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WAYS
TO HELP WITHOUT CASH:
One
of our supporters, Karen M. Jones, founder of BenevolentPlanet.com
and author of The Difference a Day Makes: 365 Ways to Change Your
World in Just 24 Hours (New World Library 2005) has provided 20 Ways
to Help Hurricane Katrina Survivors.
We reprint her list below with her permission.
Thank you, Karen, for sharing your benevolence.
20
Ways to Help Hurricane Katrina Survivors -- No Cash Required
by
Karen Jones
www.benevolentplanet.com
Benevolent
Planet specializes in providing practical actions for making a
difference, all of which take less than a day to complete, at no
cost to the "everyday altruists" who implement them. The
aim is to give "ordinary" people the same opportunity as
those with financial resources to express their compassion and
connection with those in need. In this spirit, here are ways that
anyone can help with recovery efforts -- no cash required.
•
Pool efforts with family and friends, or community, school or faith
groups, to make disaster aid kits for Operation Blessing. Find
instructions at www.operationblessing.org/programs/disaster_relief/projects/disaster_kit.asp.
•
Give blood. When Red Cross teams are deployed to disaster areas,
especially for extended periods, blood drives often take a back seat
-- until the supply is critically low. Keep the help flowing by
donating before it's a crisis.
•
Volunteer time with your local Red Cross, animal rescue or other
responding organization to free up staffers to go to the Gulf Coast
or to replace those who are already deployed.
•
Write a letter to your local newspaper calling for community
participation via donations or a fundraising event.
•
Visit www.worldcare.org/now/donations/donor_inkind_er.htm
to ship specific goods from a posted list to World Care’s
warehouse in Tucson, Arizona.
•
Contact your congressional representatives and let them know if you
prefer your tax dollars to go toward the hurricane relief and
recovery effort instead of a tax cut or spending on "pork
barrel" issues. You can identify federal expenditures that you
may want to redirect to relief efforts at the Citizens Against
Government Waste website: www.cagw.org
(click on 2005 Congressional Pig Book).
•
Do your online shopping at www.BuyforCharity.com
and designate relief organizations AmeriCares or Noah’s Wish as
your recipient charity; up to 26% of your purchases will go to your
chosen organization, at no additional cost to you. Similarly, you
can shop at www.GreaterGood.com
to direct funds to America’s Second Harvest.
•
Check with churches, temples or mosques in your area to see if they
are collecting goods or need help sorting. Also check with your area
Kiwanas or Lions Club.
•
Identify people in your community who are trying to reach missing
loved ones and do a kindness for them.
•
Ask your community leaders to organize a candlelight vigil.
•
Send letters of encouragement to the National Guard, Red Cross,
Salvation Army, Noah's Wish and other relief workers through their
headquarters.
•
Commit to conserving gasoline, at least for awhile. Share rides,
consolidate errands, use public transportation, ride a bike, walk.
•
Send cards or notes of support — and include notes and drawings
from children — to refugees staying at various shelters. (As an
example, you might
address them to Survivors, Astrodome, 8400 Kirby Drive, Houston, TX
77054. Find other addresses using your preferred web search engine.)
Some
creative ways to raise funds:
•
Set up your own personal fundraising web site on behalf of hurricane
survivors at www.Justgiving.com
and direct your family, friends, colleagues and their contacts to
donate there.
•
Do you – and perhaps neighbors or colleagues – have items you
can sell? Put them up for charitable auction online at www.MissionFish,
where your choice of relief organizations, including Be the Star You
Are!™ and the Red Cross, will receive 10% to 100% of your
proceeds. You can also support these organizations by buying items
for auction at MissionFish.
•
Collect used cell phones and ink jet printer cartridges and recycle
them for cash; find out how at www.PhoneRaiser.com.
•
Organize a garage sale in your community and donate the proceeds.
•
Ask your favorite local business -- coffee shop, car wash, etc. --
to donate a portion of receipts to the cause for a certain time
period, and offer to distribute flyers, web postings, and notices to
local media to draw customers.
•
Ask your local bookstore or cybercafe to host a fundraising event
(they can pass a can for donations or charge a nominal admission)
with readings, art displays and music that express human connection.
Find
a lengthy list of suggestions that might spur other fundraising
ideas -- appropriate for kids -- at www.freethechildren.org/youthinaction/101_fundraising_ideas.htm.
For
more information:
Follow
the very latest via blog posts and message exchanges at www.nola.com.
People are posting all sorts of offers of help on this site -
including opening up their homes — as they are on www.craigslist.org.
CONTACT
INFORMATION FOR OTHER AGENCIES:
You’ve
seen these numbers in many other places, but we will again repeat
them here for your convenience in making donations to help people
and animals. You can specify that your donation should go to
the relief efforts.
The
American Red Cross, 1-800-HELP-NOW, (www.redcross.org)
Be
the Star You Are!™ charity, 877-944-STAR (www.bethestaryouare.org)
The
Salvation Army, 1-800-SAL-ARMY, (www.salvationarmyusa.org)
checks to PO Box 4857, Jackson, Miss. 39296
United
Way of America, (www.national.unitedway.org)
National
Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, nvoad.org.
If you wish to help an organization that offers disaster relief to
animals and their human companions, check out (www.noahswish.org/Donations.htm).
The Website offers a list of supplies they need immediately.
Other
organizations have joined in animal rescue now and they all need
donations. A partial
list is below.
Humane
Society of the United States (https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2005?)
Veterinary
Medical Assistance Teams (https://secure.entango.com/donate/QF49DRBwTtZ)
United
Animal Nations (www.uan.org/ears/action_report.html)
Houston
SPCA (www.spcahouston.org/spcahouston/Default.asp)
Louisiana
SPCA (www.la-spca.org/forms/donations.htm).
As writers, you can also help relief efforts by writing about your
concerns and offering your encouragement and suggestions for
improvement in letters to the editor of your local newspapers and
letters to your U.S. Senators,
Congressional Representatives, and the President.
That's what we did this week in addition to making donations.
Noah's Wish (noahswish.org).
Thank
you from all the individuals and families who will benefit from your
kindness.
Thank you from the volunteers
at Be the Star You Are!™
Cynthia Brian
Your
personal growth coach
Founder/CEO
Be the Star You Are!™ 501 (c)(3)
PO
Box 376
Moraga, CA
94556
877-944-STAR
http://www.bethestaryouare.org
Cynthia
Brian is the Founder and President of
BE THE STAR YOU ARE™!
Please visit www.bethestaryouare.org for biographical
information. Be the Star You
Are!™
a 501(c)(3) non profit
SUPPORT
OPERATION HURRICANE KATRINA by
purchasing these products:
Order
directly through Be the Star You Are!™
www.bethestaryouare.org.
Autographed copies available. BUY
CASES TO GIVE AWAY, OR CASES TO DONATE TO THE VICTIMS IN SHELTERS.
CLICK
HERE FOR PRICE
LIST
AND ORDER FORM
Please
forward this newsletter to those who you feel may benefit from it.
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