Hurricane Katrina - A Response
September 2005

From Mary Herman, Washington (DC) Ethical Society

WES Response to Katrina

A huge thank you to all those who brought donations to the Hurricane Relief Effort.  We filled 22 vans and cars and received contributions from 90 WES members and countless friends of WES (some members organized their neighborhoods to contribute!).  Many people from WES’ neighborhood came by with cars full of donations and some stayed for a while to help us sort and load vans. Some people drove by, slowed their cars and said things like, “I don’t have a donation, but I’m so glad you’re doing this!  Or, they simply honked and waved. 

Lots of people saw Annetta Sawyer’s beautiful sign out front as they drove by and then came back with cars full of donations.  A huge thanks to the organizers:  Scott Wales (who identified the Moose Lodge as an option after the DC government stopped taking contributions), Annetta Sawyer, and Paula Beckman, to the 16 members who made calls to WES members asking for contributions, to the people who stayed all day helping sort and label and bag:  Scott, Annetta, Paula, Nancy McGuire, Beth Swick, Sue Pardo, John Holland, and to the Taft-Morales family who drove 3 loads to the Moose Lodge and are now storing bags of clothes for future efforts in their garage after the Moose Lodge folks said they could no longer accept clothing donations.   And, thanks to all those who responded to my mid-afternoon urgent message that we needed help driving donations immediately when we learned there was a wedding reception scheduled within an hour.  Thanks too, to those who contributed over $1,000 at Sunday’s collection to send to the American Red Cross.

The power of community.  And love.

Mary Herman
Washington Ethical Society