First: Give, and give generously. Cash is needed and there are many organizations on the ground in the Gulf Coast working for relief. Here are some places that Ishbadiddlers have given to:

Red Cross
Union for Reform Judaism
Salvation Army
Humane Society

So far our readers have generated $900 in donations. Let's make it more, folks. To add your own contribution to the total, you can email me, leave a comment here, and/or log the contribution on NZ Bear's "Blog for Relief" website (choose "Ishbadiddle" as the "weblog that encouraged you to make your contribution").

Second: Volunteer. You can help the Katrina PeopleFinder Project by doing some simple data entry. NZ Bear has a list of other web-based relief projects.

Third: Stuff. Ordinarily cash is the bestest thing to send, but Catherine Bohne at the Community Bookstore in Park Slope is organizing supplies. Again. {After 9/11, she turned the Community Bookstore into a local volunteer center, gathering supplies for Ground Zero -- it was an amazing and inspiring thing. See my post here, and some news articles here and here.} Here's the latest from her bulletin board:

Hi Everyone --

Okay, I think we're ready . . . .

1. SHIPPING:

Tomorrow morning, asap, I'm going to open a UPS account specifically for sending stuff down South.

UPS comes to the store everyday, anyhow, so this will ensure that stuff gets out as quickly as possible.

If you'd like to contribute to shipping, you can makes checks payable to "United Parcel Service" directly, drop 'em at the store, and I'll send them in to cover *that* account.

(Obviously, when we're done with this, we can decide what to do with any money that's leftover, should that happen.)

2. WHERE IT'S GOING:

An amazing woman named Susan White has spent the weekend on the phone and has identified 4 places, all of which have:

-taken in evacuees
-have NOT been contacted by major organizations yet
-are desperate for supplies
-and been spoken to directly by Susan, checking exactly what they need as of *today*

They are:

The Baton Rouge River Center
275 South River Road
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
tel: 225-389-3030

The Women's Center
222 Veteran's Blvd.
Suite C
Denham Springs, LA 70726
tel: 225. 665-0214

Marksville City Hall
Attn: Hurricane Relief Coordinator
Myron Gagnard
427 North Washington St.
Marksville, LA 71351
tel: 318. 253. 9500
(this place is distributing to other places, too)

The St. Vincent de Paul Society for Katrina Evacuees
Ozanam Outlet
610 Memory Lane
Houston, TX 77037

If you would like to send donations (see below, for what to send where) directly, yourself, please do. I'd encourage you to check with the store daily, though, to make sure you're sending what they need most. I've put their phone numbers, so you *could* call, but if 900 of us start calling daily, we'll probably drive them nuts.

3. DONATIONS (What They Need):

If you want to bring donations to the store, we're happy to sort, package, and send them out.

Here's what each place needs:

Baton Rouge River Center
-currently has over 6500 evacuees living there so we might want to focus on them first.--

They need:

Towels
Socks
Slippers
Water
Diapers
Baby Bottles
Pacifiers
Non-perishable food
Sheets
Pillows
Sleeping Bags

The Women's Center needs:

Formula
Baby Food
Toddler Food
Diapers
Wipes
Juice
Maternity Clothes
Ensure
Depends
Pedialyte
Small boxes of Goldfish crackers
New Underwear
New Socks
Sheets
Blankets
New Pillows
Towels
Q-tips
Paper Towels
Toilet Paper
Hygiene Products
!No Grown up clothes!
!No Toys!

Marksville needs:

Baby Items of all Kinds
Hand Sensitizer
Pillows and Blankets
Baby and Children's Tee-shirts
Over the counter pain relievers
Coloring books/crayons/board games/children's books

Okay. That's it for now.

If you'd like to help sort, box, etc., please feel free to just drop by . . . when we get to a point where we have enough to need that kind of help, I'll send out a general email, then you can rush on down.

If you have other ideas for things to do (one woman had a great idea about a fundraising dinner), I'd also encourage you to stop by. I'm getting dozens of emails already, and can't really promise to answer them in a timely way. (Plus, I get 'em all confused . . . ) I'm happy to help connect people who are interested in working on the same sorts of projects (like the fundraiser).

More soon!

Love,
Catherine

If you're in Brooklyn and can help out, the Community Bookstore is on 7th Avenue between Garfield and Carroll. Their number is 718-783-3075 should you want to call and see what they need today.

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