Katrina Response

To assist in the recovery from the disaster of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, consider the following responses:

(1) Generously give financial contributions, directed either through your communion relief and development agency, through Church World Service (www.churchworldservice.org or www.cwserp.org), or through the American Red Cross; as relief agencies will need financial support well beyond the time that Katrina is replaced as the lead story, continue to give.

(2) Be alert to the needs of people who have come to Pennsylvania on their own looking for temporary or permanent resettlement. Help them register with the American Red Cross and FEMA (1-800-621-3362; calling FEMA will mean persistence; the best time to call is between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m.) so they will be eligible for assistance.

(3) Make a contribution to the Louisiana Interchurch Conference (www.lainterchurch.org/) to assist that ecumenical partner in its efforts to coordinate religious community response to the hurricane.

(4) Continue to pray for victims and relief workers--of this particular disaster and in all those other places where weather, war, disease, poverty, and oppression have made life difficult.