Give No Matter What.

I was about to post on a story that is now all over the media about violence in New Orleans. You may find it if you look, but I will not contribute to the tabloidization of this catastrophe.

These stories are going to be pounded and will do nothing right now but cause those inclined to donate to hold back on giving. This isn't the time for recriminations, for politics, for anything but to come together and help the people of the Gulf Coast.

I'm reposting this here:

Clicking on the banner above will take you directly to the Red Cross Donation page, my choice for today's blogburst for Hurricane Katrina Relief. Today, bloggers from all over the nation and in many other countries are putting their efforts into raising money for disaster relief and emergency services. Thousands of people are homeless, hungry and dehydrated. Many have nothing left.

Families and homes have been literally torn apart. Businesses that have been nurtured for decades are shattered.

It is difficult to even imagine what the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are experiencing. This is something that they will be dealing with for months, and something that will have lasting effects for years. Please give anything that you can. No donation is too small to help.

During times of crisis and disaster, as in the South Asia tsunami earlier this year, America has offered and delivered help and rescue to literally millions around the world. There isn't a rescuer for us to rely on. We must do this on our own, for our own. 

If the Red Cross is not your choice, Glenn Reynolds has a growing list of resourced and other blogger picks. I have compiled a list of some not-so obvious picks. Here are some of them from yesterday's post:

Adventist Development & Relief Agency (ADRA) has set up a hurricane relief fund here.

NVOAD has a Disaster News Network page with links and news.

Church World Service has a donation page up.

For you misplaced Anglicans, there is Episcopal Relief & Development.

WritersCafe.net (for the Buddhist poets in the audience)has a donation page for monies to be sent to Americares Domestic Relief Fund.

America's Second Harvest also has a donation page.

Lutheran World Relief is here.

United Jewish Charities has their page here.

Islamic Circle of North America is here.

For us Godless heathens, I suppose there's Morgan Freeman's charity auction at Charity Folks, especially since they're listing some big ticket items. Maybe the auction winners will donate the prizes, too.

Also check out Hugh Hewitt Charles Johnson and the guy that has thrown his talents behind the big blog aggregator, N.Z. Bear. The TTLB topic page is here. Check in throughout the day.

Please. Please.

These are our own brothers and sisters down there. I want to believe--so I do--that roving bandits and looters are not the majority. The majority are people who are obeying the law and only trying to salvage some small part of their lives. Looters and criminals will be dealt with.

Looting, believe it or not, was fairly common at the WTC. The media didn't publish it widely out of concern for those who needed our help. I honestly have not heard of any reports of violence there, but I have first hand knowledge of stores being stripped of merchandise.

Will we turn away because we don't want a cent going to a band of thugs? Was every soul innocent in Phuket? Aren't criminals in our midst every day? Do we stop trying to make the world better because there are still bad people in it?

This can happen to any of us. No matter now civilized we like to think ourselves, we hang onto a thin veneer of gentility that can quite easily be stripped away.

Think. Feel. Give.

UPDATE: After looking over this and other posts, I think that I might be giving the wrong impression, so let me make this clear. Wanton looters and those violently standing against the authorities should be shot. I am not saying that they shouldn't be dealt with. I'm saying that I don't believe that all of New Orleans is rioting. It seems to me that we are seeing the same footage over and over. How much is actually going on? We don't know. And even if we did, I don't think that broadcsating the images constantly right now is doing any good.

So yes, order must be restored. We should let that happen without spying. Remember, there is no way of a Giuliani getting on the television and calming the city. Many of these people don't know what's going to happen to them. Put yourself in their shoes. What are you doing now?

Clicking on the banner above will take you directly to the Red Cross Donation page, my choice for today's blogburst for Hurricane Katrina Relief. Today, bloggers from all over the nation and in many other countries are putting their efforts into raising money for disaster relief and emergency services. Thousands of people are homeless, hungry and dehydrated. Many have nothing left.

Families and homes have been literally torn apart. Businesses that have been nurtured for decades are shattered.

It is difficult to even imagine what the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are experiencing. This is something that they will be dealing with for months, and something that will have lasting effects for years. Please give anything that you can. No donation is too small to help.

During times of crisis and disaster, as in the South Asia tsunami earlier this year, America has offered and delivered help and rescue to literally millions around the world. There isn't a rescuer for us to rely on. We must do this on our own, for our own. 

If the Red Cross is not your choice, Glenn Reynolds has a growing list of resourced and other blogger picks. I have compiled a list of some not-so obvious picks. Here are some of them from yesterday's post:

Adventist Development & Relief Agency (ADRA) has set up a hurricane relief fund here.

NVOAD has a Disaster News Network page with links and news.

Church World Service has a donation page up.

For you misplaced Anglicans, there is Episcopal Relief & Development.

WritersCafe.net (for the Buddhist poets in the audience)has a donation page for monies to be sent to Americares Domestic Relief Fund.

America's Second Harvest also has a donation page.

Lutheran World Relief is here.

United Jewish Charities has their page here.

Islamic Circle of North America is here.

For us Godless heathens, I suppose there's Morgan Freeman's charity auction at Charity Folks, especially since they're listing some big ticket items. Maybe the auction winners will donate the prizes, too.

Also check out Hugh Hewitt Charles Johnson and the guy that has thrown his talents behind the big blog aggregator, N.Z. Bear. The TTLB topic page is here. Check in throughout the day.

Comments

[Maggie]

Well "said," Daniel.