World Vision assists Hurricane Katrina evacuees

HURRICANE KATRINA SPECIAL COVERAGE:

From World Vision:

Dear Friend,

Just a week has passed since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast region, and our country is coming to grips with all that has been lost in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. The needs are tremendous, as hundreds of thousands of families pour into neighboring states.

Yet through it all, the church is rising to the occasion, showing itself to be the hands and feet of Christ in the midst of our nation's pain. As part of the body of Christ, World Vision is joining hands with local churches to meet the needs of children and families.

Your prayers, and your support, are crucial right now. It is only because of friends like you that we can meet the urgent needs of Hurricane Katrina's victims. As you read this news update, please keep us, and more importantly those we are seeking to help, in your prayers.

World Vision's disaster relief response:

• While World Vision has already provided several truckloads of relief supplies to survivors in the Gulf Coast, the need is still great. To provide emergency supplies and long-term care for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, please click here and give today.

• In the areas devastated by the hurricane, the pain is intense — but hope is present wherever we look. To see what we're seeing — both pain and hope — click here for a slideshow from the hurricane aftermath.

• As we meet with families that have survived the hurricane, we are hearing amazing stories of survival, as well as gratitude for the generosity of people like you. To read the story of the Coffey family, recently airlifted from the Superdome in New Orleans, click here.

• The situation changes by the hour, and we're doing our best to bring you the latest news about World Vision's response. For the latest on World Vision's response to Hurricane Katrina, click here.

Thank you, and God bless you for your generosity in the face of this disaster.

God bless,

Richard Stearns
President, World Vision U.S.

Help the Hurricane Survivors

HURRICANE KATRINA SPECIAL COVERAGE:

From American Friends Service Committee:

For relief work updates and ideas that can help you advocate for the hurricane survivors, please visit http://www.afsc.org/hurricane/.

Disaster Update: HSUS teams race to save animals

HURRICANE KATRINA SPECIAL COVERAGE:

From The Humane Society of the United States:

"It's truly a race against the clock. Our teams are working
feverishly to rescue as many animals as possible and get them
out of the watery cesspool left behind by Hurricane Katrina."

- HSUS President & CEO
Wayne Pacelle

Dear Reader,

After initially being blocked from entering the most devastated
areas in Louisiana and Mississippi, HSUS Disaster Animal
Response Teams (DART) have been working around the clock to help
save stranded and sick animals on the ground.

What we are finding is truly heartbreaking - animals trapped in
flooded houses, caregivers wandering the streets desperately
searching for their beloved pets, and nearly destroyed animal
shelters where the surviving animals have spent days keeping
their heads above water in their cages.

But this is why we are here and why we are counting on our
supporters to make an emergency donation of any amount to help
our disaster response efforts. Please click here to make your
donation:
https://secure.hsus.org/01/katrina_relief/ned1JE371SXOz?source=gabai2

Block after block, our teams are entering homes and apartments,
sometimes forced to break into them, searching for stranded
animals. Yesterday in Mississippi, one of our DART teams rescued
a dog who had been washed into someone's attic; the storm surge
had stranded the animal. The woman who owned the house was
elderly; she had slipped some food and water into the attic for
the dog, but hadn't been able to go upstairs to carry him out.

We are finding and rescuing more animals as each hour passes -
more than a thousand so far - but with many more thousands
needing our help. In the past two days, we've focused on these
activities:

:: Marshalling all of our resources to provide relief for these
animals. We have 125 people and 39 support vehicles in
Louisiana, and more than 100 emergency personnel and 17 support
vehicles in Mississippi. The call is out for many more rescuers
to converge on these two states before it is too late.

:: Calling on ALL federal, state, and local responding agencies
to help provide animal rescue assistance immediately. Even
though we've been able to put hundreds of people in the field,
we worry they may not be enough.

:: Logging thousands of telephone calls through our HSUS call
center, as well as responding to thousands of emails. Staff
members in every section at headquarters dropped their normal
duties to assist in the response to Katrina, searching for
boats, trucks, crates, carriers, supplies, food, and other
essential items for transport and operations in the impact zones
of Louisiana and Mississippi.

:: Establishing our online Disaster Center at
https://community.hsus.org/ct/mp1JE371cRt7/ featuring critical
updates on our relief efforts, video and slideshow footage, and
ways that individuals can help us save even more animals
affected by Katrina. We're encouraging all our supporters to
visit the website often and take a moment to let others know
about our emergency response.

In the days ahead, we will be expanding our large-scale rescue
of the animal victims of Hurricane Katrina. In light of the
devastation we have witnessed, our rescue efforts cannot come
fast enough. Your support will help us secure even more vital
resources and emergency personnel so crucial to our work in
Louisiana and Mississippi. Please click here to make your
emergency donation today.
https://secure.hsus.org/01/katrina_relief/ned1JE371SXOz?source=gabai2

Sincerely,

Laura Bevan
Incident Commander
HSUS National Disaster Animal Response Team
Jackson, Mississippi

Sign the Katrina Pledge

HURRICANE KATRINA SPECIAL COVERAGE:

From Sojourners:

The Katrina Pledge: A commitment to build a new America

Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute (Proverbs 31:8).

Sign the Katrina Pledge in support of all those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

As people of faith, we cannot be idle and watch our brothers and sisters in anguish. The scriptures call us to put our faith in action. Whether we pray, donate, or volunteer, each of us must respond in some immediate way.

To stand in solidarity, we urge each of you to take a simple personal pledge to help these survivors, and together we'll recommit ourselves to overcoming poverty.

»Click here to read and sign the pledge today.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, hundreds of thousands have been displaced to locales across the country, and their lives have been profoundly changed.

In this time of heightened national awareness of poverty, we encourage you to join a movement to build a new America.

We need your help. Speak out. Sign the pledge. Tell your friends.

Go to sojo.net/pledge today.

Help the Overlooked Families of Hurricane Katrina

HURRICANE KATRINA SPECIAL COVERAGE:

From Oxfam America:

Hurricane Katrina tore into people's homes, families, and
livelihoods. It also tore into our perception that the US
government could handle any emergency within our borders without
the help of aid organizations like Oxfam America.

The government's response to Katrina's unimaginable destruction
has been woefully inadequate. That's why Oxfam intervened within
days of the hurricane and, for the first time in its 35-year
history, launched a relief effort on American soil.

Click here today to contribute to Oxfam America's Hurricane
Katrina Response and Recovery Fund.
http://ga0.org/ct/K7qrJns1ZRkC/

Thousands of survivors have been forgotten by federal agencies,
stranded with no shelter, clean water, or means to support
themselves. These are the faces you don't see in the media, the
ones who live in the poor rural communities you've never heard
of -until now.

This harrowing report came from our partner on the ground in
Louisiana: The TV pictures can't capture it all. There are whole
communities that are absolutely gone.

Oxfam America needs to raise at least $2 million this month to
fund our response. With your support, we will continue to
distribute food and supplies and make emergency grants to enable
people to repair their homes and buy medicine.

Without donations from supporters like you, we won't be able to
help the hardest-hit families rebuild their lives. For 15 years
Oxfam has been working with rural communities in Louisiana and
Mississippi who have long suffered persistent poverty and denial
of opportunities. Oxfam is well positioned to give aid where
it's needed most.

Specifically, your donation to the Katrina Response and Recovery
Fund will help Oxfam:

Provide food and medicines to the people of East Biloxi - the
poorest part of the city, where federal assistance is
practically nonexistent;

Work with local organizations to help fishing communities,
immigrants, African-American farmers and other poor people to
get back on their feet; and

Support our long-standing partner, the Southern Mutual Help
Association, in setting up response recovery centers to help
people in devastated areas of Southern Louisiana return to their
homes

Click here today to contribute to Oxfam America's Hurricane
Katrina Response and Recovery Fund.
http://ga0.org/ct/K7qrJns1ZRkC/

Thousands of people are homeless. Communities have been
shattered. Your fellow Americans have never needed you more.
With your help, we can start to reverse the damage and
strengthen communities for the future.

Sincerely,

Raymond C. Offenheiser
President, Oxfam America

To learn more about Oxfam¿s response to Hurricane Katrina, click
here http://ga0.org/ct/DpqrJns1ZRkK/