Katrina relief

[magid]

What I can do

• give money (Red Cross, etc)
  Done, though I should do more, especially since I now have the company matching form to send along.
  
• give stuff (clothes, books, etc)
  It seems inefficient for me to ship to TX, LA, etc, myself, but I do have bags of clothes I was going to donate. I wonder if I should wait until people arrive at the AFB on the Cape, then get a carload of stuff to bring?
  
• give time (entering data about people trying to find other people)
  I've been trying to do this, but there's a glitch in the system about unacceptable date formats (I'm not the only one getting this error, either). So I wait, frustrated.
  
• give blood
  Need to set up an appointment sometime in the next couple of weeks.
  
• give space
  Guilt. I feel like I should offer space, but I'm leery, as well. I don't want to deal with explaining the vagaries of my kosher kitchen, and I've been burned once already by helping out an acquaintance-of-a-friend who turned out to be a bit scary, and stayed overlong.

However, it still bothers me to the point of gibbering rage that hurricane relief seems to be so much a volunteer operation, sometimes hindered by government, when it's government's job to deal with this, protecting the citizenry.

Comments

[cellio]

Guilt.

Me too. But my rabbi, who is helping to organize home hospitality here, pointed out that each refugee family is going to need help from more than just their hosts, so there are still ways to help out -- driving them places, inviting them for meals, helping them network for jobs, getting them connected with the local community in general, and so on. So we're not offering a bed either but I fully expect to offer help to individuals. Assuming FEMA lets us drive the buses in and they want to come here, of course.

[magid.livejournal.com]

From the article Queue linked to, it sounds like MA is just too far away for people to consider going, just now, anyway. So I suppose that should alleviate my guilt in not offering space, though it also means I won't be able to help people in the direct ways you mention, either.

And while I understand wanting to stay close to home, I suspect TX and surrounding states are being overwhelmed, too.

[queue.livejournal.com]

See here (http://www.boston.com/news/weather/articles/2005/09/07/plans_to_airlift_evacuees_on_hold/). I happened to read this over someone's shoulder on the T this morning (it happened too late to make it into the Metro, apparently). Looks like FEMA is putting the relocation of people on hold indefinitely due to people not wanting to be relocated too far away.

[magid.livejournal.com]

And, it sounds like, not wanting to be lost off the FEMA rolls. Given how things have gone so far, I have to admit I don't blame them. I do wish there were some way to expedite the process, though.

How frustrating for everyone who's worked to make space and such available and welcoming, too.

[gothtique.livejournal.com]

I am working on a way to get art supplies to the kids.
I called MEMA yesterday and chatted with some folks there. They are gonna call me back when things get a little more settled and they are past the "OMG we need food" and closer to the "how are we gonna send these kids to school" phase. I had originally volunteered to go to San Anotonio when I found out that they had plans to bring people up to Otis AFB.

I wish I could find the link for you. I know there is a crafters group that is auctioning stuff for charity. Do you knit? anything like that?

[magid.livejournal.com]

I crochet, mostly jewelry, these days. And I'd be happy to give something to be auctioned. Let me know?

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

I wonder if I should wait until people arrive at the AFB on the Cape, then get a carload of stuff to bring?

Latest news I heard (possibly this morning?) was that people won't be arriving anytime soon, since most of the evacuees prefer to stay closer to home. So that plan (which did seem like a reasonably good one) is currently pretty much on hold.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Queue gave me a link to the Globe story. It's unfortunate, with all the preparations people had made. Understandable to want to stay as near home as possible, but with the strain on TX and other surrounding states, I wish it were more feasible to have people come here.