I hate to jump on the bandwagon, here, but my friend Lochmoor Mom and I have been talking about this whole Hurricane thing. I won't bore you with the details, but I have been bumping around places to see who is doing what for whom. Many volunteers are doing great things that I could not even imagine doing for these victims. Even locally, and I cannot help but mention my best friends in the whole wide wonderful sunny world, Diane and Derek, who are receiving a family (or refugees of un-named quantity) into their home this weekend. They live in Minnesota, Reader, and some person drove a bus full of supplies down to New Orleans and is driving a busload of displaced people back up. Talking with Diane this morning, she said she fully expects them to house these people for about 6 months. I hardly have the sanity to house my own children for that long, so I voted on cannonizing my friends and riding on their coat tails. Then I thought about how that will impact them financially. What if the family they took in had 6 people? Sure, they have the space in their finished basement, but what about food? It's not like they can eat dinner and let the refugees fend for themselves. And what if there are kids? THEY are not going to be able to sit in one pair of jeans until February. And even the necessities - think about how much you spend on personal hygiene for a family. or diapers and formula if there is a baby.... So, I wanted to see if there was some way I could help the people who are helping the people directly who need the help. I found this organization:
http://www.modestneeds.org/ . Click on the Katrina link - they are helping people like Diane and Derek afford things for these refugees that they have taken in. They are helping the people who managed to get out but will be living in hotels for many months and the costs associated with that. I challenge you, Reader, to look at what help YOU would need if your entire city were devastated by any imaginable force. Then post on comments, so that I can know I have helped spread the word.
This is directly from the web site :
... there are many thousands of people who were able to leave New Orleans,
Gulfport, Biloxi and other cities devastated by Katrina. These people are now
spread throughout the United States and stranded for the duration. In most
cases, they are staying with friends, family or in hotels, often five or six to
a room. Because these people are now out of the disaster areas strictly
speaking, Modest Needs has confirmed that there will be precious little direct
assistance available to these people from larger, more conventional agencies.
2 comments:
I think that we're just realizing how much work remains now that most of the refugees have been rescued. It's staggering.
So far we have had limited response to the offer of housing in Minnesota - many people are unwilling to leave the area while the locations of their friends and families are unknown. I think I'd be a little worried myself. We still don't have a family yet but hope we will within the next two weeks.
Thanks for spreading the word - the rescue effort is really just the first step in rebuilding.
I have a refugee at my house too. But, there aren't six of her. And, she doesn't need any more jeans. She does eat a lot of brown rice though. Fortunately we laid in a good supply.
Post a Comment