Katrina Assistance Possibility

How about not delaying the money for the releif efforts with an auction or a bake sale, but simply sending the money in NOW to the legitimate charities.

Boeing employees can make contributions and get them MATCHED 100% by the company. if you work for a large corporation check to see if they have a similar matching program.

"Boeing to match ECF contributions for hurricane relief According to Rick Stephens, senior vice president of Internal Services, Boeing will match employee contributions to The Employees Community Fund for Hurricane Katrina relief. "We hope our donation will help bring some comfort to those affected by this tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with them," said Stephens. Boeing will match employee contributions dollar for dollar and retiree contributions at 50 cents on the dollar. In addition to the match, a company contribution also is planned. It is expected that ECF will be able to begin accepting eligible contributions Friday - information will be made available on Boeing News Now. The match will run for three weeks from the starting date. For more information about donating after a disaster, click the "i" below. "

I agree.

It's a nice idea to do an auction but don't wait, send the money.

As was in the horrifying tsunami Dec 26 (which likely was more deadly but Katrina was horrifying none the less), many companies are doing fundraisers and straight donations to the relief organization. Chip in the money now and see what things need to be bought. Send blankets, etc to the charities.

Actually, DO NOT send blankets, etc. to the charities. Send $$$$$.

"The Red Cross does not accept in-kind donations for good reason. When infrastructure, bridges, and roads are damaged, sending non-emergency cargo is the wrong thing to do. It can hamper relief operations by preventing the transport of emergency supplies and critically needed items.

We have a complete web site on disaster relief, which includes a helpful list of do's and don'ts:

To help restore dignity, relief agencies give disaster victims vouchers so they can choose and purchase new items of essential clothing. The transport and distribution of used clothing and old appliances is not an efficient or practical way to help, and particularly not when the infrastructure is a mess.

We have also received inquiries from employees who want to volunteer. Please note that authorities are trying to evacuate the area around New Orleans. Those of us who are not a trained disaster responders or in the National Guard need stay away and let the local professionals do their jobs. If there are needs and opportunities later, we will certainly let people know. "

Hi Fred,

BoosterVision.com has just made their donations now. Thanks for reminding me about not waiting ;-)

We will auciton some items later today as well.

There you go.

I've been busy answering technical questions about C-17 seating capacity. They guy across the aisle has been answering Aeromedical Evacuation questions.

I suspect they will try to get everyone out via bus but some will need to be moved faster or farther away and that may involve the airlift. A

*LOT* of C-17s have been moved already much closer. The staging began days ago, regardless of what the media is reporting. They know only what they see, and the reporters are not everywhere.

I'll be travelling to Charleston SC next week and will fly from the base there up to Pope/Bragg for some already scheduled military exercises. (Unless they cancel them or divert more aircraft). I'll try not to fall out the door.

-Fred Shecter

We have already made a donation of $$$, the concept was to possibly encourage those that havent to do so by giving them an incentive....

Thanks for the helpful info.

It looks like that is an internal web page that is inaccessable from the outside.

Paypal has an quick easy link to contribute to the United Way's Katrina Relief Effort. If you are already set up with Paypal it takes about a minute. I checked out contributing through the Red Cross but didn't like the fact that the information provided is subject to Yahoo's privacy policy which includes Yahoo providing your info to their partners as they see fit.

I glanced at the bottle of Tabasco on my desk yesterday, and went to check them out. yesterday their web site was down. Today there is a notice that the site is down, but their facilities are OK. They are closer to Baton Rouge than NO.

Yes, this is rocket related. After all, I have my Tabasco rocket.

Tanks.

Hmmm, Well, I saw that the mayor of Detroit offered to take in evacuees...