August 9th, 2006
Humanitarian Aid Charities collecting for Lebanon have run into difficulties collecting in the United States. It’s not that there’s a lack of desire to give, but it turns out there’s a fear to give…apparently, Americans are a little afraid of what their government might have to say if they donate…because after all the NSA is watching and what if you accidently donate to the wrong charity and your name ends up in a database somewhere listing you as a supporter of terrorists? Remember, if you’re doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about.
Some people want to get around that by donating goods, but this complicates matters because it’s expensive to the charities — goods have to be sorted by people which takes time and shipped which also takes time …and also costs the charity money…
Charities prefer that people send money rather than food, medicine or other goods, because in-kind donations force the charities to pay for shipping, delay the arrival of the aid, and saddle relief workers with the task of sorting and distributing items that may not be needed.
The problem, according to relief groups, is that many people who are inclined to write checks for emergency aid and reconstruction in Lebanon are afraid of ending up in some government database of suspected supporters of terrorism.
Arab American leaders say this is one of the unintended consequences of the U.S. government’s crackdown on charities run by Muslims. Though aimed at cutting off illicit funding for terrorist groups, the crackdown has complicated legitimate humanitarian relief efforts in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank.
“Dozens of people have approached me. They want to help, they want to send money to buy medicine, and they’re afraid of the government reaction to their contribution,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. “Some do it anyway. They can’t sit idly. But they worry that one day they’ll hear a knock on the door.”
CAIR, which is one of the country’s largest Muslim organizations, reluctantly is encouraging donations of goods, on the grounds that they are better than nothing. Its Web site, http://www.cair-net.org , lists needed items, such as rice, sugar and cooking oil, along with detailed instructions on how to pack and send them.
“We’re forced to go the least effective route, which is sending actual relief supplies, because of the restrictions on, and the problems associated with, sending financial relief to the Middle East,” CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said. “If you send lentils, at least no one can accuse you of supporting terrorism.”
Some other groups, such as the Arab American Institute, are taking the opposite tack, recommending against in-kind donations.
“We’ve been encouraged not to do that by the Lebanese Embassy and others — not to send goods, because it’s inefficient and it takes money to sort it out and decide what to do with it. What’s needed is cash so people on the ground can buy what they need, when they need it,” said James J. Zogby, president of the institute, a Washington-based advocacy group.
[…]
“In the context of the NSA monitoring everything under the sun, people are afraid,” he said, referring to the National Security Agency’s monitoring of international phone calls and e-mails. He added that he has repeatedly urged U.S. officials to publish a list of legitimate charities, to no avail.
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. government has shut down three major U.S.-based charities for allegedly funneling support to terrorists, and it has designated more than 40 charities internationally as terrorist financiers. Last week, the Treasury Department barred U.S. citizens from contributing to two more groups: the Philippine and Indonesian branches of the Saudi Arabia-based International Islamic Relief Organization.
Treasury Department spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said that the department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control maintains a “one-stop shopping” list of banned entities, known as the Specially Designated Nationals List, on its Web site, http://www.treasury.gov/ofac .
But she said the department has declined to produce a list of approved charities in the Middle East “for two reasons: No. 1, any charity that we deemed clean, we could not guarantee that it would always remain so. And No. 2, it would put the government in the position of playing favorites.”
[…]
” United Jewish Communities, an umbrella organization for 155 Jewish charities across the country, announced last week that it will raise at least $300 million in emergency aid for Israel. The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington alone intends to raise $10 million toward that goal.
By comparison, the flow of private U.S. donations for humanitarian aid in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories is a mere trickle, estimated by relief groups at a few million dollars. Donors who fear giving to Muslim charities can contribute to the International Committee of the Red Cross or groups such as CARE and Mercy Corps — large, international relief groups that are the major conduit of such aid.
Laila Al-Qatami, a spokeswoman for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said the organization has decided to funnel its Lebanon relief contributions through Mercy Corps, an Oregon-based group that she pointedly noted “is not an Islamic charity.”
But some Muslim groups are intent on proving that they, too, can collect money and distribute it without problems.
Ziad J. Asali, a retired physician in Illinois who heads the American Task Force on Palestine, said his group is giving $20,000 each to Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem and St. Luke’s Hospital in the West Bank city of Nablus. After consulting with the State Department, he said, the task force decided to pay the bills for medical supplies that the hospitals order from their regular suppliers. [“Muslim Charities Say Fear Is Damming Flow of Money” (WashingtonPost.com)]
How free do you feel now? Free to feel as compassionate as you want to whomever you want? You can’t even write a check to help someone without worrying that you might wind up on the wrong side of an interrogation table one day under the current Administration’s game plan…
Tags: Humanitarian Aid, Lebanon, Arab, charity, spying on Americans, Treasury Department, United Jewish Communities, CAIR, Arab American Institute, NSA, International Islamic Relief Organization, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, American Task Force on Palestine, State Department
March 14th, 2006
Just a reminder that the New Orleans Library still needs books.
If you think you live too far away to collect books and mail them, let me just point out that I’ve collected several large piles of books thanks to generous souls in my writing group and at work and in a test mailing last week, I discovered that mailing books at the media rate through the post office is really quiet cheap. When I think that someone else could be making good use of those books rather than having them collecting dust on my overcrowded bookshelves, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
Plus, my mother has concocted a rather smart plan. She’s collected some books from her friends in New Mexico on her own thanks to an email she forwarded from me. A friend of theirs in the process of moving from New Orleans to Las Vegas is making back and forth trips between the cities and on his next stop back toward New Orleans, she’ll pass on the books to be dropped off at the New Orleans Public Library from the citizens of Silver City, New Mexico. Of course, you do kind of have to know someone who’s going that way for the plan to work.
As always, if you live in the Portland, ME, area and can’t afford to mail books but would like to donate, contact me via the contact link in the sidebar and we’ll work out an arrangement.
The library is also accepting monetary donations.
Tags: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, Public Library, relief
March 5th, 2006
New books will be used to replace those that were damaged; used books will be distributed to families in need or sold for library fundraising. Please send books to:
Rica A. Trigs, Public Relations
New Orleans Public Library
219 Loyola Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70112
If you tell the post office that they are for the library in New Orleans, they will give you the library rate which is slightly less than the book rate.
You can also click here to contribute to the New Orleans Public Library Foundation Rebuilding Campaign.
UPDATE: If you live in the Portland, ME area and have books to donate but cannot afford shipping, please contact me and we’ll work something out. Thanks!
More
Tags: New Orleans, Public Library, Hurricane Katrina, relief
September 20th, 2005
Food meant for Katrina Victims donated by the UK, Spain, Italy, and Isreal is being held by the U.S. government because it’s been deamed unfit for human consumption. Never mind that the food donated by the UK is the same UN-approved rations fed to British troops in Iraq. If the red-tape isn’t worked out, all the food could be sent to be incenerated. [“Up in Flames”]
Makes you wonder who friggin’ is making these decisions, doesn’t it?
Tags: Hurricane Katrina, relief, U.N., politics
September 10th, 2005
Defend America has a heart-warming story about Iraqi soldiers at Taji military base raising 1 million Iraq dinars for Hurricane Katrina victims. While the conversion to American dollars is only about $680, it’s still a large sum in perspective.
“We are all brothers. When one suffers tragedy, we all suffer their pain.”
Iraqi Col. Abbas Fadhil
Iraq isn’t the only country offering aid in some form or another. I must say that this outpouring of generosity world-wide after all of the hatred for America is a relief all of it’s own. Let’s not destroy this outpowring of good-will this time around. Let’s use this opportunity to mend fences.
Tags: Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, relief
September 10th, 2005
The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) has announceed plans to help the New Orleans-based Audubon Nature Institute, which includes the Audubon Zoo, the Aquarium of the Americas, the Audubon Center for Research of the Endagered Species.
Today, Saturday, September 10th, Zoo New England’s Franklin Park Zoo and Stone Zoo will donate all admissions revenues received on Saturday, September 10 to the cause as well as have donation boxes out through the end of 2005.
In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, Zoo New England has joined the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, along with many other member zoos and aquariums, in setting up a fund to benefit New Orleans’ Audubon Zoo and Aquarium of the Americas.
At present, circumstances prohibit sending Zoo staff down to assist with recovery efforts, and funds have been requested to purchase food, water, and other supplies for the institutions. To this end, Zoo New England’s Franklin Park Zoo and Stone Zoo will donate all admissions revenues received on Saturday, September 10 to the cause as well as have donation boxes out through the end of 2005. [“Zoo New England”]
For additional information please click on the following URL: http://www.aza.org/Newsroom/hurricaneupdate/
For those of you like me who cannot travel down to the affected areas in person, but wish you could donate more than just money,
The Geaux Library Project is looking for volunteers.The Geaux Library Project was started by geeks volunteering at the Lamar-Dixon shelter in Gonzales, LA. They decided they could put their skills to better use by coordinating an effort to bring computers staffed by “librarians” and other volunteers to shelters across the region. Everyone involved has full-time jobs but want to help in any way they can. They are looking for both onsite and remote volunteers including researchers and a webmaster.
Tags: Hurricane Katrina, relief
September 8th, 2005
I spoke with my mother tonight. She is apparently dealing with infection control there in Houston. She somehow fell into a management position that only she can do though she says she’s not truly qualified — I don’t believe her on that. 
Anyway, I thought I’d share some of her tidbits.
- People claiming to be medical folk are coming out of the woodwork there. Nurses are showing up at the Astrodome without any prior warning. Red Cross cannot use these instant volunteers as Red Cross medical-type volunteers must go through prior clinical background checks among other things. Unfortunately, not every organization dealing with the relief is that strict and apparently a suspected mentally ill man presented himself as a doctor and then barracaded himself in a room in the Astrodome for two days after he was trusted to perform medical tasks.If you are a medical-type person wanting to volunteer, it’s best to do so through your local hospital in the 2nd or 3rd wave of medical-types going down there. In fact, there will be a large number of medical “clinics” set up for Katrina victims and manned by hospitals (including the one I work for).
- My mother heard a rumor that some of the prisoners who were being evac’d escaped into the general population but she stressed that it was just a rumor. She has not heard that from any official-type sources.
- My mother heard the rumor that there was an outbreak of cholera in the Astrodome. That is absolutely not true. While some people have experienced diarrhea, that is expected in cases where people have been dehydrated, starved, and in filfth for days.
- There was a rumor today that FEMA was going to be handing out checks at the Astrodome. Thousands of people tried to storm the Astrodome and there had to be a lockdown where even Red Cross people could not enter or leave.
- I mentioned to my mother about collecting used books and such to send to the victims and she suggested this was a bad idea. This apparently causes more work than is necessary as everything sent has to be sorted and there are hundreds of volunteers who are just sorting all day through clothes and other donations in the Astrodome. She said that money is better as Red Cross or whomever the money is sent to can be spent on items that do not require as much processing and often they hand out gift cards with that money so the purchases can be tracked and the victims can buy things they need, not what they’re told they need.
By the way, in case I haven’t mentioned it, my mother really is my hero. I told her so tonight too. I found an article online from her local paper that was all about her and her good works. I’m sure she’s pleased they published her age.
Also, my mother stressed that it’s time to stop finger-pointing and stop worrying about investigations about what went wrong and start doing something about it. This is a tremendous tragedy that is going to affect the entire country for years to come. Not only is New Orleans a major port, not only will gas and oil prices be high, but a lot of these people will never go back to New Orleans. Most of these displaced New Orleaneans will find jobs and start new lives wherever they are. They may trickle back eventually but for now, there has been an influx in Texas of at least 60,000 people and that will effect the economy of that state in many ways. But my mother is definitely upset about the fact that Red Cross has been warning of this impending disaster for years and no one wanted to listen — heck, she was one of the voices there telling them to have a plan. She is probably most upset that they didn’t appear to have ever planned on what to do in the aftermath.
Despite everything she’s seen and heard, she seemed to be in good spirits.
Tags: Hurricane Katrina, Red Cross, relief, FEMA
September 7th, 2005
The following was sent to me by a friend who works in LA in the US Border Patrol:
In case anyone is interested in looking into the services, the state is offering
some public assistance programs to aid victims of the disaster.
- Unemployment Assistance. The state has relaxed rules on collecting unemployment. If you aren’t actively working and getting paid because of the storm, drop by your local one-stop or LAWorks office and register. An extra $250 a week can’t hurt.
- Foodstamps. The state has relaxed foodstamp rules. If you walk in and don’t
have an active job, or are seperated from your money due to your bank being local and underwater, whatever, they can get you a couple hundred a month in foodstamps.
- Other services. Call 211 in Louisiana and you will be connected with an “aid
facilitator” that will help you waid through the vast ocean of aid programs that are coming on line to help us.
- I believe that FEMA has aid programs for owners, renters, and even kids. Check with FEMA to see if they offer a program that fits your needs.
Everything else is between you and your biller/mortgager/landlord. Just remember, no one likes bad publicity leveled at them. We are in the process of using some of that muscle against one of our mortgagers to get a few months of deferment (to help pay for initial repairs).
In addition, several people I have talked to have told me that AOL has given them several months free and most major credit cards are waving fees and interest for several months. Also, most airlines, AirTrans in particular, are being extremely helpful to anyone who lives in one of the disaster area zip codes.
Tags: Hurricane Katrina, relief, New Orleans, FEMA
August 31st, 2005
- I’m told that the gas station that was selling gas for $2.71 this morning here in Maine now has a sign for $3.20. Strange that it happened the day that Bush released the oil reserves due to the Gulf Coast catastrophe.
- Last night I was correcting news reporters on their mispronunciation of Nawlins business names and locations. I guess they spent so long trying to get Spanish right that they didn’t work enough on French.
- It was heart-warming to hear that people in Arizona and Florida are offering their extra bedrooms to Katrina refugees.
- My mother assured me this morning that Red Cross will be setting up shelters, probably in North Louisiana for Katrina refugees until they can return to the city and then shelters will be set up in the city until their homes are rebuilt.
- Currently my mother is not among the volunteers going to the disaster recovery. My father is being an ass about it as he doesn’t want to go and interrupt his retirement and she won’t go for months on in without him. I was so proud of them when they went to work with the Kosovo refugees and now my dad is just being a weanie. I hope when I’m retired, I’m more like my mom than my dad.
- Meg’s father and step-mother apparently stayed in the city. We were finally able to locate them last night. I think my warnings for them to get help and evac the city fell on deaf ears.
- N2’s brother was also finally located in the bar he works at with his friends. Again, my warnings fell on deaf ears.
- I’m very upset about the looting. I could understand looting of food and necessities but people are outright stealing from stores and breaking into houses. I hate it when a tragedy brings out the lowest common denominator in humanity.
- I may need a valium just to deal with all of this and I’m not in the middle.
Tags: discombobulated, Hurricane Katrina, scam, relief
August 30th, 2005
The following list is from CNN.com and modified by myself as new information is made available.
These organizations are seeking to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina:
Donate cash
- American Red Cross
- (800) HELP NOW (435-7669) English
- (800) 257-7575 Spanish
- online
- Operation Blessing
- America’s Second Harvest
- The Writer’s Cafe
- Feed the Children
- United Way
- Direct Relief International
- Noah’s Wish
- Operation Helping Hand — The Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald and the United Way of Miami-Dade have activated Operation Helping Hands to help hurricane victims: Operation Helping Hands c/o United Way of Miami-Dade, P.O. Box 459007, Miami, Florida 33245-9007
- Wal-mart is accepting donations for Red Cross and The Salvation Army both online and at it’s stores and Sam’s Clubs
- The New England Browncoats, a Firefly “fan club”, is collecting for hurricane relief. They have a little more than $850 to meet their goal of $5,000.
To donate cash or volunteer
- Adventist Community Services (800) 381-7171
- Catholic Charities, USA
- Christian Disaster Response (941) 956-5183 or (941) 551-9554
- Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (800) 848-5818
- Church World Service (800) 297-1516
- Convoy of Hope
- Lutheran Disaster Response
- Mennonite Disaster Service
- Nazarene Disaster Response (888) 256-5886
- Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
- Salvation Army
- (800) SAL-ARMY (725-2769)
- online
- Southern Baptist Convention — Disaster Relief (800) 462-8657, ext. 6440
- United Methodist Committee on Relief
Tags: Hurricane Katrina, relief
