Here is something I received in an e-mail. The writer is a Jesuit from California, Ron Schmidt.
I just spent 10 days along the Mississippi coast where towns were wiped out...the devastation is unbelievable and the recovery efforts will take years. I spent a day in New Orleans, where things are just as bad..perhaps worse...since the devastation is so widespread too.
I promised people in Mississippi that I would make others aware of their plight---that the Federal govt. is ignoring or dragging their political feet in getting legislation going to provide money for the recovery effort. No one seems to recognize the scale of this national catastrophe.
Everyone I talked with praised private charities and groups who came to help...FEMA gets no good marks, the Red Cross mixed reviews. Lots of donations were continuing to come in while I was there--from small dollar contributions, to clothing and medical supplies.
Everyone I talked with encouraged us to put out the word to get Congress to act and just within the past two days some action on repair of the levees of New Orleans was taken. But much more needs to be done before Congress adjourns for the Christmas break.
I am also forwarding a document on the pending Immigration Reform Bill, which the Jesuit Conference, a national board, does not support. Interesting note: many of the construction workers now coming into Gulf Coast region are of Hispanic background, from Mexico or Central America, and may be undocumented. But they are needed to help with the
reconstruction efforts.
Christmas challenges for us all.
The author's web addresses are www.onthelinefilm.com and www.sandamianofoundation.org.
I promised people in Mississippi that I would make others aware of their plight---that the Federal govt. is ignoring or dragging their political feet in getting legislation going to provide money for the recovery effort. No one seems to recognize the scale of this national catastrophe.
Everyone I talked with praised private charities and groups who came to help...FEMA gets no good marks, the Red Cross mixed reviews. Lots of donations were continuing to come in while I was there--from small dollar contributions, to clothing and medical supplies.
Everyone I talked with encouraged us to put out the word to get Congress to act and just within the past two days some action on repair of the levees of New Orleans was taken. But much more needs to be done before Congress adjourns for the Christmas break.
I am also forwarding a document on the pending Immigration Reform Bill, which the Jesuit Conference, a national board, does not support. Interesting note: many of the construction workers now coming into Gulf Coast region are of Hispanic background, from Mexico or Central America, and may be undocumented. But they are needed to help with the
reconstruction efforts.
Christmas challenges for us all.
The author's web addresses are www.onthelinefilm.com and www.sandamianofoundation.org.
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