NEWS: The Red Cross Needs Your Hands, Brains, and Time

CULTURE: The Red Cross Needs Your Hands, Brains, and Time

With record-setting donation levels already in place, the Red Cross has put out the largest call for volunteers it has ever needed. 40,000 volunteer workers are needed in Katrina relief efforts to replace the quickly-being-exhausted 36,000 volunteers already in rotation. The volunteers have been assisting in many ways, but more are needed.

If you're interested in helping in any way you can, find your local chapter of the Red Cross and give them a call.

If you're a website owner, tack one of the Red Cross banners somewhere on your site.

If you're a network technician or have network security experience, your expertise is needed as well. The SANS institute is taking the contact information of tech volunteers and giving it out to the Red Cross and other charities.

Even though most victims have been evacuated to relative safety and donations of money and goods are still pouring in, volunteers are still needed to help distribute goods and services to those in need. Who knows, you might even find out you like helping others.

Nice article Shalome, covers all the bases and mentions stuff I haven't seen yet.

Though the title made me wonder if the Red Cross had been infiltrated by zombies

the one problem with volunteering is that no one pays your bills while you're away. if this issue were able to be properly taken care of, I would have been there last week.

If I was in DC I'd be all over helping with the network/security stuff.

doesn't mean you can't volunteer in the local area. i'm sure collection points could use a few more people. give them a call, they're open on the weekends.

I would guess that by volunteering in your own town/city, you free up people with more experience who can then go to the affected areas. I'm thinking about doing that here in Edmonton a few hours a week.

very true...
I'd rather be there handing stuff out and helping with the clean up of the destroyed areas than by collecting stuff from here.
Regardless, you do what you can, when you can.
Thanks for the idea.

There is a difference between making a sacrifice to help people out, and getting evicted because you didn't pay your rent. Or having the interest rates on your credit card triple because you were late paying a bill.

In reading the local paper while I was at the laundromat today, I found out that there are hurricane evacuees being sheltered here in Long Beach.

Like Bean said, you might be closer to helping than you think.

I just found out that the County will pay my salary while I am gone. And I do network/computer stuff, I am definatly going to look into it.

You rock.

From the Canadian Red Cross website.

“At present the American Red Cross has requested that Canadian Red Cross send highly trained disaster response volunteers and we are currently preparing our team to travel to the US. The Canadian Red Cross will be not be recruiting new people for this team, but rather will be relying on its existing pool of experienced, trained volunteers."

That's basically on every single Katrina-related page of the Canadian Red Cross website. I'd be on a plane in a heartbeat if they'd let me. I'm still calling the chapter here to see if I can do anything locally though.

I can only send cash which is unfortunate since they could probably use EMT's and paramedics down there.

nevermind.

[Edited on Sep 11, 2005 by RumpusParable]

What the fuck?
Should I drive down to New Orleans when I get off work? Why are you so angry?

help the evacuees, and let us get their braaains...er...

help the evacueees.....

Are you down there helping out right now? I'm just curious, since you seem to be jumping all over him about it.

Nice article, Shalome. I'll tack one of the banners up on my public journal. I think Detroit might have a shelter started... I keep hearing rumors about it, but I haven't checked yet. Thanks for the reminder.

[Edited on Sep 12, 2005 by Sorcha]

Very few people in the world can afford to quit their jobs, leave their homes for weeks at a time, feed and shelter themselves while out volunteering, and do it all without finding themselves homeless when they return.

You, of course are accessing the internet from the flooded city of New Orleans, huh? Is it easy to call a kettle black from a glass house?

Maybe instead of criticizing people for what they can/are able to do, you should get off your own ass and lend a hand.

Shit...i'd really like to personally help out and do stuff there myself, but i'm 10,000 miles away. I suppose the only thing i can do is give money, but that just seems so easy.

Err....what are you doing? Next time, instead of shouting at everyone, why not take the time out of your busy day of pointing fingers and donate a little bit of your precious holier-than-thou-time to someone else. Even though we'd miss your condescending posts that conveniently omit what ever the fuck you do for the common good, I'm sure we'd all get over it.

Maybe some of the tattoo money could feed a few people. I'm just saying.


[Edited on Sep 12, 2005 by PantBloink]

You must be an amazing person.
Why don't you stop arguing on the internet, and go stop the governement from doing bad things? You obviously have the time. And according to you, it's a simple matter of getting off of your lazy ass to make the governement do what you want.

And the conversation was not about volunteering. It was about going to New Orleans to help there. Maybe in this magical world you live in where self righteousness is apparently morally superior to rationality, they are the same thing, and anyone can just pop down to the gulf coast on their days off.

^^If it's not the sound of her own voice, she's not listening.

so, uh, jellybean... how's that totally fucking insane thing working out for you?

good article though. i never thought there would actually be a shortage of geeks anywhere... though i suppose that's due to there being a shortage of everything right now.