Help Victims Of Hurricane Katrina
I remember the horror and pity I felt when watching the coverage of the Southeast Asia Tsunami. I’m feeling the same thing as I watch coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Help out however you can. Here’s a FEMA press release to tell you how:
Cash Sought To Help Hurricane Victims, Volunteers Should NOT Self-Dispatch
Washington, D.C. - Voluntary organizations are seeking cash donations to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina in Gulf Coast states, according to Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response. But, volunteers should not report directly to the affected areas unless directed by a voluntary agency.
"Cash donations are especially helpful to victims," Brown said. "They allow volunteer agencies to issue cash vouchers to victims so they can meet their needs. Cash donations also allow agencies to avoid the labor-intensive need to store, sort, pack and distribute donated goods. Donated money prevents, too, the prohibitive cost of air or sea transportation that donated goods require."
Volunteer agencies provide a wide variety of services after disasters, such as clean up, childcare, housing repair, crisis counseling, sheltering and food. "We’re grateful for the outpouring of support already," Brown said. "But it’s important that volunteer response is coordinated by the professionals who can direct volunteers with the appropriate skills to the hardest-hit areas where they are needed most. Self-dispatched volunteers and especially sightseers can put themselves and others in harm’s way and hamper rescue efforts."
Here is a list of phone numbers set up solely for cash donations and/or volunteers.
Donate cash to:
American Red Cross
1-800-HELP NOW (435-7669) English,
1-800-257-7575 Spanish;
Operation Blessing
1-800-436-6348
America’s Second Harvest
1-800-344-8070
Donate Cash to and Volunteer with:
Adventist Community Services
1-800-381-7171
Catholic Charities, USA
703 549-1390
Christian Disaster Response
941-956-5183 or 941-551-9554
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
1-800-848-5818
Church World Service
1-800-297-1516
Convoy of Hope
417-823-8998
Lutheran Disaster Response
800-638-3522
Mennonite Disaster Service
717-859-2210
Nazarene Disaster Response
888-256-5886
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
800-872-3283
Salvation Army
1-800-SAL-ARMY (725-2769)
Southern Baptist Convention — Disaster Relief
1-800-462-8657, ext. 6440
United Methodist Committee on Relief
1-800-554-8583
For further information: visit the website for the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD).
