I have been planning a Katrina Relief concert for about a week now and the community has been great. They have offered to donate everything I've needed until now. Now I need a venue. I have been told that the Cotati Plaza in Cotati, CA would be a great location but I have to ask the city council for permission. I need your help!
Wednesday I will be going in front of the City Council. I could really use some community support. Please support the concert and Katrina Survivors by sending a short email to the Cotati City Council. In case you don't know, I am just one person, planning this. I don't have any savings or extra money so I can't afford the permits and insurance. I'm hoping the city will consider sponsoring the event so I don't have to try to come up with the funds. I need people to put the screws to them.
If you would please call, email or show up at the meeting, I would be so greatful!
If you could please, in your emails or phone calls say something like:
I would love to see this fundraiser at the plaza I would attend People in NOLA, Mississippi, etc really need our help I would be disappointed if it didn't happen Great for surrounding businesses Do your part to help Katrina survivors Wave the fees Help with insurance costs Great city! Etc.
The council, the mayor and vice mayor's email addresses are: gfox@ci.cotati.ca.us, pgilardi@ci.cotati.ca.us, lmoore@ci.cotati.ca.us, jorchard@ci.cotati.ca.us, pminnis@ci.cotati.ca.us
Please CC or BCC me if you remember.
The meeting: Wednesday, September 14th, 7:00 p.m. City Council Chambers, 201 W. Sierra Ave., Cotati, CA
This is a good way for those with less money to donate to the hurricane relief. Threadless.com is an ongoing t-shirt design contest where people contribute designs and vote on the designs of others (the most popular are made into t-shirts and are sold through the website).
Well, the wonderful people behind Threadless have designed a special t-shirt specifically for Katrina. It sends the message out there and costs $10. The big deal behind this is that for every $10 t-shirt sold, Threadless will donate $20 to the relief fund! Double what you've paid for the shirt!
The link above takes you straight to the shirt. It comes in girly sizes as well as male ones. Spread the word, people!
By the way, I am NOT trying to spam communities with this. I think the chance for people to double their donation to the fund and getting something for it as well is just a great opportunity for those with less money to donate, but who want to help. If this breaks community rules, please feel free to delete this post. I don't want to rock the boat.
wispa has posted: ”I'm currently adding new friends to my list and counting everyones (meaning everyone on my friends list excluding communities) TOTAL # of posts and using that number multiplied by $.01 (i can't go much higher than that because i'm a broke college student!) to get a monetary value that i will donate to the red cross!” Today is the last day for this project. rotcknn_ahren will donate dollars for comments, and merrivere has posted a message of thanks to all.
For those of you on the west coast here is yet another way you can help. Longs Drugs Stores are doing a fundraiser that is linked with the Red Cross. basically at the registers there will be these little coupon books that'll say $1,5,10,20 and that is literally to the very penny how much is going to the Red Cross. So when you're picking up your prescriptions and such just pick up a one dollar coupon and tell the cashier to scan it. it helps I promise. I work there I should know. They should already be in the stores, and in the system so if they're not at the registers demand that they get them out of whatever place they're stuck in. Thank you.
Announcing two resources for displaced college students!
alchemy_gryph from academics_anon has put together a list of schools that are accepting displaced college students on her LJ: ♦ Alphabetical list of colleges and universities accepting displaced students, A-I, J-O, and P-Z.
The page is being constantly renewed, with more than 65 school announcements still to be added. If you are a student, or have made a similar list and noticed that a certain school is not listed, please feel free to contribute to the masterlist by doing one of two things:
1. Edit the new information directly into the Wikinews page (instructions here and here ).
2. Leave a comment at the discussion page or at the instructions page. Someone will take your comment and edit your contribution into the article.
Please help spread the word!
x-posted to ziasudra and to various LJ communities.
Some of you are college students. If you're anything like me, college student = poor. I understand that. I'm poor.
So here's a unique challenge:
The fall semester is just starting. Instead of buying new textbooks, I challenege people to 1) get used books online, or 2) check the necessary books out from the library. Then, go back to your campus bookstore and see how much you would have spent on textbooks. As much as it's possible and logical (don't go broke over this!), donate the money you saved to any Hurricane Katrina funds.
I'm going to do it -- I already checked out a whole bunch of books from the library.
Please follow the link to some suggestions I put together on how to go about doing this wisely.
I'm interested in knowing how many people are willing to do this. If you're taking up the challenge, plase go to my original post here and leave a comment. Thanks!
Besides italianchick589, edna_blackadder and x0_da_emster_0x will also donate if you comment them, and merrivere has a special donation-for-poems/jokes/your-favorite-class-and-teacher project running until until 6:00 PM Central time today.
You can also help Katrina survivors (and others) just by visiting click-to-donate sites. There, clicking on a button will take you to a page of ads, and the advertisers will then donate money to charity. Usually, only one click per day per computer is counted. Clicking at The Hunger Site helps Katrina survivors. America’s Second Harvest lists both that and Dannon’s click-to-donate site (haven’t they collected that $75,000 already?) as helping them. Then there are two other sites that apparently help A2H, but I haven’t been able to check them out: Stop the Hunger and Hunger Fighters. Visiting another page that I haven’t been able to check seems to give 0.2 cents to help Katrina survivors. Please click and spread the word! Thanks in advance!
This morning I received a copy of an email from Ollie Cantos summarizing the issues facing Katrina survivors with disabilities, responders, and disability advocates and what is being done. I want to get this posted where it might be useful--crossposting to hurricane and disability communities as well as my journal. (If anyone knows how to crosspost more efficiently using Semagic, please tell me!) I'm glad to see that some resources are mobilizing to provide disability-specific relief. This email outlines a few of the practical issues involved and reasons why a response from the disability community is needed and why the resources of the FEMA and Red Cross, etc, may not be appropriate to meet the needs of people with disabilities. For additional info and resources, see http://www.katrinadisability.info.
The Red Cross was short of blood before the hurricane. Donating blood is free. Most people can do it. It's not hard. And there are blood drives all over. Call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE for the next one in your area. You'll even get cookies.
Hello everybody. I'm a New Orleans refugee... everything I ever used to do is destroyed, my car, homes, etc.. Most important is the lives that was left down there.. and how many people's pets were killed.. and how many more are going to die because of the inevitable infection of the floodwaters.
My cat is stuck down there.. Nobody was really worried about the storm until after it hit.. a lot of people left their pets in homes with food for 3 or 4 days.. I left my cat with a friend I knew was staying there. But he's sick and he's getting worse... he was on UTI medicine and I only was able to give him half the amount before leaving.. the medicine has to be chilled... power is out.
Anybody who ever had a male cat neutered probably knows the dangers of urinary back up.. and how it can kill. I need to get my cat here, where it's safe, and I need to get him treated... I'm asking for any small donation. I have no job anymore, I used all my money to get here and to leave enough food for my cat. Please help us...
He's part of my family.. he left the family house with me when I lived in N.O. without my mom... losing him would be losing a best friend..
Everyone please join call_to_action and help us with our hurricane relief efforts! We currently have many projects in the works, including a benefit CD and an art book, 100% of the proceeds from which will go to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army! We also have links of many ways you can help the relief effort, even if you don't have money to donate.
Please join up to help, and please spread this announcement far and wide in your journals! Thank you so much.
x-posted everywhere. Hi I'm new here. I am joining as many of these communtities as possible to educate myself and help out. I also want to spread the word about what some people around LJ, including myself, are doing. Please check this out.
I have decided to give $1 to the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund for each comment I recieve here. This began here, and I thought it was an amazing idea. I can only donate so much, so once I can't donate anymore I will close this post. I haven't really thought up a total yet. If you want, please do this in your own livejournal. Help the people in need please. Also, you can join some of the following communities to help out as well. hurricankatrina katrina_relief hpkatrinarelief katrina_info
I'm in dire need of some information to a question about receiving disaster training ASAP. There was an emergency call put out by a contact of mine for volunteers to come out and work in meals/overall relief help, however, these volunteers need to have disaster training. I know the Red Cross is swamped right now, so I'm really not interested in calling and getting busy signal after busy signal, but is there an agency that would do this now after the fact of Hurricane Katrina?
What would disaster training entail? Do you know of any agencies that would train myself and some more volunteers? Could this be done in a week? Any information would be spectacular. It's been burning in my heart to go, and now with the opportunity, I'm scared to death, but I'm called to it and here I am.
During your time of need there are many individuals and families that are offering housing and sometimes more while you begin to rebuild your lives. Two sites you can check that I have registered with are:
I have started a new community katrinahelpinfo. I have never promoted a community before--I'm sorry if this isn't allowed. I just want to help spread the word, that's all.
My boyfriend's parents (the in laws) have a silk screening, t-shirt printing business. They have offered to print shirts for free for 10 dollars each and donate all the proceeds to the relief fund. If you are interested please reply. I promise this isn't a farce...I'll evens ee if we can set it up between a paypal account so that you can yoink the money if you find yourself doubting it. They live in Georgia and they have family all over the south, praticularly his grandmother in Alabama. She was okay and so is her home, thnakfully. If anyone's interested, please reply.
Governor Huntsman of Salt Lake City, UT made a televised statement saying that as soon as the federal government began evacuating the survivors of Hurricane Katrina from the dome, that SLC would bring as many as 1,000 people here to assist with reuniting with family members or whatever needed to be done to get these people back on their feet.
Radio stations, TV News programs, banks, credit unions, schools, grocery stores, etc... Salt Lake City has united and put all the funds we can together to help the people of Louisiana and Mississippi territories, respectively.
I am, for the first time, proud to be a citizen of this state. To see us coming together to help our fellow Americans in a true time of need.
Can anyone provide me with a logical, rational answer as to why our federal government is refusing international aid and assistance in respect to Katrina? Apparently, if this is indeed a factual article (see URL below), Canada had specialized troops ready to board a plane and go straight to Louisiana on WEDNESDAY! They were not allowed to enter the country - even though they had their shit together and were more prepared to assist than our own government...
Things look tremendously better after the third day (so much better since yesterday, even). But with three days of non-stop cleanup, what you see now cannot begin to intimate what Hattiesburg did look like.
Nine reported deaths in Forrest county.
Canbreak got its lights back on about 5:30 pm yesterday. Things west, though, are a different story than things east, south, and north. Talked with MP&L crews on two different occaisions, both yesterday and today--they are still standing by their three to four week estimation of when full power will return.
But no, things are not good at all in Hattiesburg. There is still no food. Wal-Mart is running on a generator, but allowing 20 people in at a time, and the wait is four hours. But when the store empties--that's it. This little supply doesn't begin to scratch the surface of the demand. Hattiesburg is a very large town.
There is no gas. I can't even describe the surreal sights of three hours worth of driving down from Greenville where along the entire length of Hwy 49 there are lines two or more miles long of people waiting at gas stations. I shot video of this. There is no gas along the entire length of a three hour drive, for two hundred miles. A lot of these people are waiting in line without knowing the station up ahead HAS NO GAS! People are waiting for hours and hours in terrible heat.
Coming into Hattiesburg from Hwy 49 S is even more surreal. Stucky's and the BP across the road have lines of vehicles stretching on for two miles or more (this is NO exaggeration). The line in the BP snaked down 49 almost to 4th street--this is from the Hwy 49 / I-55 intersection.
We took 90 gallons of water to three families. These families, I can tell you, are desperate. They had not eaten in about two days-- nothing resembling a full meal, anyway. They have NO gas in their cars. They are trapped, with no way to go, no food, no water they can drink (can't boil because there's no electricity), no contact with the rest of Mississippi, and no conception that even if the power is back on THERE IS NO FOOD COMING IN and what remains is going to have the whole population of that large town waiting in line for it.
If you can, you need to go to Hattiesburg with tanks or cans of gas so you can make it there and back, take as much water and ice as you can, non-perishable foods, give it to who you can, and bring back who you can. Don't read this lightly. This is no exaggeration. Things there are desperate.
God Bless Hattiesburg. Everyone Pray for south MS, AL, and New Orleans.
im looking for someone around my age (15) who needs clothes, or anything. im not really in the position to donate money, but i want to find someone who needs my help and friendship. if anyone has a relative or someone they know who is around my age and was a victim of the hurricane, PLEASE give them my email (thoushaltkissme@yahoo.com).
thanks <333 my love and prayers go out to everyone
Are there any places that are taking donations of blankets, sheets, towels, pjs, etc? Everywhere I'm finding is just asking for money, and the Salvation Army says if you donate they'll sell them.
Trying to find Shelia Lusins, Eriks Lucins, and Agnesee Lusins. Last contact from Gulfport, Miss. Any help or information is greatly appreciated, and my thoughts go out to you all searching for your loved ones.
Any info on Gulfport is greatly appreciated as well.
If anyone knows anyone who evacuated new orleans or surrounding areas and came up here to shreveport or across the border to east texas. We have families willing to to take families in.
I am from Houston and we want to house a family. My family wants to put up a web site to match families that need a place to stay with families in Houston, but they're not sure how to go about it legally...
From what my mom has told me (I am in tulsa at the moment) they are turning people away from the astrodome if they were not in the superdome and many many people that have been turned away are just parked and waiting across the street to wait for family members that may, or may not come.
Most of the other facilities in Houston are packed (I think that is why they are bringing people to Austin now).
The people orchistraiting relief efforts are turning away voulenteers so people in Houston are not sure what to do to help.
I know more then just my family want to house people. Please leave a message here if you have any information on how to house a family, or find one, or if you need help in Houston.
I drafted this yesterday on my way out of the storm affected areas. PLEASE forward this to anyone, everyone you can think of. Friends, family, individuals, corporations, national and internation news media. Also, if you feel so inclined, feel free to print out copies of this and hand them out to friends and family or even post them up in your hometown.
Additionally, I'd like to ask you to contact your congresspeople and state representatives immediately and tell them to get more national guard and law enforcement officials down there ASAP. The stories I'm hearing from friends and friends of friends who are stuck in New Orleans and even in Baton Rouge are horrifying, it's turning into complete anarchy.
I am writing to plea on behalf of all residents of the Gulf Coast region, from Louisiana to Florida. I am one of the lucky ones – I braved the storm and got out to be able to tell about it. I grew up in Gulfport, Mississippi but have lived and worked primarily in New Orleans for the last four years. Some friends and I evacuated that city late Saturday night to stay in Gulfport where we felt safer from the storm surge and flooding. Eight of us rode it out in my mother’s home, listening to and feeling the roaring winds and rains for almost 12 hours. Our back porch roof was ripped off completely, and the roof over our kitchen was punctured, leaving the kitchen in shambles from the effects of wind and rain. We count ourselves lucky, the house is still livable and everyone who stayed there is safe. My mother’s business and entire source of income, however, is completely destroyed. All of my friends from New Orleans have given up hope of salvaging their homes and possessions. Several friends, including my boyfriend’s father, are still stranded in New Orleans. My boyfriend and I were able to make it out of Gulfport to the nearest open airport, which was Baton Rouge, to fly north to help his company relocate and continue to do business. He is one of the lucky ones – he still has a job. When we left my mother’s house there was absolutely no communication in or out of the area, and we barely knew the status of Biloxi, the next city over, let alone much information about New Orleans.
I implore you, I plead with you, and I beg you, HELP US. Millions of people are homeless, without the basic necessities of life, or worse yet, hurt or dead. Many of these jobs and homes will be irreplaceable. The majority of these people have no way right now to ask you for help themselves. I’m sure they won’t mind me requesting assistance on their behalf. Last year I felt the effects of the tsunami in Southeast Asia from the other side of the world. Myself and many of my friends donated what we could to help with the relief efforts there. All we can do right now is hope that the people of the world will be as generous towards us as we tried to be for those who suffered through that tragedy. I am begging you, do what you can and put yourself in our shoes. Please know, I have seen friends and neighbors banding together to help each other make it through this experience. I will be the first to condemn those who are seen looting useless personal property, but please understand that those who have been left behind are forced to do what they must to survive at this point. They cannot do much without outside help. This is what we need from all of you so urgently at this time. Please don’t let us down – we can’t make it without you.
Just coming here to help out my SO. His child (and evil ex-wife) live(d) in Biloxi. We haven't heard from them since several weeks before the storm and it would not be unlike her to not think that we would need to be informed that they were all right. Anyway, does anyone know where I can get information regarding Biloxi survivors? If it helps, she worked at one of the casinos down there (don't remember which but I can find out).
last night i was listening to air america radio. randi rhodes, the host, kept on saying that maybe the major cruise ship companies should send one (or more) ship to the gulf coast (or the closest available docking point, maybe texas or the florida panhandle) and provide temporary shelter for stranded hurricane vitcims. anyway, i thought this was a fine idea.
today at work, my friend sally and i were discussing this. we have decided that we want to start a letter writing campaign to four of the major cruise ship companies: crystal, carnival, celebrity, and norwegien. we are hoping that our company (a travel company nonetheless) will put these links and email addresses up on our internal website, so that agents from around the country can write as well.
anyway, it's very grassrootsy, but really, that's all we can do for now.
please cross-post this widely.
you can contact carnival and celebrity directly through these weblinks:
this is our idea for a sample letter (remember, the shorter, the sweeter):
to whom it may concern,
is there any possibility of your temporarily donating one of your ships to help stranded hurricane victims? one of your ships would provide necessary temporary shelter.
thank you.
(your name)
anyway, let's flood these people with emails. and please crosspost this widely.
Greetings from Vicksburg, MS. Just to let you know, an effective means of communication has been established on the Coast through Ham Radio - call letters WX5AAA. They are helping Red Cross locate and retrieve info on missing persons.
So, if you know someone with Ham, you might want to try that.
I'm going to add some more to my previous statements. These observations are all based on what I can see from the NOAA aerial photos and I'm not an expert on the area.
James St, Louisiana St, and Edmond Dr - looks good. Not much debris and there is a white vehicle that looks "parked" on the road. The top of the loop in that area looks a little damaged.
I see a school, then South a bit is a stadium and track. Near that is a still-standing water tower. The houses directly South of that sustained a decent amount of damage and have lots of debris around them. There is a large red-roofed complex just South of the stadium, it looks fine. However a blue-roofed building directly South of that has been destroyed.
It's really weird to see, but some neighborhoods farther North look to have sustained a lot more damage. I guess there were some tornadoes in the area.
MY SISTERS HOUSE IS OKAY! !!! I used the latest aerial photos from NOAA and it took about an hour, but I located my sister's house in Long Beach, MS. The house looks to be still standing, roof intact, minor damage to backyard fence, no large debris in yard, drive, or on road in front. YAY!!! I hope to see more good news on this board.
And if you can get this link to work, you should try it too:
It wasn't loading for me just now, but it worked fine this morning. You simply go to that website and they have a picture of the Gulf Coast with squares. You click on the square that is relevant to your search and it brings you to a closer picture. That picture has tons of little squares on it and you find the one that works for you.
I used multiple maps to find landmarks and compare. When you click on the little box it brings you to a picture that you can zoom in on (it's high res) and the houses are about the size of postage stamps. It goes a decent ways inland, over one mile because my sister lives that far in, and shows pretty good detail.
I wish I could help and give more specific info, but I've only spent maybe 20 days total in MS and I don't know much of what I'm looking at.
I can say that she lives on Pine Crest Circle in Long Beach, MS, and that entire neighboorhood/subdivision looks really good. The houses in that same area on McCaughen Ave sustained some damage, mostly missing roof tiles from what I can discern. Most of Gates Ave looks pretty good but there's a lot of debris. Ferguson Ave has a few houses with some pretty serious damage. Same for Park Row Ave.
ETA: This is my sister's neighborhood - for an example of what NOAA will give you. The site is again working for me!
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