In this post I complained that our school and district were very vanilla about Katrina relief. I'll just say it here--I'm not impressed with our efforts. Just asking for money seems so banal, especially when you're asking high school students who may or may not have *any* money on them.
Kimberly lets us in on the creative way one school chose to raise money for hurricane victims. I like this one. Hint: think Hanson. MmmBop!
5 comments:
After Andrew, we (the Corps of Engineers) bulldozed huge piles of clothing and canned goods into the landfill. Someone felt good about donating it, I'm sure. But logistically it wasn't cost effective to pick it up, package it, and deliver it, when we could simply turn those associated costs directly into cash.
5wahls: Ted Turner gives $1B to the UN and doesn't get one word of praise. Sean Penn pulls 40 people out of the water but is criticized for bringing a camera man and running out of gas. If I had the means, I'd give, but I wouldn't tell anyone about it.
I heard on the radio this afternoon that Vlade Divacs, formerly of the Sacramento Kings, is trying to fill a truck and will drive it himself to the Gulf Coast.
Steve: what good came from Ted Turner's $1B? Gotta donate it to a "worthy" organization. If not, might I suggest the Darren Fund For The Permanently Broke. :-)
well, after the AOL/Time Warner merger, his $1B was worth enough for cab fare from the UN building to Times Square, with maybe enough left over for a fake Rolex and a hooker.
Good summary of the military response on Global Security.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/ops/jtf-katrina.htm
Lots of finger pointing going on right now, but the military is showing that they're up for the task. I've always considered the Coast Guard to be part of the military, even if Rummy doesn't agree, and they're doing their normal Herculean work. LTG Honore might run for President after this, or at least will be offered movie and commercial roles a la the drill sergeant in "Full Metal Jacket." We have fresh-out-of-Baghdad paratroopers running around NOLA with loaded weapons yet we haven't had one incident -- a significant improvement over the Rodney King riots (what's the real name for that incident?) where the Marines shot up everything that moved.
But the best part, now talking as a tax payer and not as a soldier, is that NORTHCOM stood up to full alert without a single call from DoD, FEMA, or the states of MS or LA. They saw it coming and geared up.
That, of course, is the biggest breakdown in the federal response plan. We count on the victims to request help, and the local responders to get their first. But disasters are evaluated on a threshold basis, not a continuum, and at a certain breaking point, the local governments and first responders have to take care of themselves. So there's a trigger point or decision point that the headquarters / command and control element can't get eyes-on. That's where the flow of info and taskings has to automatically switch from a pull system to a push system. Like we proven with Katrina, when there's no one on the ground to send up the email request for assistance, the folks out in the safety zone have to take the initiative. And the military, if few others, will get high marks from this one.
And if you want to help out Katrina victims with MS and/or displaced school kids now enrolled in Georgia, see:
http://homepage.mac.com/saodell/Menu2.html
We have 200-300 kids in our county, some 600 miles away from New Orleans. The math there just boggles my mind.
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