There are 200,000,000 of us only and only about 2 million of them. If
you haven't already thought about what you can do for the victims of
Katrina, take a few minutes and think through it. A little bit of help
from everyone will go a very long way.

People are getting sick, have injuries, and need help. There are many
that don't even have dry clothing, just the torn, wet rags they
escaped with. Anything you can do will help someone that is at this
moment, in despair.

Lots of people talk but it feels much better for everyone if you do. So
take a moment, please, and think about what you can do.

New Volunteers:
Every day, the American Red Cross helps people in emergencies. . .
whether it is half a million disaster victims or one sick child who
needs blood. Our work is made possible by people like you, people who
lend a helping hand. Red Cross volunteers come from all walks of life.
They are all ages: young people, nurses, seniors ... everyone has
something special to offer, including you. To find you how you can get
involved, enter your zip code in our ZIP Code Locator
http://www2.redcross.org/where/where.html. It is simple to use. Enter
your zip code at home, or work, or of the location in which you would
like to serve. Press enter and you will be directed to the local Red
Cross unit nearest your desired location.

To Make a Donation:
Call 1-800 435 7669 or visit the online donation system. If you are
experiencing problems while donating online, it is due to extremely
heavy volume on our Web site. Please try again later in the week or
call our 800 number.

Local Red Cross Chapter
To contact your local chapter visit our chapter locator.
http://www2.redcross.org/where/where

"palmtreedreamer" wrote in
oups.com:

There are 200,000,000 of us only and only about 2 million of them. If
you haven't already thought about what you can do for the victims of
Katrina, take a few minutes and think through it. A little bit of help
from everyone will go a very long way.


Go watch WWL-TV on http://www.wwltv.com/ and click on the live
broadcast.....

Then, go watch WLOX-TV in Biloxi on http://www.wlox.com/
You can't watch LOX live because there is no LOX TV station! But, WLOX has
some of the finest video footage of the storm areas on-demand from that
website. I've watched hours of helicopter flights over Coastal MS, today.

Coastal MS is GONE....nothing left....no people.....no buildings....gone!

Noone can get to the flood victims in New Orleans.

Question - Where is all this aid going to? Are we buying another Centrex
telephone system and paying off Red Cross bureaucrat salaries, like we did
in 9/11, again? The only thing I see from all the helo operation footage
from the TV stations down there is a few military police vehicles trying to
help the local cops keep the few victims left standing from eating each
other and stealing their neighbors' TVs and stereos. There's not one
"shelter" or "feeding station" or any kind of massive handout of
food/water/clothing or any kind of tent city in any of the footage. WLOX
did a piece on a fruit stand owner selling off his stock really cheap
before it spoils. There are very few people in any of these places, long
left for safer places where there's food/water/lodging/etc...... So?
Where's this money pot pouring into?

It's a question that needs to be addressed before the aid bureaucrats go
off stealing it again....

I did my part for the 9/11 victims, by the way. I asked a fire chief in
Manhattan to put me in touch with a dead fireman's wife so I could give her
DIRECT aid to help her immediately. He had her email me from her home in
NJ. I told her to send me her electric bill. I paid it for 6 months while
the NYFD bureaucrats were screwing about with her pension payments. I
contacted a local restaurant near her home on Thanksgiving when she told me
her parents were coming in from Ohio and tried to get them to cater
Thanksgiving Dinner for 3 adults and her kids. I tried to give them my
credit card number, but they refused. My victim got a Thanksgiving Dinner
surprise her family will never forget....it was on-the-house from the great
people at the little restaurant. Six employees showed up and served
dinner.

The feeling of doing something DIRECTLY is...............priceless!

Maybe I can do this again for someone DIRECTLY in LA or MS, a few months
from now when they are allowed to go home......but not now as there is NO
HOME TO GO HOME TO!

I'm still trying to follow this big money trail everyone is
creating...Something smells like a Red Cross Ripoff again.

--
Larry

God bless you for having such a big heart toward those well taken care
of people. Sleep well.

"palmtreedreamer" wrote in
oups.com:

God bless you for having such a big heart toward those well taken care
of people. Sleep well.



Oops...wrong knee-jerk response. The money pouring in has NO PLACE TO GO!
There's NO PLACE TO SEND IT! Sending it to some national bureaucracy, like
Red Cross, gets absorbed.

Please don't think I'm heartless. My 9/11 story shows I'm not. If you
know any victims living in a hotel, send them money to the hotel to help
them pay the bills, by all means! But to just keep sending checks to the
bigshot bureaucrats with 6-figure paychecks is STUPID!

There needs to be an internet site NOT run by the bigshot aid bureaucrats
to connect donors DIRECTLY with victims stored in hotels/motels/shelters.
The bloggers should run it to prevent the great sucking sound of some
organization sucking off the funds. I've mentioned this to ham radio
groups, here, who have communications setup in public shelters in
Charleston. We should connect shelter victims with donors, directly, and
let them communicate assistance around all the middlemen sucking them both
off.

How much money do you think gets to that little poor, starving kid in
Guatemala when you send it to some preacher in the $1200 suit with plastic
hair wearing the Rolex, driving the Lexus and living in a waterfront
mansion in some exclusive resort with a big TV network? 1c on the dollar?
That much?

Americans with big hearts can be SO stupid.....

--
Larry

I'd agree it's best to find some way to directly contribute. I plan on
taking a bunch of old clothing etc. to the Astrodome today. Here is one
local foundation in New Orleans that I donated to:
http://www.braf.org/page25271.cfm
Here are some others:
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/USNSAHome.htm
http://www.redcross.org/

from craigslist.org

Help for Katrina Survivors

FEMA News: Cash Sought To Help Hurricane Victims, Volunteers Should Not
Self-Dispatch

Release Date: August 29, 2005

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....

(more info and links at fema.gov)

Donate:
American Red Cross
800-HELP NOW (435-7669) English
800-257-7575 Spanish America's Second Harvest
800-344-8070
Resources:
Hurricane Housing
(a service of MoveOn.org)
Donate and Volunteer:
Adventist Community Services
800-381-7171

Catholic Charities, USA
703-549-1390

Christian Disaster Response
941-956-5183 or 941-551-9554

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
800-848-5818

Church World Service
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
800-SAL-ARMY (725-2769)

Southern Baptist Convention -- Disaster Relief
800-462-8657, ext. 6440

United Methodist Committee on Relief
800-554-8583

Keith wrote:
I'd agree it's best to find some way to directly contribute. I plan on
taking a bunch of old clothing etc. to the Astrodome today. Here is one
local foundation in New Orleans that I donated to:
http://www.braf.org/page25271.cfm
Here are some others:
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/USNSAHome.htm
http://www.redcross.org/


--
I am building a Dudley Dix, Argie 10 for my daughter. Check it out:
http://home.comcast.net/~jonsailr

Maybe so. Sorry to snap but the way you put things seemed really quite
harsh.\
\
There are several companies that are matching whay people put it and
cash is the best thing because you don't need to truck it. (well if you
did it would be nicer)

In St. Thomas USVI lots of people got rich off of the Red Cross but the
RC was there to help. People would get 18 cook stoves by going to 18
outposts and then sell 17 on the black market. I know this to happen
but there are 100's that don't do that and actaully get help.

It doesn't matter how you do it, so long as you do it.

I am taking a trailor full of stuff there in a few weeks when it will
help with the rebuild. I am also thinking about stopping for 2 weeks
and doing some manual labor but I have a wive and 2 small kids that
might get in the way of it since there is a lack of places to stay and
we will be on our way from Ca to FL at the time.

I think $10 or more from everyone would just about fix the place and
make people whole again. It isn't much when everyone joins in. Most
people are trying hard just to take care of their own family so I
understand but just a little goes a long way.

Ford Motor Company is matching employees contributions to the Red Cross, I
gave $200. Those people need all the help we can give. If we as Americans
don't come fully to the aid of our fellow brothers and sisters, shame on us.
Paul Schilter

"palmtreedreamer" wrote in message
oups.com...
Maybe so. Sorry to snap but the way you put things seemed really quite
harsh.\
\
There are several companies that are matching whay people put it and
cash is the best thing because you don't need to truck it. (well if you
did it would be nicer)

In St. Thomas USVI lots of people got rich off of the Red Cross but the
RC was there to help. People would get 18 cook stoves by going to 18
outposts and then sell 17 on the black market. I know this to happen
but there are 100's that don't do that and actaully get help.

It doesn't matter how you do it, so long as you do it.

I am taking a trailor full of stuff there in a few weeks when it will
help with the rebuild. I am also thinking about stopping for 2 weeks
and doing some manual labor but I have a wive and 2 small kids that
might get in the way of it since there is a lack of places to stay and
we will be on our way from Ca to FL at the time.

I think $10 or more from everyone would just about fix the place and
make people whole again. It isn't much when everyone joins in. Most
people are trying hard just to take care of their own family so I
understand but just a little goes a long way.

"palmtreedreamer" wrote in
oups.com:

In St. Thomas USVI lots of people got rich off of the Red Cross but the
RC was there to help. People would get 18 cook stoves by going to 18
outposts and then sell 17 on the black market. I know this to happen
but there are 100's that don't do that and actaully get help.



In Charleston, SC, 1989, Hurricane Hugo, not one single "agency" or other
bureaucracy did a damned thing for anyone that I ever met or know,
personally. Nothing...NADA. We looked out for ourselves. We cleaned the
trees, wires, smashed cars and other debris out of the street in the
subdivision I was lucky enough to be a survivor in in Summerville, SC. It
took us 2 weeks of 10 hour days to cut our way out to the main entrance.
We ran out of gas a few times and had to scour for more dead cars to steal
fuel from to keep the chain saws running. No Red Cross bureaucrats were
ever seen in their shiny trucks, wearing their pseudo-military smart
uniforms advertising the company logos...nothing.

Once we were out of the neighborhood, we were going nowhere. The main
roads were still "waiting" for the "agencies". Right across from the main
entrance was a Scotchman convenience store/gas station full of gas with no
power. I had been powering the house I was staying in from the 7.5KW Onan
gas genset in their motorhome I was sleeping in with a haywire rig of cut
up lawn cables. We had plenty of power, even AC, water from their swimming
pool once I got the electric pump installed stolen from a neighbor's water
fountain. Before the storm, every vessel of every kind was filled in the
house, in the motorhome, in the garage. Drinking water wasn't a problem.
Even the bathtub was washed down, sanitized and filled with drinking, not
flushing, water. We drank it first because it was exposed. Noone got
sick. Noone needed water. We did have to refill the icemaker by hand
because the city cut off the water to stop us from flushing the toilets.
Well, I made a deal with the Scotchman owner/manager to provide him with
electric power during the day from the motorhome....in swap for full tanks
to power the house and all the neighbor's refrigerators stacked in the
garage all night. My friends we stayed with had a FREEZER STUFFED WITH
STEAK! Her parents were dairy farmers...(c; I still don't eat steak any
more...yecch.

This arrangement was modified to 4 hours per day and the owner and I
decided to keep one of his underground tanks 5000 gallons for ourselves.
It was a great arrangement for both of us. He sold off his stock that was
still good and got more, except perishables because I couldn't power the
big walkin cooler and his pumps out front at the same time. He continued
to provide me fuel even after we had procured a 20KW diesel genset which I
hooked to the station's power panel for him.

As to the "agency" which did my family and other families I know the most
good? I'd say the Bi-Lo Corporation, who owned the Bi-Lo food store by my
pet shop was probably our saviour as the food was running out a month after
the storm. Bi-Lo finally got huge tractor trailers full of water in gallon
jugs, reefer trucks full of ice and other trucks full of food in a constant
barrage of stuff into that store. I also had a hand in getting the store
back in operation.....

I had done a favor for some guys from Asplundt (sp?) Tree Service, who were
working 24/7 for the power company clearing the lines. My phone worked
when their truck died in front of the shopping center. Their radio died
with the truck battery. Seeing power come back on the main highway at
about 1.3 months after the storm, our shopping center's branch 23KV line
was still down. So, I camped out at the SCE&G local crew quarters for a
few hours hanging around the haggard-looking crews looking for a favor.
After I explained to the boss what I was after, he said he didn't have
anyone to do the tree work. I waited until I saw those tree guys I'd
helped drive in and called in my marker..(c; We cleared the trees and I
went back to the power company crew quarters to get a truck. I got two!
The manager of the Bi-Lo store was SO nice to me when all of a sudden all
those compressors in the back room just came to life! He just said, "You
come to me when you need groceries. I got plenty for you, now!"

No "agencies"....no "bureaucrats"....Thank you Bi-Lo Corporation. I've
never forgotten it, either. Precisely my point of the donations.
Charleston was SWIMMING in MONEY after Hugo, once we dug our way out of the
trees. Insurance money just POURED into this place. We missed 2
recessions everyone else suffered. We all got new roofs/houses/cars/stuff.

I never figured out what FEMA, SC Emergency Preparedness and the local
bureaucrats did. They didn't do anything for anyone I knew....

--
Larry

"palmtreedreamer" wrote in
oups.com:

Maybe so. Sorry to snap but the way you put things seemed really quite
harsh.\


Talking about other people's money is a harsh affair. One has to ask hard
questions. I'm sorry if I offended.

I've done some net snooping and found some interesting items:
http://www.bloodbook.com/part-4.html
They're talking, mostly, about Red Cross' stranglehold on the blood
business, not paying taxes on its $51/unit profits ($11/unit commercially
after taxes). But, some relative numbers to our discussion show up here.
For instance:

"In Philadelphia, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of Red Cross
received 52 percent - or $3,173,506 - of its funding in 1988 from United
Way contributions. The chapter had total revenues of $6.1 million last year
and spent $885,036 on disaster services. Its largest expenditures were
nearly $1.6 million contributed to national headquarters in Washington and
$1.1 million for management and chapter activities."

It took $1.1M plus the "franchise fee" of $1.6M to run Philadelphia's Red
Cross? $885K on disasters is 14.5% of the total take of $6.1M. It's only
27.8% of your United Way contribution. A LOT of the rest, much more than
any relief it gave, went to "management and chapter activities", like those
$150,000 salaries they pay top bureaucrats. Is that fair? I think NOT.

I found this on another site run by the Red Cross, itself....

"•The Red Cross has continued to provide services and assistance to those
directly affected by the September 11 attacks, beyond the period covered in
the audited financial statements. As of November 1, 2002, the Red Cross had
received an unprecedented $1.052 billion in contributions (including $60
million of in-kind materials and services); $756 million of which has
already been disbursed. With these generous contributions, the Red Cross
already has provided:
o $276 million in direct assistance to 3,396 families of the deceased and
seriously injured;
o $280 million to approximately 51,000 families of displaced workers,
residents and disaster workers; and
o $139 million in immediate disaster relief that has provided an estimated
14 million meals, mental health services for approximately 236,000 people
and health services for approximately 133,000 people (including $40 million
of in-kind materials and services)."

Hmm...let's do the math. We took in $1052M and gave out $276M to 3396
families in 9/11. That works out to 26% of the take. Oddly, if you divide
up $276M by 3396 families you get $81,272/family. Do you really think they
were writing out checks for $81 grand to these people? That's an awful lot
of money for disaster relief, isn't it? Does anyone know how much money
someone actually got that they know about? Was it 81 grand?!

$280M went to families of displaced workers, residents and "disaster
workers". What disaster workers? Red Cross employees, perhaps? What
"displaced workers"? Are they victims or not? I don't think we can count
this pile as reaching the VICTIMS' families. Too vaguely veiled.

$139M went for 14,000,000 meals. Who ate 'em? Noone in the towers ate
'em. They all died! Noone in NYC ate 'em. All the restaurants and
grocery stores were open, right? Who ate 14,000,000 meals? Bangledeshis?
Wow! The shrinks took a big pot away...236,000 cases! 133,000 was the
doctors' cut. The biggest medical cases were probably from overeating the
14,000,000 meals I can't figure out who ate. There weren't "refugees" in
NY or DC. Mass shelters didn't open up to house disaster victims. Did the
cleanup workers, firemen and cops eat 'em? No...they went home and ate
Mom's cooking. Doesn't this sound even remotely "fishy"?

So, we're looking at Red Cross handing out, really, some where around 30-
35% of the $1,052,000,000 people sent them. Where is the rest of it stored
($736 MILLION plus all the interest it's been making) and when can we
expect it to BE SENT TO NEW ORLEANS, BILOXI, GULF PORT and the destroyed
parishes of MS and LA?..... Was it stolen?
That's just the "surplus" they didn't hand out to 9/11 victim families!

--
Larry
I keep hearing this great sucking sound. Don't you?