MTV is in gear, putting plans in place to host a Hurricane Katrina relief campaign to help raise money for the Red Cross.
The big concert is set for next weekend, September 10th and will be shown on MTV, VH1 and CMT, starring John Mellencamp, Ludacris, Green Day, Dave Matthews Band and others.
I hope and pray all of the relief efforts for the victims of the hurricane will surpass the efforts of the Tsunami relief earlier this year and even the relief efforts for 9/11.
In DeSoto County, Mississippi where I live, plans are underway for a concert event to raise money for the Red Cross. I got a call today from a woman putting the show together with help from all of the mayors in the county. I’ll post more when those plans are more defined.
What I keep wondering is, where are all of the countries we have helped in recent years? Where is the help? Where is the attention from the rest of the world? Will they help? Will they scratch our back after we scratched theirs? The truth is the United States and people here don’t expect the rest of the world to lend a hand, even though we send them millions of dollars to help recover. We take care of ourselves.
I spent the day at three relief shelters talking with victims. I’m putting together a story for churches to use this weekend through “The ACTS Network”.
The story will look at the opportunity Christians have to not only help hurricane victims, but to also minister to them as Jesus calls us to do. I shot the story today, wrote and edited it tonight and will put it on the website tomorrow morning. Churches will be able to download the story, and use it in their worship services Sunday.
I talked with more than a dozen people from New Orleans, Biloxi and Gulfport and my heart goes out to them. Some didn’t know if family members were still alive, some didn’t know if they had a home. All were grateful for the people of the mid-south who are helping.
At Goodman Oaks Church of Christ in Southaven, donations have been pouring in to the point they didn’t need food or clothing to distribute. At Trinity Baptist Church, the Red Cross had set up a shelter. At Sacred Heart School, they were taking people out of their hotel rooms and giving them a place to stay for free. Tomorrow night, First Baptist Church of Olive Branch will feed hurricane victims.
While all of this is good, I kept wondering “what about next week and next month?” Will these churches still be able to take care of these people? Will the Red Cross have to move their operation to other churches in the area?
This will go on for months. Shep Smith from FOX News had an insight tonight no one else has mentioned. After hearing a New Orleans resident who had been displaced by only a few miles say she needed to get back home for her job, Shep said “the entire world knows the scope of the damage on the coast. People who are there, have no idea.”
Mayor Herenton, of all people, nailed it today when he said, “We’re in this for the long haul.” The folks who have drifted up to Memphis are going to become part of the city. We need to figure out how to begin integrating them. They’ll need permanent homes, and the jobs to pay for them. Many will need government assistance, or need their Louisiana / Mississippi benefits transferred here. Lots of financial obligations that were disrupted by the hurricane and the flood will need straightening out. There are a lot of sick people who will need long-term care; children who will need schools. (Can you imagine a couple of thousand students suddenly dropped into the MCS or SCS systems?) Prisoners need new cells.
Lots of businesses have ceased to exist. That will affect state tax revenues.
This isn’t a New Orleans problem any more, but a regional one.
I heard this morning on NPR that a number of countries have offered both financial and technical assistance in the aftermath of Katrina. Germany is one of those offering both, especially technical since it played a big role in helping in the tsunami disaster recovery effort. Even Venezuela offered one million dollars in aid as it took a verbal shot at President Bush about being the “vacation president”.
President Bush is a waste of time. When the tsunami hit, he was all over the news about helping but I guess since New Orleans is mostly black and poor, there’s no need to rush. It’s a shame that racism still exists in our midst. When will it end?
I don’t think N.O. being “mostly black” is the problem. Incompetence certainly. Class, possibly.