[Harp-L] Katrina donations

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The message below was sent by Tom Smith to the CTBLUS-L list today.  I'm
sure members of this list will find it useful.

Regards, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com
*********************************************************
Rather than just sending money to the Red Cross or another large
national charity, you might want to consider donating directly to
organizations which are part of the communities devastated by this
disaster or which are working directly on relief efforts such as housing
and feeding refugees.

Two regional charities are local and doing good work. Both are rated
four stars by Charity Navigator and spend less than 1% of their total
income on administrative expenses, meaning that they are very efficient
and the vast majority of their money goes directly to those who need it.
They are rated even better than the Red Cross, and much better than
groups like the United Way. They are not religiously affiliated and both
are based in Baton Rouge where 300,000 refugees have been relocated.
They are also taking direct donations through the web, which is much
more efficient than donating money to some national group and waiting
for it to filter down to the local level.

The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank is feeding large numbers of refugees
from New Orleans, and all donations are tax deductible. They are also
working with the Second Harvest Foodbank of New Orleans which has had to
leave the city because of conditions there and is setting up operations
in Baton Rouge.

The Baton Rouge Area Foundation has two funds going, one for immediate
disaster relief for refugees and one for rebuilding in New Orleans.
Their website appears to be swamped with more queries than it can
handle, so you might try bypassing the main site and going direct to
their donations shopping cart. Your donations here are also tax
deductible.

In case you were wondering, the population of Baton Rouge has doubled
since Katarina hit. The vast majority of refugees have come from the
city of New Orleans.