Hi ho, MMMLOGerinos!

Yesterday I said I would post here an email from a friend Louisiana which presents an offer of how to help . . .

HOW YOU CAN HELP
A friend's email . . .

Thanks so much for checking on me. My family and I are fine. My husband
and I live in the northwest corner of the state and we didn't have any bad
weather. My daughter and her husband live in Jackson MS and they had a
scary day and night, they have a bit of roof damage and no electricity in
sight, but they are okay.

Things are grim down south. School, grade school through college, has been
cancelled in the New Orleans area until after December. Everything will
have to be rebuilt. We don't know how much land/real estate has been swept
away. Two previously inhabited islands are gone. The upside is that the
weather is pleasant. The hundred+ degree days went with the storm and the
heat is in the bareable 80s or low 90s. No rain in sight to hamper the
rescue efforts. And the state has received an outpouring of help and
generosity. We just can't seem to move enough people to habitable land fast
enough.

Mad Max and Thunderdome is the closest I can come to describing what we have been hearing. My husband is an insurance adjuster. They haven't even
started the recovery effort in the lightly hit areas. They won't be allowed
in until Monday, if then.

We have many refugees in the city. We will have more as N.O. figures out
how to get the survivors from their flooding and overcrowded shelters moved
up here. All our colleges, YWCAs, etc., are being used for shelters for
those who can't afford or find hotel rooms. They are all sending out pleas
for donations. They need clothes, blankets, toiletries, OTC drugs ie
aspirin and Neosporin and PeptoBismal and toys. Many shelters have also set
up makeshift kennels, so cat and dog supplies would also be welcome. I
imagine that books will be well received, also. If you want to send things,
I will be glad to drop them off. You may send things in my care (email Melinda for name and address), and I will take them to one of the shelters.

Up here, everyone knows someone who has missing family members. Please send thoughts and prayers. My good friend has elderly aunts, uncles and a
grandmother missing. Several thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of
folks refused to evacuate and tried to ride out the storm. Many are illegal
immigrants without green cards. Others did not want to give up their drugs
or weapons to enter a shelter. And some (many of the elderly) were too set
in their ways to be persuaded to leave. We don't know how many made it.
Phone service is nonexistent and information is just not being put together.
Emergency personnel are too busy trying to save those stuck on rooftops,
evacuate the deteriorating shelters and repair breeches in the levies (some
up to three city blocks wide.) The stories you hear and see about those who
climbed into their attics and chopped their way through their roofs are
true. There is no way to know how many are trapped. The rescuers are still
trying to save the living and have instructions to bypass those beyond help.
The body count is growing and disease in such a hot and humid place is
inevitable.

And here we are upstate. Except for the crowds in the grocery stores and
the filled hotels and public buildings, nothing seems changed until we see
the white-faced person sitting next to us who jumps every time a cell phone
rings or winces when breaking news footage is aired. New Orleans has such a
huge impact on our state and the states bordering us that our whole way of
life is changing. We really don't understand yet.

Please send thoughts and prayers for all who need rescuing and all who are
doing the rescuing. [end of email]

MMMLOGerinos, if you want to contribute to this woman's personal effort to practically help those in need in her area, please email me and I'll send you her contact information.

Ciao, Ciao, MMMMMMMMMMMMelinda