What you can do in the wake of Katrina

If there is any silver lining to this tragedy it will be if it reawakens the spirit that, at times, makes this a great country.

Help will be needed for weeks and months to come. Here are some ideas for how you can get involved. We'll be adding links and updates as we find them. Please add your own as comments.

1) Adopt a sister-faith group. Have your church/synagogue/meditation group/mosque adopt a sister faith group in the stricken area. Help with rebuilding, hosting hurricane victims, sending clothes, supplies as requested. Invite those displaced or needing respite from your sister faith group to visit or stay.

2) Adopt a sister school in the stricken area. Listen to the stories of the kids who survived the hurricane, form pen pal relationships among students, help supply your sister school with needed materials and funds. Open school enrollment to kids who need to leave the area, or already have.

3) Form a local welcome group to help evacuees in your community meet their immediate needs and feel at home. By inviting these guests to community events and into homes, churches, schools, civic events, you can prevent the displaced from becoming isolated and help them regain a normal life.

4) Hold a community fundraiser; you could even feature New Orleans jazz and cuisine (invite bands displaced by Katrina to perform!).

5) Pledge a portion of your income or your business profits for the year to Katrina victims. Those businesses making unusual profits as a result of the hurricane could allocate their entire windfall profit to hurricane relief.

6) Support grassroots organizations who can do the long-term rebuilding and are controlled by the people affected at a time when they badly need to re-take control of their lives. Community Labor United, a coalition of progressive organizations from New Orleans, is setting up a New Orleans People's Committee, to be made up of representatives from all the shelters. The Committee is calling for a voice for evacuees in immediate assistance efforts and in the long-term rebuilding.

7) Offer your time and skills in data entry, in computer systems, medicine, auto mechanics, grief and trauma counseling, carpentry, job training to people in recovery – either in stricken areas or among the evacuees who may be in your community. If you were in the Peace Corps, you can re-enter for 3-6 months as part of the Crisis Corps.

8) Get off oil. Sell your SUV; drive less; weatherize your home; switch to green electricity. You can save money, and every pound of carbon you save is a one less pound contributing to climate disruption and future monster storms.

9) Give blood.

10) Demand a full independent investigation into why federal preparation and response failed so miserably, and why law enforcement turned on victims of the storm instead of protecting them. And tell President Bush and the right-wing message machine to stop blaming the victims!

11) Bring home the troops. Americans are coming together around the understanding that we need to end the war in Iraq and we need our national guard and our resources to rebuild the Gulf Coast.

11) Celebrate the ordinary people and government officials who acted heroically during and after the storm to save lives.

The hurricane and its aftermath lifted the veil on US society. All the world could see the results of policies and decisions that allowed ordinary people, especially the poor, black, disabled, and elderly, to be abandoned to the fury of the storm, the flood waters, and law enforcement bent on protecting goods at the expense of human lives.

But there are many stories also of ordinary people who, despite dangers or inconvenience, helped each other. Many of these stories are still unfolding -- you may already be part of one ...


Please post your ideas for what people can do and links to useful websites below as comments.