Looks like podcasters react at the speed of the net and the many have put up links to give to the Red Cross and other charities. I have those up but I want to try and focus on providing opportunities for you to do more than money. Call it a pet peeve as a pastor – we often are very good at throwing money at a need and then use it to excuse ourselves of any real investment or contact with it. No doubt, the money is needed and many organizations make sure it is spent for the right needs. Sometimes it will vary – there usually an overhead cost for volunteers, so some percentage of your gift will go to administration, materials, etc… Usually most of the church charities will promise that 100% of your gifts will go to assistance, other groups may not necessarily do that. Check it out for yourself.
One group of charities I won’t be posting are groups that don’t have a proven track record for assistance, namely many of the charities and web pages that have popped up in the past week. Selling bracelets and shirts, promising to be “the” database to match the homeless with families or with relocation, etc… I’m certain some will emerge as legitmate and helpful, others will be scams.
I want to try and maintain a page that will have links where you can go and volunteer, where you can help with the rebuilding, where you can do more than write a check but help your journey merge with a community in need. If you are aware of groups that organize relief convoys, who are setting up soup kitchens, rebuilding homes and churches, etc…, please let me know and I’ll add them to the list. Even as vast as this disaster is, the time will come when the press moves, the interest shifts, but the need will continue for years. I know we are sending a truck down this week and hopefully will be able to send a work crew down to Mississippi or Alabama before the year is out, probably through Lutheran Disaster Relief. There will be other groups, religious and secular, who will be doing the same and I hope to post many of them here.
Please make use of the page, pass the word on, and let’s get to work.