Important Katrina comments for businesses and employment professionals

Amazing: I saw this and meant to post it later; instead it shows up as a comment on my last Katrina post. It’s important. Read it. And act.

Last night on NPR I heard a refugee woman from New Orleans expressing a strong desire for one thing above all else: A JOB.

She doesn’t want handouts, but has lost everything, including her job. Everything else will come together if she can just find work to support her family.

I have to believe there are many thousands with the same needs and same positive attitude.

Employers, recruiters, hiring managers, etc: look around creatively for ways to connect with these folks and find work for them.

I can’t get my mind off of this subject!

UPDATE — This just in via email from SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) President:

Like all Americans, those of us at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) are deeply saddened by the terrible loss of life and appalled at the catastrophic damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina. Many of SHRM’s members and their employees have been impacted.

Gulf Coast states and communities have borne the brunt of what may turn out to be the worst natural disaster ever to occur in the United States. Katrina has left a path of death, devastation and despair in its wake. The physical destruction is staggering: preliminary damage estimates are already in the tens of billions of dollars, and recovery will take years, possibly decades.

A tragedy of this magnitude will require the assistance of the entire nation in rebuilding the communities that were in the path of the storm. SHRM stands ready to do everything within our power to help the victims and the affected areas to recover.
SHRM will work with volunteer leaders in the most harshly affected states to develop an overall organizational strategy for ongoing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

It is likely that our focus will be on workforce issues that have arisen and will surface as a result of this catastrophe.

In the meantime, we have established a section on our Web site (www.shrm.org) to keep our members and other interested parties up to date on our disaster-related activities. We have also made these resources available to the general public.

I encourage you to contribute in some way to the overall Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, just as you did during the recent tsunami disaster. Cash donations allow agencies to avoid the labor-intensive need to store, sort, pack and distribute donated goods and reduce the transportation costs incurred by the delivery of donated goods.

Furthermore, the American Red Cross has opened a telephone hotline to receive cash donations from citizens. The number is 1-800-435-7669. Additional information on Red Cross emergency programs is available at the Red Cross Web site

Other relief organizations soliciting donations include (click on the following links for information):

• Episcopal Relief & Development
• United Methodist Committee on Relief
• Salvation Army
• Catholic Charities

For more information about how you can help, visit the Web site for the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) at http://www.nvoad.org/

The response to last year’s tsunami in Southeast Asia by SHRM members was immediate and inspiring. With your support, I’m certain that we will surpass that effort in response to the tragedy wrought by Hurricane Katrina.

At times like these, all other considerations—social status, political or ideological philosophies, ethnic or racial differences—are set aside. Thousands of our fellow Americans, including some of our members, are suffering. I’m sure that you will want to join the Society in helping them rebuild their shattered lives.

Sue Meisinger, President & CEO

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