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Donors fuel emergency relief for Mississippi hurricane victims
After Hurricane Katrina left thousands of coastal residents homeless on Aug. 29, countless organizations and individuals quickly came to their aid with donations of food, clothing, money and other essentials.
Now that the “official” season for giving is upon us, there is still plenty of need. So don’t put away your wallet yet.
As you know, the Salvation Army each year conducts its primary fund-raising drive during the holiday season. What you may not realize is that money generated by the Red Kettle Campaign, combined with other donations, funds the 125-year-old organization’s disaster-relief program. Designed to meet the basic needs of both disaster victims and emergency workers, the program provides food and water, emergency shelter, and cleanup and restoration services.
In Hurricane Katrina’s wake, the Salvation Army helped more than 500,000 survivors, according to its Web site. It served more than a million meals and is providing direct aid to hundreds of thousands of survivors in more than 30 states. The Salvation Army also distributed more than 150,000 cleanup kits (with broom, bucket, mop and detergent) and more than 129,000 food boxes to hurricane victims.
The American Red Cross estimates the cost of its own relief efforts after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita will exceed $2 billion. The largest expenditure—$1.56 billion or 68 percent—was for emergency financial assistance, which is helping more than a million families buy food, clothing and other urgently needed items.
Those are staggering statistics. Yet some of Katrina’s victims are still homeless, still dependent upon donated food and goods to survive from day to day. Until everyone is housed, jobs return and rebuilding is in full swing, the need will continue to be great not only along the coast but across south Mississippi.
We hope to alleviate some of the need by leading an effort to assist electric power association employees whose homes were lost or left uninhabitable by Hurricane Katrina. Most of these employees remained on duty during and after the storm to restore electric service to their communities, despite their own substantial personal losses during the storm.
The Electric Power Associations of Mississippi Katrina Relief Fund has attracted donations and pledges totalling more than $1.75 million at this writing. Every penny will be distributed to hurricane victims according to need.
The money is coming from employees and friends of Mississippi’s 26 consumer-owned electric power associations, as well as electric cooperatives from across the nation. We are grateful for their generosity and appreciate their concern.
As you plan your holiday giving, consider a generous donation to the charitable organizations who came to Mississippi’s aid over the past few months. Giving would be an effective way to express our gratitude and help support their ongoing efforts to help Mississippians, whether victims of hurricanes, tornadoes or other disaster.
If you would like to help electric power association employees rebuild their lives, send your contribution to Electric Power Associations of Mississippi, P.O. Box 3300, Ridgeland, MS 39158. Please designate Katrina Relief Fund on your check.
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