Stormy Weather

Here is a list of charities accepting donations for assisting the recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Thanks to New York-based syndicated columnist Deroy Murdock, a senior fellow at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in Fairfax, Virginia, for compiling this list and distributing it to the newspapers that carry his articles.

American Red Cross
Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund
P.O. Box 37243
800-HELP NOW

America’s Second Harvest
800-344-8070

Blood donations:
800-GIVE-LIFE
http://www.givelife.org

Catholic Charities
800-919-9338

Clothing donations:
Goodwill Industries of Houston
5200 Jensen Drive
Houston, TX 77026

Operation Blessing
800-730-2537

Salvation Army
"Disaster Relief"
P.O. Box 4857
Jackson, Mississippi 39296
800-SAL-ARMY

United Way
800-272-4630

In his column appearing today in the Nashua Telegraph, Murdock writes:

The good news is that Americans in and out of uniform already are being generous and compassionate to Katrina’s victims.

A Mississippi man waded into alligator-filled waters to pry an elderly couple from their sidelined automobile.

When one New Orleans hospital’s emergency generators lacked fuel, staffers siphoned now-precious gasoline from their own cars’ tanks to keep medical equipment running.

Harry Connick Jr., Wynton Marsalis and other entertainers plan fundraising concerts and telethons.

So far, Americans have donated $27 million to such charities as the Red Cross (1-800-HELP NOW/www.redcross.org).

It is a long time since Americans have seen such a deadly and widespread disaster -- perhaps the 1927 Mississippi floods are the closest equivalent. As in all such circumstances, Americans come together in little platoons -- actually, some big platoons, too -- to pitch in and overcome adversity.