Below are links and articles provided to help volunteer managers with disaster recovery efforts from Hurrican Katrina. Please email us at: editor@volunteertoday.com if you have additional information or links that you would like to share with your professional counterparts around the country. We will post them as we receive them.

• Links
• Tech Folks are Mobilizing Now for the Next Disaster
• Survivors of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse
• Houston Volunteers and Families Displaced by Katrina Build 'Refugee Radio' at Houston Astrodome
• Community Wireless Emergency Response Teams Update
• PART-15.ORG Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts
• Linux Project for Katrina Victims
• New Government Site Calls for Volunteers
• Help for Managers of Volunteers-Katrina
• Supplies for Katrina Victims

Donating:

• The American Red Cross
• The Salvation Army
• The United Way
• How to give tech in-kind to Red Cross: http://www.boingboing.net/2005/09/02/howto_give_tech_inki.html

Helping:

• Katrina: Manager of Volunteers: Relief Resources Volunteer Bank - coming soon!
• The Volunteer Center of North Texas has an agreement with the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, North Texas Emergency Management etc. to coordinate the spontaneous volunteers who want to help right now. For more information on what they are doing and how to help, please go to their website at http://www.volunteernorthtexas.org.
• The Points of Light Foundation is mobilizing and coordinating volunteers in and around the affected areas
• To volunteer in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana: http://www.1-800-Volunteer.org
• Katrina relief worker's blog: http://blogs.news.yahoo.com/katrinablog/
• Federal Temporary jobs in disaster recovery: http://www.boingboing.net/2005/09/02/federal_temporary_jo.html
• MoveOn.org is coordinating housing for victims: http://www.hurricanehousing.org/?id=5951-5737053-i_XgQAZgcvkLUcH8qOj4Zg
• Doctors Without Borders have a page detailing what's needed in a refugee shelter: http://www.refugeecamp.org/learnmore/shelter

Lost & Found, plus miscellaneous resources:

• The Katrina PeopleFinder Project, which is compiling records of missing persons from all available online sources, now has a searchable database of over 345,000 records (including the ICRC data). For more information about this volunteer project, please go to: http://192.122.183.218/wiki/index.php/Katrina_PeopleFinder_Project or http://www.katrinalist.net. Submitted by: Deborah Elizabeth Finn 9/11/05
• ProBono Net, the host for the LawHelp.org Web sites, has developed a page with disaster legal resources for Katrina victims. LawHelp.org Web sites provide legal information for low- to moderate-income populations. Subjects vary by state, but typically include family law, consumer issues, landlord-tenant issues, and so on. A complete list of states with legal information Web sites is available at http://www.lawhelp.org. Submitted by Jayne Cravens 9/7/05
• International Committee of the Red Cross tracing specialists are in the USA to help restore links with missing family members. As of 7 September, the ICRC's family links website had registered more than 117,000 entries. People seeking family members can also call + 1 877-LOVED-1S (+ 1 877 568 3317). More Katrina relief news on the sites of the American Red Cross and the International Federation.
• The US Army Corps of Engineers site contains up to date information on their ongoing efforts and work on the areas infrastructure.
• A Survivor/Connector list is available at: http://www.gulfcoastnews.com/.
• This is another service to help connect Hurricane Katrina victims with their friends and family: http://hurricane.earthlink.net/.
• Craig's list is being used:
  • http://neworleans.craigslist.org/hhh/ - People offering free housing
  • http://neworleans.craigslist.org/laf/ - Lost and Found
• If you would like to offer assistance specifically to "disability recovery efforts," some ideas for how you can help are, 1) If you possess a particular expertise and want to be involved in relief efforts for people with disabilities, you may register to offer assistance at Katrina Disability Expert Volunteers, 2) You may donate to mainstream relief agencies, Red Cross, United Way, Salvation Army, and ask them to earmark your donation for people with disabilities, 3) Learn more at some Katrina-disability specific websites:
  • http://www.katrinadisability.info/
    
  • http://www.disabilitypreparedness.org/katrina_inf.htm
    
  • http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/editorial/editorial_0660.xml
    
  • http://www.ilru.org/html/whatsnew/announcements/katrina.html,
    4) If you would like to support disability specific funds, below is a listing of some:
  • AIDS, https://secure.ga3.org/03/KatrinaEmergencyFund
    
  • ARC, http://www.thearc.org/
    
  • Autism, http://www.talkautism.com/
    
  • CA Foundation for ILCs, http://www.cfilc.org/site
    
  • Diabetes, http://www.cwdfoundation.org/Supplies.htm
    
  • Family Voices, http://www.familyvoices.org/
    
  • MS, http://www.nationalmssociety.org/hurricane.asp
    
  • NAMI, http://www.nami.org or at any Wachovia bank nationwide (Account #200024603407)
    
  • National Down Syndrome, http://www.ndss.org/
    
  • Spina Bifida, http://www.sbaa.org
    
  • TASH, http://tash.org/
    
  • UCP, Houston, http://www.ucphouston.org/,
    and 5) Please do not hesitate to contact the National Service Inclusion Project if they can be of any service: 888-491-0326 or email: nsip@umb.edu.
• The purpose of this blog is to serve as an open space for members to thank donors, volunteers and relief workers: http://katrinathanks.blogspot.com/.
• Here's a whole website dedicated to support: http://katrinahelp.info/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
• Displaced Designer is a resource for those in the creative industry recently displaced by the disaster in New Orleans and the Gulf States.

MADRE is working with the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence (LCADV) to protect survivors of domestic violence and child abuse who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Because of the hurricane, all direct services for survivors of domestic violence in the gulf coast region have been suspended. Several women's shelters have been completely destroyed; others were forced to evacuate. The thousands of women and children who were in those shelters require urgent assistance. And many more women now face an increased threat of rape and battering, which tend to surge in the wake of disasters, as men react to their own trauma with violence and a vain attempt to reassert control in the face of chaos and loss.

The LCADV reports that many women are afraid to register with the Red Cross for fear that their batterers will use the registry to find them. And the LCADV has received reports that women are being battered by their partners in the emergency shelters set up since the hurricane.

LCADV is accepting donations that are earmarked to assist battered hurricane survivors and their children. MADRE Board Member and human rights lawyer Pam Spees is in Louisianna working directly with this effort.

Funds will be used to:

1. Relocate domestic violence survivors displaced by the hurricane.
2. Purchase basic necessities, such as baby formula, food, diapers, and clothing.
3. Pay for medical treatment and prescription medications.
4. Pay for car repairs, gas, and public transportation to bring women and their children to safe housing in other communities.

Visit the LCADV website at http://www.lcadvhrf.org/ to donate today.

Vivian Stromberg is the Executive Director ~ Submitted by: Jayne Cravens in germany 9/7/05

These volunteers, led by a community media publishing group called Houston Indymedia, are working with volunteer professional engineers and technicians from all over the United States to get this station on the air. The Prometheus Radio Project, a not-for-profit organization that builds Low Power FM radio stations all around the United States, has worked throughout the weekend to facilitate the legal and timely launch of this radio station.

"Families are putting up notices on the walls to find lost parents and children, and then crying themselves to sleep at night, as they start to let the weight of the past week bear down on them," said Hannah Sassaman, an organizer at Prometheus. "This station will provide critical information for families putting their lives back together, as well as the comfort of programming made by refugees and volunteers in Houston, just for them."

The Houston Indymedia volunteers, who produce a radio program on Pacifica radio station KPFT, are moving their whole studio to the Astrodome and working with volunteers from as far away as Portland, Oregon to get the station on the air right away. But they'll need more equipment - radios for all the potential listeners - to make it possible. When the station is online, you'll be able to listen to it remotely at http://evacuationradioservices.org/.

"The FCC, the City of Houston, and the staff of the Astrodome want this station to go on the air," says Rice University professor and Indymedia organizer Tish Stringer. "But the Astrodome staff won't let the station launch until we have enough radios for all the families. We may have some leads on 10,000 plus radios, but we still need funds to buy them, and to help keep this station going and to help get other stations like it up across Houston and the Gulf."

The telecommunications industry and the grassroots media justice community are mobilizing to build communications infrastructure for the displaced people of the Gulf. But some broadcasters wish there had been more options for emergency relief before the storm and its aftermath hit.

Tom Hanlon, a volunteer with a property owners' association in Baton Rouge that has been waiting 5 years for their Low Power FM radio license to come through, said this about the exodus from New Orleans to Baton Rouge: "A lack of accurate information, coupled with the time spent tracking down false rumors, did more to delay the mobilization of Baton Rouge than any hurricane. We need more LPFM stations in our cities to help with these crises in the future."

To learn more, please call the Prometheus Radio Project at 215-727-9620, or visit them online at: http://www.prometheusradio.org. To donate time or services to telecommunications efforts in Houston, visit: http://houston.indymedia.org.

Submitted by: Jayne Cravens in Germany 9/7/05

Authored by Sascha Meinrath:

This is sort of a breaking story -- involving a number of different community wireless groups and allied (grassroots) organizations.

I'm coordinating efforts by Community Wireless networking folks to deploy telecommunications infrastructure in the refugee camps and disaster areas in and around the NOLA region. In a nutshell, Community Wireless experts from across the United States are heading to areas hard-hit by Katrina to aid with building telecommunications infrastructure. The Center for Neighborhood Technology, CUWiN, and Free Press are all handling logistical support... We're working with folks in Houston and Prometheus Radio Project to get a low-power FM station off the ground -- check http://www.emergencyresponseservices.org for more info once that gets online.

You can read several recent stories here:

• http://www.boingboing.net/2005/09/05/update_on_wireless_k.html
  
• http://www.boingboing.net/2005/09/05/katrina_communicatio.html

And we're making hourly updates here: http://www.cuwireless.net.

If you'd like to help, please don't hesitate to contact our response coordination team at: cu-wireless-response@cuwireless.net.

Submitted by: Jayne Cravens in Germany 9/7/05

General Information - PART-15.ORG (the Wireless Internet Service Providers Organization) in cooperation with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) is preparing a Disaster Relief effort in support of and to reestablish communications in the Disaster area after Hurricane Katrina. Our volunteer program is growing at astounding rates.

There is information on how to:

• donate equipment, personnel or supplies
  
• volunteer
  
• money

Submitted by: Jayne Cravens in Germany 9/5/05

The Office of The Surgeon General and the Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness are in the process of mobilizing and
identifying healthcare professionals and relief personnel to assist in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. As our nation and global community is now aware, the healthcare needs resulting from Katrina are critical.

They are currently looking for multidisciplinary healthcare professionals and relief personnel with expertise in the following areas:

Please be advised that individuals must be healthy enough to function under field conditions. This may include all or some of the following:

• 12 hour shifts
  
• Austere conditions (possibly no showers, housing in tents)
  
• No air conditioning
  
• Long periods of standing
  
• Sleep accommodations on bed roll
  
• Military ready to eat meals
  
• Portable toilets

Assignments may last 14 days or longer. It is required that applicants have Hepatitis A and B and Tetanus/Diptheria immunizations for this assignment.

If you have questions please call the Hurricane Katrina Volunteer Call Center at 1-866-KATMEDI (1-866- 528-6334).

Submitted by: Jayne Cravens in Germany

In an effort to refer volunteers to agencies with particular disaster-related needs, the Volunteer Center of North Texas (VCNT) is asking that agencies respond to us with their volunteer and donation needs. These will be compiled and made available to the public as soon as possible. The VCNT has a commitment to serve agencies throughout the North Texas area, and will refer citizen inquiries concerning hurricane donations and volunteers
to those agencies. In the meantime, volunteers willing to donate their time and skills can go to our web site at http://www.volunteernorthtexas.org to fill out a volunteer application and be added to our database. When we have compiled a list of North Texas area agency volunteer and donation needs, we will distribute the volunteer’s information to the nonprofit agencies. Please note, due to the volume of the response, our website may be temporarily overwhelmed, so please keep trying!

Our web site is updated several times a day with information from North Texas agencies that need immediate help with donations or volunteers. For more information on agencies that need volunteers now, please go to:
http://www.volunteernorthtexas.org/VolunteerCenter/Administrative/Disaster+Relief.htm

For more information, please visit http://www.volunteernorthtexas.org or call 1-866-797-8268 x 200.

Submitted by: Celeste Sauls, North Texas Agency Relations Director, Dallas County & ServiceWorks!, Dallas, TX

There is something you can do today to help people streaming out of New Orleans. I called one of the churches that is taking in refugees. They need lots of supplies. You can gather together a bag of supplies (see list below).

Go to the Post Office an get a Priority box - flat fee (choice of two shapes), the cost of postage is $7.70 no matter what you put in the box (weight doesn't matter). Fill the box and mail to the address below.

They desperately need:

• tolietries (anything you use to start your day) toothpaste, deodorant, shampoos, sunscreen, liquid soaps (small bottles esp. good)
  
• anti-inflammatories (over the counter medicines) including ibuprofen, aspirin, aleve
  
• baby wipes
  
• feminine hygiene products
  
• imagine what you would need and send it.

Send to:
Marksville Baptist Church
PO Box 442
Marksville, LA 71351

Write Hurricane Relief on outside (maybe it will help it get there faster). I will contact more sites and post them soon. For more information, contact Arlene Krebs, Director, Wireless Education & Technology Center, CSU Monterey Bay at: 831-582-5025.

submitted by Jayne Cravens, Germany