BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Autism Spectrum Disorders Sites for helping Katrina victims

NATIONAL HOTLINE TO LOCATE MISSING HURRICANE VICTIMS ESTABLISHED

Katrina Missing Persons Hotline, 1-888-544-5475, Will Go Live at 12:00 Noon (Eastern) on Monday, September 5

ALEXANDRIA, VA - September 4, 2005 - The U.S. Department of Justice has asked the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to set up a coordinated missing persons process to locate and reunite Hurricane Katrina victims in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. NCMEC staff is working through the weekend and will have the Katrina Missing Persons Hotline

1-888-544-5475

operational at 12:00 Noon Eastern time on Monday, September 5, 2005. Photographs, names, and physical descriptions of missing adults, missing children, and found children from hurricane-stricken areas will be posted to NCMEC's web site at

website

For those in the Los Angeles area The Dream Center is getting 300 victims by this Thursday. They had arrivals last nite and the nite before.

The Dream Center got a call from a pastor in the disaster area and then got some corporations to donate private planes to pick up the people and bring them to Burbank airport. The Dream Center has buses and they brought them to Los Angeles - actually Echo Park area of LA where I live.

They have a website - http://www.dreamcenter.org

That lists what they need in donations and then money. I called last nite to see if they would need the six cases of Huggies Goodnites we have. Someone called back today and we went down there to donate them.

Very organized, signs all over showing where to go and the parking lot had dozens of cars being emptied. The car next to us had two bags of stuffed animals.

News crews were there interviewing and volunteers had pizza and were all in good spirits wanting to help.

Then we parked on the street and walked to a volunteer section to give my business card and state what I could do. I said I could take people to SSI and the various social services offices since I have experience with all these agencies, someone could come over for the afternoon and hang out, etc. If they wanted to go to the mall to walk around, etc.

I will be gathering more stuff this week to take over there. It was very organized. Compared to what I saw on the news yesterday in Santa Monica donations all over the place being stacked on a street to be loaded into trucks and leaving today at 3 pm to go to the area.

From what I saw on the LA news this morning the Dream Center is now a Red Cross shelter and they can stay for six months.

new resource -

http://www.safekatrina.com

They need people with Camera Phones to go to shelters, take pictures, use the codes on the home page to designate the shelter and the persons name - then email them to

safe.123@tamw.com

The Coast Guard and the American Red Cross are enabling people to post on the Internet information about loved ones missing or stranded because of Hurricane Katrina.

The US Coast Guard 1-800-323-7233 is accepting requests on its Web page:
http://homeport.uscg.mil

The Family Links Registry of the Red Cross are at
http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/katrina

The Red Cross also has established a hotline,

1-877-LOVED-1S (1-877-568-3317)

that can be used to search or add information to the registry.

Yahoo! Group for Katrina Volunteers


An e-list for Katrina volunteers to communicate with each other to coordinate efforts, disseminate information, provide support for each other, as well as to pass on valuable information and ideas.

While we are here to help all Katrina survivors, our focus is on those with disabilities and special needs.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/katrinavolunteers/

email owner/moderators:

katrinavolunteers-owner@yahoogroups.com

Katrina Information Channel

DirecTV has designated channel 100 as the Hurricane Katrina Information Channel.

The channel has information 24/7 about shelters, counseling, and insurance claims (plus LOTS more info) nationwide.

It has also set up a message system for volunteers and survivors trying to locate and reunite with family members.

Text Message: 48433

Post a message: katrina@directv.com

Message Board: http://www.directv.com/hurricane

An update on the Cruise Ship Housing for Evacuees:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050907/ap_on_re_us/katrina_texas_evacuees

Cruise Ship Housing for Evacuees on Hold
By PAM EASTON, Associated Press Writer

HOUSTON - A plan to move thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees from the Astrodome to cruise ships was put on hold Tuesday after many of them objected, some because they were terrified by the thought of living on the water.

"I can't live over water. I can't swim," said Donna Smith, 24. "I wouldn't want to see no more water. I saw enough already."

Others said they wanted to stay at the Astrodome so that they could concentrate on finding lost loved ones, according to the Coast Guard. And some simply wanted a little stability after so much turmoil.

Carnival Cruise Lines had provided three ships to the federal government � the Ecstasy, Sensation and Holiday � for six months to be used as shelters for up to 7,000 hurricane refugees.

Coast Guard Lt. Joseph Leonard, directing the emergency response in Houston, said workers would try to persuade some of the evacuees to try out the ship.

"The bed on a cruise ship is a little bit better than a cot out here," he said. "It is not a perfect solution. It is a better solution than we have right now."

Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Ed Conley said the evacuees need time to think through their options.

Meanwhile, an airlift to take some Katrina refugees from overburdened Texas to other states was at a standstill Tuesday.

FEMA spokeswoman Mary Margaret Walker said that two American Airlines flights to carry refugees from Corpus Christi to Nashville, Tenn., were canceled late Tuesday because the people in the shelters didn't want to pack up and go someplace else.