Seriously now, please give for Katrina victims

Like most of the country, if not most of the world, my family has spent some very sad and sobering time watching TV reports of the Katrina disaster.

Last night, my wife and I consulted with the older two children (12 and 17) about whether we would be willing to house a refugee family and how much money we should donate to appropriate charities for the relief effort.

The refugee family idea was rejected on fairly practical grounds (safety concerns about living with strangers).

The donation idea was accepted uncritically. One kid said $500, the other (without having heard the $500) said $1,000. Though the idea of such a large donation hurt, we thought their suggestions were in the ballpark and agreed to a donation near the lower end, planning to reassess further donations in the near future based upon finances.

No doubt everyone who reads this is in a different position financially, but we all have so much more than the homeless, jobless, moneyless, hungry, thirsty, dirty, fearful, and grieving hurricane victims.

Please do what you can, ASAP. Many charities are good and deeply involved. American Red Cross and Salvation Army are probably at the top of the list, though we also chose to give to United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) because we know through church affiliation of their many good works.

I thought what we did was a tiny drop in the bucket. Then I realized that if just a million people give $500, that’s $500 million. Some can afford much more; many can afford less. If 10 million give $100, that’s a billion. Those are the kind of numbers that are needed.

(hurricane pic from Something in My Eye)