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American Red Cross Stats

As of September 22, 2005:

No more than nine cents of every dollar donated is spent on overhead.

$2 billion plus is the amount expected necessary for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

$826.8 million donated for hurricane relief ($344.4 million online).

$693.4 million has been spent already or has been committed to meet emergency needs in the wake of Katrina:

$438 million has been distributed for financial assistance, reaching more than 448,000 families.

2.4 million overnight stays in 902 shelters across 25 states and the District of Columbia.

Provided 781,000 nights of hotel accommodations for 242,000 evacuees.

Served 12 million hot meals and 9 million snacks (in coordination with the Southern Baptist Convention).

Provided counseling services for 344,000 people.

156,000 Red Cross relief responders from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. 74,000 additional people trained in specialized disaster relief skills.

20 Mexican Red Cross volunteers (Cruz Rosa Mexicana) working in Texas to help deliver aid to Spanish-speaking evacuees. Cruz Rosa Mexicana donated 80 tons of humanitarian aid (food, water, and clothing), which was delivered by the Mexican Army.

Price Gouging

Price gouging is the practice of raising prices sharply in anticipation of or during a civil emergency. The term is distinguished from profiteering by being short-term and localized, and by a restriction to essentials such as food, clothing, shelter, medicine, and equipment needed to preserve life, limb, and property. In many jurisdictions, price gouging is a felony.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is responsible for recognizing a pattern of consumer violations requiring law enforcement action. The FTC monitors gas prices across the country based on a formula that analyzes the prices that consumers pay for gasoline at their local gas station. Before Katrina, the FTC received many telephone calls from consumers about rapidly increasing gas prices, as did many members of Congress. There are no federal statutes for prosecuting gas price gouging; however, about half the states have statutes.

In July 2005, the FTC released a report titled “Gasoline Price Changes: the Dynamic of Supply, Demand, and Competition.” Visit http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2005/07/gaspricefactor.htm for a summary. The 166-page report can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/reports/gasprices05/050705gaspricesrpt.pdf.

The FTC also provides information to educate Americans as consumers. Visit http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/fuelalrt.pdf for tips on getting good mileage.

Definition of price gouging from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia.

Situation Reports

A situation report is a written account summarizing an event, such as a hurricane. Often, these reports are issued on a daily basis.

Visit http://www.gop.gov/Katrina for a collection of US government situation reports, executive summaries, and press releases.

Read FEMA’s situation reports at http://www.fema.gov/emanagers.

Visit the National Incident Information Center (NIIC), which gathers and disseminates information about natural disasters that occur within the US, at http://www.fs.fed.us/news/fire/about.shtml. Click on the “Morning Report” tab for the NIIC daily situation report.

Finding a Charity

We all want the majority of our donated dollars spent on relief efforts – not on overhead, including salaries.

To learn how your charity of choice spends your dollars, visit:

http://www.charitynavigator.org

http://www.give.org

Charity Navigator evaluates the financial health and expenditures of nearly five thousand American charities. Give.org is the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, affiliated with the national Council of Better Business Bureaus. Both web sites are full of free information and tips useful to individuals and companies.

For a behind-the-scenes glimpse of charitable giving in America, visit the blog of Trent Stamp, executive director of Charity Navigator:

http://trentstamp.blogspot.com

Gearing Up for Rita

Hurricane Rita's landfall expected within days:

Read how the state of Texas is preparing at

http://www.governor.state.tx.us/priorities/health_safety/hurricane/rita_prepare

Here's the FEMA Rita link:

http://www.fema.gov/media/index.shtm#rita

Success Story, Number 2

And we thought Shane was the only one! Here’s another Katrina evacuee blogger:

http://nobulletin.blogspot.com/

Good luck to John’s family and the newlyweds!

Georgia Peach

Over 8,381 evacuees have stayed in Georgia shelters, and they need clothing. Atlantan DeAnna dispenses clothing to evacuees at a thrift store managed by Atlanta’s City of Refuge [visit http://cityofrefuge.cc/katrina (1300 Simpson Road/Atlanta, GA/(404) 644-6976]. DeAnna says that many visitors to the store are directed there by the Red Cross.

Thanks DeAnna!

DeAnna is a mortgage company loan officer: visit her site at http://www.deannaspencer.com and her blog at http://deannasjourney.blogspot.com.

American Red Cross Stats

As of September 15, 2005:

Kat Stats

896 shelters opened

2,117,247 overnight stays in shelters

8,832,280 meals served

95,598 “comfort kits” delivered

Ophelia Stats

19 shelters opened, sheltering 1,479 people

Every Man a King

Those left with little income or assets are eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) from the Social Security Administration (SSA). Visit www.socialsecurity.gov or call 1-800-772-1213.

Thanks for the tip RC!

Social Security Act of August 14, 1935

By 11:00 a.m. on the morning of October 24, 1929, the stock market started to plunge. Within three months, the stock market lost 40 percent of its value. America faced its worst economic crisis: Millions were unemployed, two million adult men wandered aimlessly around the country, banks and businesses failed, and the majority of the elderly could not afford to live independently. It took 25 years for the stock market to climb to its pre-crash level.

Every Man a King: Ironically, it was the Governor of Louisiana, Huey Long, who proposed radical measures to end economic plight. His program, called “Share Our Wealth,” demanded that the federal government confiscate the wealth of the nation’s rich and privileged. The program called upon the government to guarantee every family in the nation an annual income of $5,000 for the necessities of life, including a home, a job, a radio, and an automobile. Everyone over age 60 would receive an old-age pension. His slogan was “Every Man a King.” His program became a movement: By 1935, 27,000 local clubs existed in all 50 states with 7.7 million members.

The Test of Our Progress: In June of 1934, a year-and-half into his first term as President, Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) appointed a committee comprised of five cabinet-level officials tasked with creating a “Social Security” program. Within six months, the committee presented its program to FDR – who introduced the bill to Congress in January 1935. Some provisions barely passed with close votes in congressional committee, but the bill was passed overwhelmingly on the floor of both the Senate and House. The legislation sent for the President’s signature included unemployment insurance, old-age assistance, aid to dependent children, and grants to the states to provide various forms of medical care.

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt

To learn more, visit the SSA’s history page: http://www.ssa.gov/history. Better yet, watch the 1941 film “Meet John Doe” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033891).

Source material: http://www.ssa.gov/history

Finding People Lost in the Storm, Part 2

The Social Security Administration (SSA) will forward letters written by loved ones looking for those lost in the storm. Send your letter to

SSA, Letter Forwarding/PO Box 33022/Baltimore, MD 21290-3022

The letter should be sent in an unsealed, unstamped envelope.

Letter writer should include the following:

• Missing person’s full name and social security number (SSN)
• If SSN is unknown, include date and place of birth, names of parents, name and address of last known employer and period of employment
• Reason for wanting to contact the person
• Last time person was seen (be sure to mention that separation is due to Katrina)
• Other methods of searching that have been exhausted

SSA can’t ensure that it will be able to locate the missing person, nor will the SSA follow up or request that the recipient of the letter reply.

Thanks RC for the tip!