The by-blow rains of Katrina have reached Toronto now and it sounds like a steady downbeat. I have lived through a few tropical storms in Jamaica but never a hurricane. I survived the dinky snowfall that shut the down the city and made the Mayor call in the army but nothing in my experience equals the devastation that Hurricane Katrina has wrought.
I have always loved the idea of New Orleans. It was the one place in the United States that I have always wanted to visit and meant to go before I died. I have read more bad novels only because the book’s setting was in New Orleans than I can count, but never did I dream that the New Orleans of my books and mind might not be waiting for me though it appears that the New Orleans of old has been swept away.
I have no doubt that American ingenuity and initiative will get the city eventually back on its feet and the rebuilding will be done but by the same token many of those who will suffer the most from Hurricane Katrina will be the least able to set their lives back in order once the water recedes.
Our American neighbors have not asked for any international aid but if there is a little left in your budget for those who have literally been left with nothing but their lives and the clothes on their backs please consider a donation to those aid organizations that will be working night and day for the many months or possibly years it will take to put the city back on its feet. Make no mistake - our neighbors would not hesitate to do it for you.
Salvation Army
Catholic Charities
Mennonite Disaster Relief
American Red Cross
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