Grassroots Disaster Relief
Many of the people who evacuated ahead of Hurricane Ike ended up here in Austin. There are about 30,000 people in shelters and while things are infinitely better than the Katrina debacle, there are some problems. Not enough food and water. No cots in some of the shelters. The Red Cross running out of money. People talking about “disaster fatigue” -!
We have thousands of National Guard trucks rumbling down the road, helicopters, humvees, all kinds of heavy equipment, disaster management “command centers” that look like the space program launch centers, talk of martial law and forcing people who stayed behind to abandon their homes in the aftermath of the storm . . .
And then we have the grassroots: American Rainbow Rapid Response (ARRR). It’s a lively, all-volunteer, non-profit organization that many got to know through The New Waveland Cafe after Hurricane Katrina, a cooperative effort of evangelicals from Texas, friends from Burning Man and Rainbow Gatherings, the folks at Organic Valley, and some runaways from Red Cross who got tired of the bureaucratic delays, among others.
For the full story of ARRR on today’s DailyKos, go HERE - and to volunteer or donate to ARRR, go to their website at http://www.americanrainbowrapidresponse.org/ and click on the paypal button or dial 1-800-339-9941. Extension #1 is for large resource donations, extension #2 is for financial or in kind donations, extension #3 is for individual volunteers or groups. Please leave your location, any available equipment, and the dates of your availability.
Thank you.