Why the Red Cross Isn’t in New Orleans

The phones at the local Red Cross office where Mary is volunteering have been flooded with calls from people who want to help – the usual American response to a catastrophe anywhere in the world.  A few of the callers are concerned that they don’t see a Red Cross presence in New Orleans itself.  The evacuation from New Orleans appears to have been botched both before and after Katrina hit.  But the Red Cross is part of the solution, not part of the problem.

National Red Cross must be getting this question as well and it is addressed well here as an FAQ on their website.  If you are at all concerned, you should read the whole thing.

Here are the highlights:

Homeland Security requested that the Red Cross NOT come to New Orleans because their presence would encourage people to come to New Orleans for shelter rather than leave (this is of a couple of days ago).

The Red Cross IS doing a GREAT job of caring for people who DID evacuate.  As of Thursday, they were operating 149 shelters for 93,000 people.  The numbers have grown since.

The original plan was to evacuate ALL the people from New Orleans.  At the last minute the Superdome was opened as a shelter of last resort, a decision which the Red Cross believes saved many lives.

Thanks to generous contributions and an outpouring of volunteers, the Red Cross is ready to handle its share of new evacuees from the stricken areas.

End of highlights.

You can contribute to the Red Cross by clicking here or on the Red Cross logo on top of the right sidebar of my blog. 

If you’re a blogger and want to run any one of a number of charitable logos and links on your blogsite, go to www.wordofblog.net to pick up an easy-to-install snippet of html.  You’ll even be able to track how many helpful click-throughs you made possible.