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CiA (no, not that CIA...nor that CIA)—Charity In Action has been working very hard to help Hurricane Katrina victims in the Gulfport/Longbeach region of Mississippi. Here are some more details and updates to add to what I blogged earlier:

First, they have accomplished three relief shipments, so far. The first was a collection of goods to a church in Mississippi being sponsored by the Ivyland Church in Ivyland, Pennsylvania. The second was a tractor-trailer full of food, clothing and equipment to the Seabees unit I mentioned earlier. (Remember, the one my friend is chaplain for.) Third, the first team of volunteer workers was sent down, along with a small trailer of additional supplies. Here's a photo of this week's team just before departure:

The second bit of interesting news is this letter from the chaplain, Lt. Martie Johnson to Charity In Action:

Way to go! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Somehow, we arrived with a perfect delivery just in time for a feeding center to be set up at America's Thrift Store's parking lot in Biloxi. The forklift operator unloaded the truck, and the store manager couldn't believe the great mix of stuff you guys put together. Wow! The pork and beans, chile, Infamil, soy milk, apple juice, and the Dole mixed fruit, and there was an especially great cheer for the peanut butter and tuna. In other words, GREAT job! You knew exactly what they needed.

My Seabees were also ecstatic. Here's a direct quote from Chief Perry: "Hey Chaps! Where did you get these 8 great ladders?" I said, "Hey guys, the CIA in Philadelphia is looking out for you!" They responded, "The CIA??" I said, "Charity in Action. It's a great group of folks in Bryn Athyn, PA." The ladders were distributed to the tiger teams (groups of 5-10 Seabees who roam around ready to repair your roof and other holes in your house) immediately, and they are currently at work in Biloxi.

Lastly, I also really appreciate your "care to the caregiver" efforts. Our Seabees are also victims here, and I look forward to getting gift cards from Lowes, Home Depot, and Sam's Club so that they can rebuild their lives as they rebuild Mississippi.

God bless you, and thank you, and let's keep it up! I'll catch up with you, now that we've worked out the kinks, to make this even smoother.

P.S.
My battalion is responsible a number of Biloxi schools and 8 schools in George County Mississippi. Get ready for how you can help us help them.
Thanks again CiA!

Martie's unit is Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7 (NMCB-7), Magnificent Seven (mission, "We Build, We Fight!"), stationed in Gulfport, Mississippi. They have an illustrious history, including multiple instances of providing disaster relief after numerous hurricanes in a number of places and also deploying to help Sri Lanka after the recent tsunami. Additionally, NMCB-7 was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for their participation in Operation Iraqi Freedom as a part of Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) I. Now, they are helping people in Gulfport and Biloxi and surrounding areas dig out, find shelter, and eventually rebuild. This time, however, they also have their own homes (and their base) to dig out and repair, too.

Finally, on a related note, the next truck has arrived at Bryn Athyn Cathedral and is ready to begin loading. Everything going on the truck will go to Rev. Johnson and the Seabees of NMCB-7 for use in southern Mississippi relief work.

If you would like to contribute, head over to the Charity In Action website. Financial contributions are now tax deductable (under the auspicies of the Bryn Athyn Society of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, a 501(c)3 non-profit, private church organization), and will go towards the cost of purchasing and transporting more relief supplies to the Seabees for distribution. Every cent goes directly into relief efforts; CiA has no paid employees. All work in Mississippi is done under FEMA authority and in cooperation with the U. S. military and the Salvation Army.

[Technorati tags: flood aid, hurricane katrina]

Posted by Mac at 3:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

I have three updates on Charity In Action, mentioned here earlier today.

First, I have an email from them with the following additional information:

Charity In Action is working in direct conjunction with the contacts in effected areas. We are coordinating our Relief Deliveries with FEMA, the U.S. military and the Salvation Army. We have warehouses and a military base standing by to receive our supplies and the Salvation Army ready to manage and distribute them.

This is something that makes Charity In Action stand a bit apart from many other faith-based efforts. If you want to have an immediate and direct impact on specific shelters' needs, this is an excellent organization to do it through. In the email, I'm also told that the Salvation Army tells us that the shelters we're working with are in desperate need; so far they have received nothing but refugees at these facilities. The first Charity in Action truck is rolling today.

Also, the Charity In Action website has been updated with some new information:

Charity In Action has been in communication with our contacts at FEMA, the Salvation Army and the military this morning. They are counting on us for Relief Deliveries by tractor-trailer. The need is overwhelming. The Salvation Army Shelters are filled with people, but no food, clothing or supplies. The military base has a warehouse ready to receive and distribute the supplies we bring down.

A truck has been procured. Our coordinator in charge of large supply procurement has been working with Sam’s Club – they estimate it will take about $40,000 worth of goods to fill one truck. The Salvation Army needs supplies to be palletized as much as possible. Cash donations will help fill this truck by enabling us to purchase full pallets of items from Sam’s Club.

Donations of food and supplies will go on the Ivyland truck. (See Relief Deliveries pages for more information).

Michael Peters, the Salvation Army Long Beach Shelter Coordinator in Mississippi told us this morning, "The need is so great...God bless you". We have told him we plan to bring multiple trucks.

An important note about clothing donations – there is a real need for XXL size clothing; Women’s size 22 and larger. Used but clean clothing and bedding is great. New packages of underwear appreciated.

Regarding food donations, they have no refrigeration. Ideally they need foods that don’t need to be cooked. High protein products are needed, i.e. canned stews. #10 cans please.

Go to Charity In Action now to find out how you can help with this and other related efforts.

Finally, good news on the topic of tax-deductability: Charity In Action is now able to accept financial contributions thanks to the non-profit status of its sponsor, the Bryn Athyn Society of the General Church. They desperately need this money in order to fill up their trucks with pallettes from Sam's Club, as well as to pay for truck rentals and gasoline. Also, they are now using the Bryn Athyn Cathedral as a primary drop-off point for donated goods.

Posted by Mac at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

According to their website...

Charity In Action is a recently conceived, rapidly evolving organization dedicated to helping those in need. Our immediate mission is to contribute to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Our current base of operations is in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania; however we are coordinating with a wide network of church groups, military bases, federal, state and local agencies.

We are a group of volunteers, many of whom are associated with the Swedenborgian faith. The Bryn Athyn Society of the General Church is currently sponsoring some of our activities. We welcome any and all to join us.

Charity In Action is just getting off the ground. They are not yet registered as a non-profit, and are principally focused right now on acting as a coordinating body. (Stay tuned, though, as they very well may become a tax-deductable fund raising organization as well.)

Among the efforts that Charity In Action is coordinating are the following:

• Sending a truck of supplies from the New Christian church in Ivyland, Pennsylvania to a pastor in Mississippi overseeing a shelter;


• FEMA- and U.S. Military-approved truck shipments full of relief supplies and Home Depot and Lowes gift cards from Bryn Athyn to various shelters in Gulport and Biloxi—including Orange Grove Elementary School, Bel Aire Elementary School, Gulf Port Central Elementary School, Seabee Memorial Chapel, and Gulf Port Salvation Army Shelter—under the coordination of a Navy Chaplain (attached to a Seabees unit in Gulfport) who is also a New Christian minister;


• Short-term shelter and long-term housing planning for some of the people displaced into the Philadelphia area; and


• Cards, notes, pictures, etc., for those effected, created by children wanting to provide comfort and sympathy.

As their site says, this is a faith-based organization whose organizers are members of the New Christian (Swedenborgian) religion—specifically the Bryn Athyn Society of the General Church. If you're unfamiliar with New Christianity, you can learn more at NewChurch.org. If you are a reader of Swedenborg or merely someone who wants to help their neighbor, if you are in the Philadelphia area or a thousand miles away, if you want to volunteer time, supply goods, provide transportation, or donate money or gift cards, there's a need at Charity In Action that you can fill.

For more information and details, go to their website. To join the effort immediately and get on their mailing list, send an email to subscribe@CharityInAction.org.

[Technorati: flood aid, hurricane katrina]

Posted by Mac at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (3)

My youngest sister attends Tulane, in New Orleans. She has an apartment there. Her close friend (and a friend of our family's in general) just moved down there as well. My mother, my sister, her friend, and her friend's sister just went down there this past week to help with moving and getting set up for the year.

Bad timing.

After a nightmarish 14 hour pilgrimage across largely darkened highways, they have managed finally to find refuge in Alabama, in the house of a friend of another one of my sisters. Talking to my mom today on the phone, she was clearly shaken by what she had seen and experienced over the past few days, but she said also that she had once again been reminded that there are people on this earth who act as the Lord's angels, doing his work in times of great need.

I also received word today, via his brother-in-law, of a friend who is still in the midst of things. If I know him, he is acting as one of those angels. He recently started full active duty as a chaplain in the U. S. Navy, attached to a Seabee unit in Gulfport, Mississippi. The guy is a man of great heart, high spirit, endless energy...I can think of no person I know personally who is better suited to be doing what he is doing right now, where he is doing it. He only recently went on duty down there. For the 700+ refugees in his shelter, plus all the Navy engineers stationed with him, I imagine it is wonderful timing.

My mom is flying back here to the Philadelphia area with one of the girls tomorrow. My sister and her friend have a car and a dog with them, so will probably try driving back. I don't worry for their safety, but I do want them all closer to their friends and relatives here. They lost a lot of stuff, along with at least months of their various life's plans. Many others, though, have lost more. I'm doing and will do what I can to get them back here and help them recover emotionally. For the others, for the strangers, for the ones who have lost far worse, and for those who are themselves still lost out there, I'm providing financial support to their rescuers.

My wife and I had a very quick conversation, and we have now given cash to the Salvation Army (my all-time favorite disaster-relief charity, largely because it is one of the most efficient and effective organizations in the field) and also to the American Red Cross. If you haven't already, you might want to think about doing something similar. You will never regret it.

I listen fairly regularly to national talk-show host Glenn Beck. He has pulled out all the stops on his show in a way I've come to expect from him. I'm proud to have him based out of Philly, here, as he has demonstrated a history of using his very large listening audience to support some great charities over the years.

For people inside the Philadelphia area, I understand he is organizing a local event to send relief-aid supplies to the affected region. On the national level, he is involved in a number of efforts, including an online auction supporting the Red Cross. Tune in to his program tomorrow (Thursday) morning, or check his website for more information afterwards.

Finally, for those in the Philadelphia suburbs looking to give or receive help of a more spiritual nature, it looks as if the Bryn Athyn Cathedral is (probably—check their website) once again going to open its doors for a special evening prayer service, probably this Sunday night. Those of many faiths who came to this New Christian (Swedenborgian) house of worship following the Tsunami and September 11 crises remember it as a special and beautiful place of healing and community. I'll be there, unless I'm in Alabama helping my sister and her friend get home that night.

For more information:

• Salvation Army


• American Red Cross


• The Glenn Beck Show


• Bryn Athyn Cathedral


• Strengthen the Good

Also, be sure to check out the Hugh Hewitt-suggested Hurricane Katrina Flood-Aid Blogburst at Instapundit.com and TruthLaidBear.com for more ways you can be an angel.

UPDATE (Sep. 1): You should also definitely head over to Strengthen the Good, where they are running an interesting "matching donations" program. I've already made my donations, so I'm afraid I can't offer additional matching funds this time, but it's an excellent idea that many other bloggers are participating in right now.

[Technorati: flood aid, hurricane katrina]

Posted by Mac at 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (2)