should be preparing for. These people are not going to be able to return home, we do not want refuge camps anywhere in America, that will only be even worse.

Perhaps this is a test for America to see if she is indeed worthy of caring the torch of freedom. Let freedom ring, make voluntarisms work! Lets roll!

Try this page of FEMA's
http://www.firstgov.gov/Citizen/Topics/PublicSafety/Hurricane_Katrina_Recovery.shtml#vgn-finding-loved-ones-vgn

Contact local churches, shuls, (synagogs), and business organizations. they will already have the structure in place to work with rather then building it your self. The key to making this work is some kind of filtering system. I imagin that this might be a great oppertuniite for illegal imigrants, and crimnals to move to the usa. So people should be vetted by say, being passed through a number of check points, and if they check out as ok, finally being cordinated with a family. we don't need now strong, self supporting families or homes, being unbearably taxed by having allowed a criminal element or unsocialble person into the heart of their home. For these types, other services must be provided by the government.

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