Howie Luvzus

I had two shocking revelations about Katrina this week. The first one was when I had a great idea about how I could help my clients by putting out a call for supplies via my blog. In order to let folks know that it is a legitimate cause (because many of you don’t know me) I thought that I could have you send the school supplies, backpacks, etc. to Lakeview Baptist Church in New Orleans. I was interim pastor there a few years back and the current pastor (forced to come out of retirement) knows me well. I called him this week and he said that there is still no mail service there and there is no one in the building to accept mail anyway. They still have no phone service. OOOOPS! Because I don’t get to the Lakeview area much, I forget how bad it still is out there.

Second revelation. Losing your job is worse than losing your house. Because of my family situation and lessons learned from Katrina, I do not want to uproot my family from New Orleans. My friends B and Michael asked for my help yesterday. They wanted me to take pictures of them. They are starting a hilarious web site to raise money for a library in Mid City. I was excited to help. I used to work with these guys and spent a lot of time with Michael. Since the storm, they are back at Xavier and are very involved in the issues related to Mid City. It seems like Michael is always at a meeting. I miss them terribly.

The alienation that I feel is overwhelmimg. I thrive on interactions with my friends. Now that is almost gone. I’m at a new place where I really don’t interact with my co-workers. Church has totally changed since the storm too. I have lunch about every other week with my pastor who is a great guy, but that’s really all that I get from church right now.

This Katrina thing is a real pain. I’m praying that my $1,000,000 grant is awarded in September so I’ll have an excuse to invite everybody over.

GoodSearch is a good way to raise money for your favorite charity.

I’m now using GoodSearch.com to search the Internet. Every time I do, money goes to my favorite charity or school (United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area). I hope you’ll give it a try and support the cause that you care most about.

The site is powered by Yahoo!, so you’ll get the same quality search results that you’re used to. What’s unique is that they have developed a way to direct money to your charity or school with every click.

The more people who use this site, the more money will go to those in need. So please spread the word to your friends and family.

Wow! Great news from the Progressive National Baptist Convention! Seems my Baptist brothers and sisters in this denomination care about Katrina victims. According to Ethics Daily:

The Progressive National Baptist Convention continued its call for an end to the war in Iraq during its annual meeting in Cincinnati, saying resources spent on the conflict are needed to address the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Delegates to the meeting, which concluded Saturday, held their 45th annual session in the city where the historically black denomination was founded.

“The rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in the post-Katrina age should be done with financial and other support systems comparable to the resources available to Iraq,” reads one of almost two dozen resolutions passed Thursday.

Another resolution stated: “This unnecessary, unwise and destructive war in Iraq is rupturing our nation, corrupting our foreign relations and disrupting our future. Iraq is now a growing cancer rapidly and deeply spreading nationally and globally.”

The 2.5 million-member denomination has decried the war in Iraq since it began in 2003.

“We believe it to be unnecessary and that we should have our troops home,” said the Rev. T. DeWitt Smith Jr., the new president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, in a statement to Religion News Service.

Seems the Progressive National Baptist Convention has it together! Keep it up!

Here’s an announcement from my friend Mark Gstohl. If you know of someone who might need assistance, please tell them to give him a call:

Friends and Colleagues,

I am currently a case manager for Katrina Aid Today at Odyssey House of
Louisiana. From the website: Through Katrina Aid Today, Odyssey House
Louisiana (OHL) is helping Hurricane Katrina survivors identify sources
of support, develop personal recovery plans, acquire access to services
and take appropriate actions to become self-sufficient once again.

Katrina Aid Today is a $66 million initiative funded by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through the United Methodist
Committee on Relief (UMCOR). A consortium of 10 social service and
voluntary organizations selected by UMCOR oversees 3,000 professional
staff and volunteers whose goal is to assist 100,000 families displaced
by Hurricane Katrina in rebuilding their lives.

With a home base at Odyssey House, OHL case managers and volunteers
travel throughout the area to connect people to hurricane assistance
services, and utilize the UMCOR database to share case information and
create a solid foundation for resource information and service
connection.

If you know of anyone in need of assistance have them call me at: (504)
655-2593.

Mark Gstohl, PhD
Case Manager
Odyssey House of Louisiana
Katrina Aid Today
1125 North Tonti
New Orleans, LA 70119
(504) 655-2593

Please pray for our troops around the world.

I can’t imagine what it must be like to have been told that I would be greeted as a liberator and seeing this kind of demonstration. Hats off to Rumsfeld for all the progress we’ve made in the Middle East since unseating Saddam!

You’re doing a heckuva job Rummy!

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