40 Ways in 40 Days: Remembering the Survivors of Katrina (Day 14) [View All]

Day 14, Way 14

DUer Kurovski, who has been kicking the 40 Ways threads like a champ, asked me if I was going to profile any religious organizations that weren't Christian. I thought well, why not. Lent's a specifically Christian thing, but helping people out isn't, and indeed there are plenty of non-Christian faith-based organizations raising money and working hard all year round for the Katrina survivors.

For instance, United Jewish Communities has been coordinating a Hurricane Katrina/Disaster Relief Fund which according to their website has raised more than $28 million. The money has been used to fund a variety of initiatives. Some are specifically directed toward helping support and sustain Jewish communities (if you are surprised to hear that there are Jewish communities on the Gulf Coast, the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute for Southern Jewish Life will be happy to educate you about this), and some are general relief projects like food distribution, temporary housing, gift cards for evacuees so they can buy basic staples (at Wal-Mart, alas...well, the battle won't be won in a day), etc.

Turning to the other team in the Big Three Monotheism Conference, there are a number of Muslim charities out there raising money for Katrina relief, including Islamic Relief, which has been doing food distribution and other basic relief work in cooperation with the Common Ground Collective and other local organizations. The Islamic Society of North America coordinated a student volunteer effort over the December break, though it's not clear whether they have their own Katrina fund and from the pictures it looks as if this may have been part of a larger campaign organized by Islamic Relief. Also bear in mind that with things as they are in this country at this time, any charity with "Islam" in the title is probably undergoing a continuous warrantless search by the NSA.

It's late, so I'm turning in. See you Monday.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder