Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts: What can you do to help?

1) Get involved with student organizations at UF and in the community:

Example: The Black Graduate Student Organization (BGSO) ~ Community Service:

a) BGSO is collecting food and supplies for Hurricane Katrina survivors (specifically, working with local organizations that are coordinating donations for families who have relocated to Alachua County). BGSO’s official Food Drive ends on October 31st.

b) BGSO is supporting the local charity, Gainesville Community Ministries (located at 5001 NW 34^th Street, Ridgeway Village Shopping Center), which will still be collecting donations (they are coordinating the distribution of donations locally). They are in need of volunteers. If you are interested, Contact Rick LeFave @ 352-378-3654.

c) Nov/Dec Project: Raising money to provide Christmas for one family, who has been displaced due to Hurricane Katrina. They are from New Orleans and have moved here permanently. We are asking BGSO members for $3 each during this month so we can purchase Christmas decorations, a tree, gifts, and a meal.

If you are interested in working with BGSO, please contact us at uf_bgso@yahoo.com. And visit our website for more info: http://grove.ufl.edu/~bgso.

2) Support the following Organizations (Pass along to friends & relatives)

· This Website has a list of progressive community service organizations that are Grassroots, Low-income, and People of Color Led Hurricane Katrina Relief:
http://www.sparkplugfoundation.org/katrinarelief.html

• Community Labor United, donations for the People’s Committee (an organization made up of survivors from New Orleans). Community Labor United is a coalition of progressive organizations in New Orleans formed in 1998. Their mission is to build organizational unity and support efforts that address poverty, racism, and education. CLU organized in the areas hardest hit by the hurricane. For more info, visit this website: http://www.qerc.org.
  
  
• KatrinaHousing.org is a non-profit project formed specifically to enable the thousands of volunteers who have stepped up to assist the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. This is a housing services hub for Katrina victims. You can offer up housing space for victims, or hurricane survivors can search for available rooms/houses/apts/etc. This site is working in cooperation with other support organizations: http://www.katrinahousing.org/.

3) Educate yourself and others through alternative Media Resources

National Public Radio – www.npr.org (Archive of programs about Hurricane Katrina and Race)

Black Commentator – www.blackcommentator.com

Left Turn Magazine – http://www.leftturn.org/articles/SpecialCollections/katrina.aspx

Black America Web – www.blackamericaweb.com

Understanding Katrina from Perspective of the Social Sciences - http://understandingkatrina.ssrc.org/Mulcahy/

Written and Compiled by Angelique V. Nixon, BGSO President