Ghastly day yesterday. I must find a way to deal with my feelings about the suffering caused by the hurricane and the inept, inadequate response to it. After 9/11, I fell into a depressed funk and spent a month staring at the walls and listening to Mozart. I’m not going to let that happen this time.
So, in my first-cup-of-coffee enthusiasm, let me share with you the charities our family is contributing to. Feel free to add your own in the comments section.
Red Cross – the grandmother of disaster relief.
Second Harvest – experts on feeding the hungry.
Louisiana Library Association – accepting donations to rebuild school and public libraries in the affected areas of Louisiana. (See the box in the left column.)
CALCASA’s Hurricane Relief Fund – to aid sexual assault victims and the crisis centers that serve them in the affected region. CALCASA is the coalition of sexual assault crisis centers in California and they do great work. When I needed to find an expert ASAP to participate at a news conference when SPEAK was screened to the TV journalists of the world, CALCASA helped out. They are preparing a new PR campaign that promotes the definition of a “real man” as a guy who respects and honors women instead of hurting them.
Before you give anywhere, check out your charity at the Charity Navigator to make sure your money is going to help the needy and not line the pocket of a scumbag.
This is going to be a busy week. The SPEAK premiere is Monday. I’ll post a couple of things about that tomorrow. BH and I leave later in the week for Florida. We are moving my parents from there up to Mexico, NY, near us. Oh, yeah, that’s going to be an adventure.