I spent most of the afternoon in New Jersey, but I got back in time to contemplate the utter devastation in New Orleans. There's not much I can do except give money, and fortunately, Glenn Reynolds made it easier by providing lots of links to the various charities. I decided to give to Catholic Charities, because I worked with them years ago in San Francisco (at the peak of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s), and they were great. I'm not Catholic, but I was impressed because they didn't proselytize, and they didn't judge anyone. On top of that, they didn't have the lavish offices and big salaries which some of the other, more media-savvy charities have. New Orleans is a heavily Catholic city, so I figured my money would go farther if I gave through Catholic Charities.
Not that I'm trying to convince anyone to use Catholic Charities, mind you.
Good thinking...that's an excellent suggestion and it wouldn't be the first time the Catholic Church has stood in the gap for N'Awlins...I'm thinking about the Ursuline nuns and the heroic measures they took during the numerous yellow fever epidemics that struck New Orleands in the 1700-1800s up until 1905 (the last epidemic)....The death tolls from those reached well into the thousands, and it's estimated that up to 10% of the city died. The nuns stayed behind to nurse the sick.
Good for the nuns. Good for the Catholics. Too bad this had to happen to a beautiful French-style Catholic city like New Orleans. Never been near there but I hear they have some fine traditions such as the Mardi Gras.
It's a shame you were never able to visit there. New Orleans is unique. There is no city like it in the world.
It has been through worse, tens of thousands died during the epidemics. But it has never seen anything like this. I do not know if it will ever be the same.
i tried to post a comment to another thread here but your site was down again. I'll try to re-construct it and post it again when I'm in a better mood, and I just hope I can manage to get it posted this time instead of just getting a time-out.
People should first check at work. Some companies will match funds given to charity. In my case, Tektronix will match up to $2,000, so it's definitely worth checking.
Larry · August 31, 2005 09:01 PM
Eric wrote:
I spent most of the afternoon in New Jersey...
You poor man! Where I should I send my relief check?
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Don?t bang your head!
Here's a picture of New Orleans taken from a helicopter.
This week's tithe is going to a direct relief agency.