[Philmont]: Off-Topic - Hurrican Katrina Relief

Greetings to All. If you have had enough of Katrina-focused emails,
please delete this one, with my apologies.

The following is a blurb I sent out on the e-newsletter that I write for
my District. I have had multiple positive responses, many encouraging a
wider distribution. Since this List-Serve is the last one I belong to
with a national audience, I am posting it here (slightly modified from
the original, to better suit a general audience). Feel free to modify
and forward as you see fit. Remember that I am writing from the
perspective of a Washington DC locale, so some of the comments don't
apply very well to areas much closer to the Gulf Coast.

- Dr. Bob

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Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts - Some Comments and Cautions

With the Gulf Coast having suffered the one - two punches of Hurricane
Katrina unfortunately compounded by widespread human failings, naturally
many (all?) local Scouters are looking to assist in some way. Some
comments and cautions:

*** The primary (legitimate) requests in crises such as this are MONEY
and BLOOD. The nationwide blood supply was down to two days prior to
Katrina - it is now in deficit in many areas of the country.

*** Donations of "stuff" are, in most cases, a waste of effort. The
logistics of triaging, sorting, organizing, and most importantly
shipping bulk supplies to the Gulf Coast are incredibly daunting, and
with few exceptions very little of what is being donated by ordinary
citizens by the hundreds of thousands/millions of tons all across the
nation is going anywhere. Rather, it's sitting in warehouses, churches,
schools, and everywhere else for lack of transport and a national
(centralized) clearinghouse - and with few exceptions, there it will
stay. Only FEMA, the Red Cross, the military, and maybe one or two
other organizations (e.g., the Salvation Army) can handle these sorts of
duties, and they have no time or manpower at this point for general
donations. The local Red Cross is not even accepting "stuff" of any
type right now. If you wish to donate "stuff", and want it to actually
help someone *now*, work with any of the local agencies who are working
with evacuees that are already here in the Washington Metropolitan area.
  For example, the Arlington Catholic Diocese is resettling about half a
dozen evacuated families ***per Parish***, putting the kids in Diocesan
schools at no cost, and re-oufitting the families with housing, food,
clothing, food, and in some cases jobs. That is the kind of *local*
effort that can be supported by anyone. There are dozens of other
agencies and groups doing the same or similar efforts - if you want to
help, ask at your Church or workplace, and make sure the donations
and/or efforts are for *local* situations.

Again, money and blood are the two best ways to donate directly or
indirectly to the actual disaster zone.

*** Monetary Donations - An additional caution - probably not needed in
this jaded age, but Scouters (and especially Scouts) can be gullible
when wanting to help. Disasters like Katrina also bring out some of the
worst elements in America, and not just in the disaster zone. There are
many hundreds of scams going on right now that are fraudulently
collecting money for "Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief", under dozens
of legitimate-sounding names. A huge percentage of these are
internet/email based (some of these came up on my computer while the
hurricane was still raging), but others include panhandling at Metro
[subway] stops, or door-to-door solicitations, etc. "Phishing" and
"Pharming" are both out of control right now. Be very cautious of any
solicitation, including those that are (nominally) from the Red Cross,
the Bush/Clinton fund, or similar efforts by what *appear* to legitimate
organizations. You should be going to them directly - not responding
to a solicitation that *appears* to be from them. Anyone can slap up
(for example) a Red Cross logo on an email, and provide a link that
includes the words "RedCrossHurricaneRelief" in it. At this point, I
would guess that the scams far outnumber the legit operations. Beware!

If you want to find legitimate operations, especially those that are
handling the more offbeat efforts (animal rescues, museum artifact
recovery and repair, wetlands restoration, etc.), go to the local news
websites such as WTOP, or Channels 4, 5, 7, and 9, all of which have an
array of links for such causes (as well as for the primary relief
agencies). These news organizations have already sifted the wheat from
the chaff, and you can donate through those links with confidence that
your donation is going to where you intend.

*** Evacuated Scouts - The Gulf Coast region had a reasonably active
Scouting community - not huge, but not trivial either. One of the
things I have already done (as an adjunct to the Arlington Diocese
effort) is offer immediate membership in my Troop to any 6th - 12th
grade Scouts that have been resettled in Arlington and who are attending
[the local middle schools and high schools]. This is a "no-cost" offer
- we will pay for everything, including camping equipment, uniforms,
event fees, and so on. I have also asked the many athletes in my Troop
to ask their coaches to try and integrate these kids into their fall
sports teams on a "no-cut" basis - and also to seek out all these kids
and try to make friends with them so they are not all alone in a school
a thousand miles from "home". I have donated a car to the Diocesan
campaign (a good one, not a junker). My Troop van fleet has been
offered for spot duty. We will provide manpower for spot-duty physical
labor if needed. These are the sorts of things all of us can do.
Please think of what your Unit can accomplish to help the many dozens
(hundreds?) of evacuated Scouters and Scouts that are already or soon
will be in the Washington Metropolitan area. We can make a difference,
one family at a time.

- Dr. Bob

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Received on Thu Sep 8 05:30:04 2005