Archive for the 'Helping Hands' Category

Bill to outlaw Mountain Top Removal - Take action NOW!

Published by
elophan
February 28, 2008 in Helping Hands, Newz and The Environment. 1 Comment

State Senator Jon Hunter of West Virginia has introduced a bill that would ban the atrocity of Mountain Top Removal. The bill is SB588.

Senator Hunter has extended the record of today’s hearing by 5 days, so people can submit written comment on SB588.

Please, the time to take action is now. Write, or email him, and let him know you support his efforts. He would like to present to West Virginia’s state Senate letters that stress the importance of this legislation. He must be under immense pressure from King Coal to withdraw his legislation. For the future of West Virginia and its residents, we cannot allow that to happen. LET HIM KNOW HE CAN COUNT ON OUR SUPPORT!

Senator Jon Hunter, Chairman
Energy, Industry and Mining Committee
Building 1 State Capital Complex
Charleston, WV 25305

Or, you can e-mail Senator Hunter here.

This is the chance we’ve been waiting for. Let’s make the most of it!

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House, Senate, administration battle over volunteer program

Published by
Gene Shinai
September 12, 2007 in Government, Helping Hands and Newz. 0 Comments

From McClatchy:

By Maria Recio| McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — One of the most popular volunteer programs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the National Civilian Community Corps, is facing a budget crunch.

The corps, which is under the AmeriCorps umbrella, is a 10-month program for 18- to 24-year-olds to do short-term projects for six to eight weeks in areas of need. The approximately 1,200 volunteers a year receive small stipends, making the program a target for fiscal conservatives, who think it isn’t government’s role to pay for charity.

The House of Representatives has passed an appropriation for fiscal 2008 that would cut funding for the corps from $26 million this year to President Bush’s proposed $11 million. But the program has a booster on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, the panel’s powerful ranking Republican. -More

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Red Cross Faces Criticism Over Aid Program for Hurricane Victims

Published by
susan
August 10, 2007 in Business/Finance, Government, Helping Hands and Newz. 0 Comments

From the NY Times

By SHAILA DEWAN and STEPHANIE STROM

Published: August 10, 2007

A little-known American Red Cross aid program for victims of Hurricane Katrina has unleashed a wave of criticism from evacuees, who say that the program, which pays up to $20,000 for building materials, used cars, job training and other unmet needs, has been too secretive and strict, and its money too limited.

Red Cross officials say the $39 million program, Means to Recovery, has only enough money to serve about 4,000 families who have undertaken an extensive planning process with caseworkers from the Red Cross and other charities. Families that have not yet started that process or made an appointment to do so can no longer be accommodated, they said last week.

More than 80,000 phone calls have poured in to the Red Cross and protesters have picketed its offices since evacuees began drawing attention to the program three weeks ago. The flare-up illustrates the tricky nature of deploying limited finances in the face of unlimited need, and the frustration of evacuees who have seen slow progress in the rebuilding of their own lives and of the ravaged Gulf Coast.

Evacuees and charities whose caseworkers have applied for money for their clients accuse the Red Cross of obstruction, pointing out that initially the application form was more than 20 pages long and that some families have waited months for a response. Because the program was not advertised, many families had no opportunity to apply.

Red Cross officials counter that they have changed the program in response to criticism, including reducing the application form to eight pages, and are trying to decrease the processing time while protecting the Red Cross from the fraud and abuse that marred distribution of money immediately after the storm. MORE

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Thousands face Katrina recovery grant deadline

Published by
susan
July 31, 2007 in Government, Helping Hands, Law and Justice and Newz. 0 Comments

From the Houston Chronicle

Found for us by the Texas news ninja, Betsy!

NEW ORLEANS — Bessie Griffin needs a government grant to rebuild the home Hurricane Katrina wrecked, but procrastinating may have cost her dearly.

Griffin had vowed to be the first on her block to rebuild when she returned to New Orleans after the Aug. 29, 2005, storm. Her enthusiasm gave way to crippling despair, however, after she gave $10,000 to an unscrupulous contractor who left town without working on her home.

Griffin, 59, beat Tuesday’s deadline to apply for federally funded, state-administered grants of up to $150,000, but she has heard reports that the state’s Road Home program could go broke before thousands of applicants get their money.

“If the government doesn’t give me any assistance, then I guess I’m going to have to go overextend myself and take out a loan,” Griffin said as she waited Friday to meet with Road Home representatives.

Road Home applications were pouring in as Tuesday’s deadline approached, peaking at 1,600 applications one day earlier this month. Whether any money is left for last-minute applicants remains to be seen.

Road Home is awash in red ink, pledging more money to homeowners than the program can pay. The homeowner assistance program is funded with $6.4 billion in federal recovery money, but it faces an estimated $5 billion shortfall in what would be needed to help all eligible applicants.

That’s why state officials set an application deadline for what once was an open-ended program. They want a tally of how many people are eligible so they know how much money to seek from Congress to fill the gap.

Meanwhile, they’re also working on a plan to reshuffle federal recovery aid and use state surplus dollars to raise $1 billion, a plan that still needs approval from state lawmakers and federal officials. MORE

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Ethiopia Is Said to Block Food to Rebel Region

Published by
susan
July 23, 2007 in Foreign, Government, Helping Hands, Human Rights and Newz. 0 Comments

From the NY Times

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

Published: July 22, 2007

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 21 — The Ethiopian government is blockading emergency food aid and choking off trade to large swaths of a remote region in the eastern part of the country that is home to a rebel force, putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk of starvation, Western diplomats and humanitarian officials say.

 

Hundreds of thousands of people may face famine in the Ogaden.

The Ethiopian military and its proxy militias have also been siphoning off millions of dollars in international food aid and using a United Nations polio eradication program to funnel money to their fighters, according to relief officials, former Ethiopian government administrators and a member of the Ethiopian Parliament who defected to Germany last month to protest the government’s actions.

The blockade takes aim at the heart of the Ogaden region, a vast desert on the Somali border where the government is struggling against a growing rebellion and where government soldiers have been accused by human rights groups of widespread brutality. MORE

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Hurricane Katrina Ice Going Down Drain

Published by
susan
July 16, 2007 in Government, Health, Helping Hands, Human Interest/Society and Newz. 0 Comments

From the Austin American-Statesman

Found for us by the Texas news ninja, Betsy!

GLOUCESTER, Mass. — After nearly two years, thousands of truck miles and $12.5 million in storage costs, a cold relic of the flawed Hurricane Katrina relief effort is going down the drain.

The federal government is getting rid of thousands of pounds of ice it had sent south to help Katrina victims, then north when it determined much of the ice wasn’t needed. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had been hanging on to the ice in case it was needed for another disaster, but decided to get rid of it because it couldn’t determine whether it was still safe for human consumption.

“We just didn’t take any chances,” FEMA spokeswoman Alexandra Kirin told the Gloucester Daily Times.

The ice, held at AmeriCold Logistics in Gloucester and at 22 similar facilities nationwide, is being melted. The cost of storing the ice at all the facilities since Katrina is $12.5 million.

The Army Corps of Engineers acknowledged after the August 2005 hurricane that it had ordered too much ice because of faulty estimates by local officials. Truckers received up to $900 a day to move the ice to storage sites around the country. MORE

But wait —– Aren’t there still people in Mississippi who don’t have AC and could use that ice?
Betsy

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Public Schools Feed Multitudes in the Summer

Published by
susan
July 10, 2007 in Education, Helping Hands, Newz and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

From the NY Times

Found for us by the Texas news ninja, Betsy!

By JULIE BOSMAN

Published: July 10, 2007

The New York City school system is pushing far beyond the corridors of summer school in delivering free meals, handing out breakfast and lunch for the first time in housing projects, libraries, day camps and church groups to become one of the nation’s largest summer soup kitchens.

Education Department officials say they expect to significantly exceed last summer’s totals of 4.4 million lunches and 2 million breakfasts. And last summer’s figure was already more than twice as many meals as Citymeals-on-Wheels provided for homebound elderly residents in a full year, and well beyond the reach of other big-city public school districts like Los Angeles and Chicago.

“We’re really trying to expand our scope for the summer,” said Eric Goldstein, who became chief executive of student support services four months ago. “We’re trying to get to as many kids as possible. If there are kids there, we want to be there to feed them.”

Groups that track food needs say the $23 million program easily dwarfs others in the city. “Not only will no single pantry or kitchen serve even in that ballpark, there is a good chance that even the combined 1,200 pantries and kitchens in New York City won’t serve much more for children over the summer,” said Joel Berg, the executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, which supports soup kitchens and food pantries.

One day last week, moments after the blue delivery van arrived at the Sheltering Arms Pool in Harlem, Carol Williams zigzagged through a gathering crowd to snap up two white paper lunch bags for her grandchildren, Devon, 4, and Jordan, 8 months. “We saw the sign for free lunch, so we came,” said Ms. Williams, who lives blocks away in the Manhattanville neighborhood. “We’re going to be here every day.” The meals are intended for ages 18 and under, the schools say. MORE

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Woman tries to save dying man, but gets stuck with bills

Published by
susan
July 10, 2007 in Health, Helping Hands, Human Rights and Newz. 0 Comments

From the Austin American-Statesman

Found for us by the Texas news ninja, Betsy!

After county won’t test victim’s blood for viruses, good samaritan left wondering if she was infected

By Isadora Vail
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, July 09, 2007

When Wendy Lee saw a man get hit by a truck that night in May, she had no second thoughts about what she should do.

Lee stopped her Suburban to help 64-year-old Juan Vega, who had been trying to cross Williamson County Road 172 near La Frontera in Round Rock when he was struck by a 2000 Chevrolet pickup. Lee said she could see Vega’s cowboy boots lying in the road.

“I called 911 as I was walking up to him, and they walked me through the first steps of CPR and chest compressions,” Lee said.

Vega’s eyes were open and moving, and he was gasping for air as she put her lips to his and breathed.

The next moment, she was spitting his blood into the grass.

Vega died on the way to Brackenridge Hospital in Austin. When emergency workers saw that Lee, 38, was covered in Vega’s blood, they sent her to the hospital to be tested for HIV and hepatitis.

The tests came back negative, but because Williamson County didn’t test Vega for those diseases at the scene, Lee is left wondering whether she was exposed to viruses that might affect her health later. Doctors say that six to eight weeks after exposure is the most important time to test for HIV and hepatitis because both viruses take time to show up, but Lee said she cannot afford to get retested.

And more than a month later, she’s stuck with almost $3,000 in medical bills.

“When I opened that bill, I wanted to cry,” said Lee, a single mother of two teenagers who is a human resource manager at Triple Crown Dog Academy in Hutto. “I kept thinking to myself, ‘Didn’t I do the right thing?’ ”

Eric Strelnieks, a staff physician at St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center, where Lee was taken after she tried to help Vega, said she was given a shot to prevent hepatitis B, a virus that attacks the liver, and was prescribed medication that slows the development of HIV.

Lee said she stopped taking the medication after a few weeks because it made her nauseated and dizzy.

Lee’s health insurance paid a portion of her hospital bill, which was just under $8,000. But she said she can’t afford to pay the remainder.

“The way life is right now, $50 is too much to pay,” she said.

Testing Vega’s blood for diseases could have put the questions to rest, but Williamson County doesn’t require such tests unless it is suspected that alcohol or drugs were involved in a fatal accident, said Steve Benton, the justice of the peace who was called to the May 15 wreck. MORE

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When “The Best Laid Plans” aren’t: CREW’s new report documents massive Katrina failures

Published by
susan
June 28, 2007 in Government, Helping Hands, Newz and Politics. 0 Comments

Found by the Texas News Ninja Betsy!

From CREW

CREW just released a new blockbuster report: The Best Laid Plans: The Story of How the Government Ignored Its Own Gulf Coast Hurricane Plans.

Best Laid Plans details the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) plan to respond to a hurricane of Katrina’s magnitude and, very importantly, FEMA’s subsequent failure to implement that plan. The full report can be found here.

Shortly after Katrina struck, on September 7, 2005, CREW sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), of which FEMA is a component, seeking records related to the federal government’s long-term planning for a hurricane on the Gulf Coast as well as its immediate preparations for and response to Hurricane Katrina.

The Best Laid Plans is based on the 7,500 records DHS provided in response. What we found is disturbing — and dangerous.

Critically, CREW found that FEMA had created a “Southeast Louisiana Catastrophic Hurricane Plan” (SLCHP), which forecast a range of specific consequences, including:

  • New Orleans would be flooded with 14-17 feet of water, the levee system inundated with at least 10 feet of water and the hurricane would move into Mississippi;
  • One million people would evacuate, but flooding would trap at least 250-350,000; and
  • Each hurricane victim would require a minimum of two Meals Ready to Eat, one gallon of water and eight pounds of ice per day.

The SLCHP included plans to:

  • Evacuate residents and position resources pre-hurricane;
  • Provide power, water and ice to hurricane victims; and
  • Provide short-term shelter and longer-term temporary housing.

Nevertheless, despite the comprehensive SLCHP, post-Katrina FEMA documents demonstrate that that the plan was never implemented. On August 28, 2005, the day before Katrina hit, FEMA Deputy Director Patrick Rhode sent an email to Deputy Chief of Staff Brooks Altshuler and Michael Heath, Special Assistant to FEMA Director Michael Brown, with the subject line, “copy of New Orleans cat plan” stating, “I never got one – I think Brown got my copy – did you get one?”

Having a plan only works if those in charge know about the plan — and how to implement it. MORE

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The Call

Published by
susan
May 28, 2007 in Helping Hands and Newz. 0 Comments

From Nola.Com

The local Jewish federation is launching a recruiting effort to aid New Orleans’ recovery

By Bruce Nolan
Staff writer

Its numbers sharply reduced by Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans’ Jewish community is about to launch a novel rebuilding campaign to recruit as many as 1,000 Jewish families to New Orleans with offers of moving grants, loans and other economic incentives.

The unusual initiative — maybe unique in the recovering city — is part of an aggressive, multipronged effort by the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans to repair and perhaps even expand the Jewish community beyond its pre-Katrina numbers.

The community plans to market New Orleans to Jewish families nationally as a city filled with opportunities for pioneers interested in rebuilding a battered Jewish community, as well as the broader city.

To complement its marketing effort, the federation already has offered loans and other help to about a dozen families returning to their homes in New Orleans. And through personal contacts and private welcoming parties, it is consciously trying to connect newcomers to Jewish institutions and families, maximizing the chance they will remain in New Orleans.

Even as that happens, rabbis, educators and other leaders are exploring ways in which Jewish agencies and synagogues weakened by Katrina can work together more effectively, whether through mergers or closer collaboration.

The metro area was home to a Jewish community of about 10,000 before Katrina. Leaders believe up to 30 percent have left, most permanently. MORE

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