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Hurricane Katrina ReliefAugust/September 2005From the AEU Interim Executive Director, Jone Johnson Lewis: Some words of Felix Adler about suffering and oppression have been haunting me this week. It is, he wrote, as if we stand on the shore, watching millions drowning, sinking beneath the waves, and we are forced to realize that we are helpless to save them all. He could not have imagined how those words could apply so literally to the reality today on the coast of our own country. The only response, Adler said, to such suffering, is to do what it is that we CAN do, even knowing we cannot help everyone. Most of us in the Ethical Movement are far from the center of human disaster that Hurricane Katrina left in its wake*. Yet even at a distance, we cannot help but feel compassion, outrage, and an urgent call to help. The people of Mississippi and Louisiana are suffering, and we can help. Those who are least able to help themselves need us desperately to do what we can -- and to contribute generously. There are different needs for relief for the short-term and the long-term. As do many other organizations our size, without much local in the Gulf Coast, we suggest that for short-term relief -- the food, medicine, and other emergency assistance required -- individuals and Societies contribute to agencies that are well-equipped to respond quickly. The immediate need is just that: immediate. Collecting funds and then directing them to other organizations will delay those funds. Please make your contributions directly instead, to organizations which are providing help right now. Here are several options among those that you might, as individuals and Societies, consider:
I have personally given my contribution to Second Harvest, in an amount that's "what's right, not just what's left." If you choose another charity, I'd urge you to check out carefully whether it is a legitimate organization, whether it is equipped to actually carry out its goals immediately in the current chaos and confusion, and what its values and principles are (since there are so many different options), before making your contribution. Unfortunately, there are many who take advantage of such catastrophes, and others who are well-intentioned but unprepared to be part of this large-scale relief effort. Children in our families and communities may be feeling the same emotions and wanting to help, but they have fewer options for action. It is important to empower children to make a concrete contribution, at their level of ability, to relieving the suffering they cannot avoid seeing or hearing about. It is one way to help them deal with the sense of powerlessness and hopelessness. One way children can contribute what they can: loose change can be deposited at many CoinStar locations (with a receipt for tax deductions) and the American Red Cross is one of the options. Search here for locations that accept nonprofit donations. There will also be local collections of donated goods where children can play a part, and there are other ways to empower children to contribute something so they know that their actions can make a difference in the world. Opening your home to refugees, or organizing a Society effort to sponsor a family and pay rent and provide for related needs, is another way to respond. Many cities nearer the disaster are overwhelmed. Oklahoma City, 700 miles away, for just one example, may host "tens of thousands" of refugees "for months." There are many organizations involved in helping match refugees with housing opportunities. Some screen families (both hosts and guests) and many do not. One of many such opportunities is at http://www.hurricanehousing.org/ For longer-term assistance: it is too early to know what projects will be welcome and needed. The AEU is hearing from a number of members a sense of wanting to contribute more directly. The Board had already identified earlier this year a need for a disaster relief effort, and had begun working to identify a process by which the AEU can identify ways our members can contribute to long-term recovery and development. Several energetic volunteers have stepped up to look into what projects we as a movement would want to urge our membership to support: projects that deal with recovery and development that builds community, promotes human justice, and is environmentally responsible. If you'd like to join into that effort -- of looking into projects and helping develop a process to do so in future emergencies as well -- please contact the AEU. And please don't forget that those whose needs we could serve before this disaster are still with us. Let's not abandon the other work we can do to create a more humane world through direct assistance and through improving human institutions -- we do not want to create even more ripples of devastation from this human disaster by neglecting that other work! This page was developed with ideas and support of National Leaders Council members and AEU Board members. I'll continue to update this page as we learn more. Jone Johnson Lewis More on Hurricane Katrina Response:
*Note [updated 9/6/05]: former AEU Treasurer, Greta Gladney, had moved to New Orleans and was working there with a community organization, The Renaissance Project. We have now received word, indirectly, that she is in Texas, alive, and so are her children, grandchildren, and father, and her mother is in Oklahoma. We send our deepest care and concern to Greta and her family as they deal with this crisis in their own lives and the lives of their community, and we await word on whether there is a way to help support the hard work of rebuilding lives and community through The Renaissance Project. |
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