Hurricane Relief Efforts (#3)

Today's roundup of hurricane relief announcements....

Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane, Astros players, front-office staff, and the Astros in Action Foundation have committed $1 million to Hurricane Ike relief efforts.

The Valero Energy Foundation will donate $1 million to the American Red Cross for hurricane relief and recovery efforts.

Big-box retailer Kohl's has announced a $500,000 cash donation to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Ike relief efforts.

Nationwide, the country's sixth-largest property and casualty insurance company, has announced a $275,000 grant through the Nationwide Foundation to support Red Cross hurricane relief efforts. The announcement brings Nationwide's disaster relief donations in 2008 to a total of $1 million.

The General Mills Foundation has pledged a total of $200,000 to provide relief and assistance for the remainder of the 2008 hurricane season.

The Alcoa Foundation has announced a $100,000 grant to the American Red Cross of Southwest Louisiana to aid victims of widespread flooding caused by Hurricane Ike.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has established a fund to provide relief to individuals and families affected by serious mental illnesses in communities in Louisiana and Texas devastated by hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Donations to the NAMI Hurricane Relief Fund can be made online at www.nami.org/HurricaneRelief. One hundred percent of the funds raised will go directly to individuals and families through local NAMI affiliates.

In addition, this is a great source of news and information about the government response to the recent hurricanes.

And let's not forget about storm-ravaged Haiti, which, in the last five weeks, has been battered by Tropical Storm Fay and hurricanes Gustav, Hanna, and Ike. "Something of this magnitude has never happened before. It is traumatic, dramatic and a dire situation," Jean Robert LaFortune, chairman of the Haitian American Grass Roots Coalition, told the Florida Courier. "More than one million are without shelter, sleeping in tents in the mud and heat. The storms came just as farmers were readying to harvest their crops."

Here's how you can help:

• The Haitian American Grassroots Coalition has established a bank account at Bank of America. Donate at any bank branch. Contact Jean Robert LaFortune at hagc2020@yahoo.com.
• Food for the Poor asks for donations to purchase additional building materials for repairs to homes. Online: www.FoodForThePoor.org (Gustav); call: 1-800-487-1158.
• Catholic Charities of Miami provides monetary assistance. Make checks payable to Catholic Charities of Miami with a notation in the memo line designating the donation for either Tropical Storm Fay or Hurricane Gustav or both and mailed to: Catholic Charities, Storm Aid, 9401 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami Shores, FL 33138; online: www.ccadm.org.
• Cross International, a Christian relief and development organization, is sending food. Call, 1-800-391-8545; online: www.crossinternational.org and click on the emergency hurricane support link.
• Lambi Fund of Haiti is accepting donations to assist people who lost their crops and animals. Donate online: www.LambiFund.org; or mail a check to: Lambi Fund of Haiti, P.O. Box 18955, Washington, D.C., 20036.
• The Pan American Development Foundation is accepting donations online at www.PanAmericanRelief.org.

-- Regina Mahone