I do a monthly show at a club in Los Angeles. It’s always at the end of the month.
When I started this series a few months ago, I had always planned to make the November show (which is the week after Thanksgiving) a Holiday-themed fund-raiser/benefit/charity thing. But I had not made a decision as to what the charity would be.
Now, because New Orleans was my home for many years and I love it so, I fully intend to make this Holiday show a Hurricane Refief Benefit.
All of the Hurricane benefits I’ve contributed to over the last month and a half have been for the Red Cross. So this is what I very well may do.
Just checking here to see if anyone wants to recommend a different Hurricane relief fund that I should consider.
Of special interest would be any fund that would specifically go to providing Holiday related services to those affected by Katrina and Rita (since it will be a “Holiday” show).
Of the charities listed for hurricane relief in our newspaper in the days after the hurricane hit, it was the only one that wasn’t a Christian charity. I’m Jewish and ex-Christian, and wouldn’t feel right giving money that might be used to promote Christianity. So, until our synagogue announced a Jewish Federation hurricane-relief effort, the Red Cross and the Humane Society were the only charities I would give to for hurricane relief.
Since you want to donate specifically to New Orleans Katrina relief, you might consider a charity that focuses on long-term needs rather than first response. I suggest Habitat for Humanity.
Here’s an article with some interesting information about donating to Red Cross versus other charities.
This link shows how the Red Cross is spending its Katrina money.
If it is true that $1.2 billion was donated to the Red Cross for Katrina relief (second link above) and that $54 million was spent on fundraising costs (RC link), then the Red Cross used 22% of the donations for fund raising. That’s kind of high, IMHO.