Katrina: Blog for Relief WEEKEND

The "Blog for Relief Day" has been turned into a weekend. At this writing, 1,344 blogs have helped raise $240,435.

See here for more information, and here for the Katrina topic page on the Truth Laid Bear site (which has been leading this effort).

Again, given the enormity of this disaster, I believe the bulk of donations should go to organizations with the infrastructure to help on a massive scale. Indeed, the top recipients fit that criteria: the American Red Cross, Catholic Charities, and The Salvation Army.

Donors should always verify the reputation of any charity. www.give.org and www.guidestar.org are excellent resources for this purpose.

Churches are also gathering funds and other resources to help Katrina's victims. For example, virtually all Catholic dioceses nationwide plan collections the first weekends of September. The USCCB reports on some of the relief efforts already underway in this press release.