Helping Katrina Evacuees

The plans to relocate Katrina evacuee to California, including the plans to host 300 people in San Francisco, are now on hold. The Chron is running this article:

"California's plans to receive up to 1,000 victims of Hurricane Katrina were placed on hold Wednesday by federal officials, who told state leaders that victims were reluctant to be sheltered in the Golden State because it is too far from their homes."

Clearly many sfschools members really want to help. So I am starting a modest drive to raise money, and possibly material goods, to benefit kids displaced by Katrina.

Since this blog as the associated list are focused on schools, I thought it would make sense to help students. When I heard on the news that the population of Baton Rouge basically doubled with the influx of Katrina victims, I decided to look for ways to help Baton Rouge schools. I'm sure other districts have dire needs. The goal is not to find the most needy recipient. The goal is to help one that clearly is in need.

The largest district in Baton Rouge is the East Baton Rouge school board. There are a number of other smaller districts in the city too. There are plenty of Catholic charities that are accepting targeted donations. But, as far as I can tell, those go to the parochial schools. Nothing wrong with that, but I get the sense that they are better organized and better prepared for charitable donations. On the theory that the public school needs would be greater, I researched the public schools and found two individuals, Tai St. Julien and Paula Fabre, at the East Baton Rouge schools who are the contacts for school donations.

My correspondence with them is included below. As you can see, they are accepting both cash and material donations. They are best equipped for materials donated in person, but there is a shipping address where we could send gifts. They are less prepared for cash donations. At this point we could direct cash gifts toward the purchase of school uniforms. Or we could give cash directly to EBR. There is no specific charity listed, so there may be some lack of formal accountability and no non-profit, 501c3 to credit the donation too. But I would not let that discourage us.

So here's what I plan to do:

• Appeal to this group for pledges of cash donations
• Publicize this appeal to all San Franciscans on the blog
• Start the drive with $100 plus a $100 matching pledge
• End the drive Friday, September 16th

This does not give me much time to get the word out and raise funds. Any help anyone can offer to spread the word or assist with gathering pledges would be more than welcome. I want to hurry since the kids are starting school right now and need help immediately.

If the group prefers to make a material donation, I will need help with the logistics of gathering, purchasing and shipping the goods to EBR. I am totally open to this idea, but I do not feel like I can take this on by myself.

No need to send money right now. Just email me with a pledge to Katrina Student Aid at bernalkc@gmail.com Or you can post a pledge here in the comment section below. I will post updates with information about which charity will receive the donation, and how the pledges will be collected. I'm not asking anyone to send me money. I would like to avoid that if at all possible, but I'm not clear how we can pool our donations. I will keep looking for the best way to speed our donation to the East Baton Rouge schools.

Hurry. There is no time to waste.

Sincerely,
KC

continue reading...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: KC Jones 
Date: Sep 8, 2005 10:28 AM
Subject: San Francisco parents want to help
To: tstjulien@e..., pfabre@e...

Tai, Paula,

Sorry to bother you.  I'm sure you are incredibly busy
coping with hurricane relief and helping incoming evacuee
children.  I found your email addresses on the East Baton
Rouge Parish School web site (http://www.ebrpss.k12.la.us/)
which lists you as the people to contact concerning
donations.

I am the founder and moderator of a group of about 600 San
Francisco parents and educators.  Normally we discuss local
school issues.  But right now our members have expressed a
desire to help evacuee children.  There were plans to
welcome a small group of evacuees to San Francisco, and our
members were lined up to help welcome these families.  Those
plans are on hold since, understandably, families do not
want to relocate so far from their homes, families, and
friends.  But we still want to help, and we want to focus
our help on displaced students.

How can we help?  Are cash donations preferable to material
donations?

Sincerely,
KC Jones

Founder sfschools@yahoogroups.com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Paula Fabre 
Date: Sep 8, 2005 10:31 AM
Subject: Re: San Francisco parents want to help
To: Taifa St Julien , bernalkc@g...

KC:

Thanks very much for the offer to assist us. We are still
enrolling students and are in need of specific assistance.
Attached is an information sheet. Thanks again.

Paula Fabre

Paula K. Fabre, Director
Equal Educational Opportunities
East Baton Rouge Parish School System
Post Office Box 2950
Baton Rouge, LA 70821
(225) 922-5489 Office
(225) 922-5580 FAX
pfabre@e...


" Our aspirations are our possibilities."
                                    Samuel Johnson

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Taifa St Julien 
Date: Sep 8, 2005 10:35 AM
Subject: Re: San Francisco parents want to help
To: bernalkc@g...
Cc: Paula Fabre 

KC,

Thank you so much for your willingness to assist EBR in our
efforts.  At this time, we have several systems in place to
receive school uniform donations and/or school supply
donations.  I am attaching a list of all EBR schools with
address to ship small donations.  Any large donations should
be shipped to:

EBRPSS Warehouse & Transportation Facility
6013 Choctaw  Drive
Baton Rouge, LA 70805
(Please specify the items as a donation for Katrina evacuees.)

Uniform Donations:

St. Vincent de Paul is accepting school uniform donations
and financial donations for uniforms. Please specify that
your donation is for the East Baton Rouge Parish School
System. Donations can be dropped off at 2655 Plank Road
Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0127 (Attn: Gerry Malone) Individuals
with questions regarding donations can call St. Vincent de
Paul at (225) 357-8833.

SCHOOL SUPPLY DONATION:
The East Baton Rouge Parish School System is asking that all
school supply donations be dropped off at any EBR school
site.  You visit us on the web at www.ebrschools.org and
select directories from the list then all school list.  Any
organizations or business interested in making a large
school supply donation can mail donations to:

EBRPSS Warehouse & Transportation Facility
Attn: Tai St. Julien
6013 Choctaw  Drive
Baton Rouge, LA 70805
(Please specify the items as a donation for Katrina evacuees.)

Textbook Donations:
Textbooks may be purchased directly from the publisher and
specified for delivery to East Baton Rouge Parish School
System. To get a copy of the textbook list, contact Mona
Barnes at 922-5521 or via email at mbarnes@e...

Monetary Donations:
A specific fund is currently being established.

If you have any additional questions and/or concerns, please
feel free to email myself and/or Paula Fabre at
pfabre@e...

Taifa "Tai" St. Julien
Public Information Officer
East Baton Rouge Parish School System
1050 S. Foster Drive
Baton Rouge, LA 70806
Phone: (225) 922.5611
Fax: (225) 922.5499
Email: tstjulien@e...
Website: www.ebrschools.org