A letter from a Mississippi Resident about Katrina and a response.

A Coworker of mine sent me a letter by a guy in Mississippi that asks where are the non-liberal and so called non-Christian organizations in helping katrina victims. The letter follows:

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING LETTER FROM A VICTIM OF HURRICAN KATRINA.
THIS
LETTER WAS EMAILED FROM DAVID MILLICAN TO HIS FRIENDS AND FAMILY.

From : David Millican. A resident of McComb Ms.
lives in the area where hurricane Katrina hit. To : To my
friends, my family, and all the good people and organizations that have helped
out.

WHAT I HAVE SEEN SINCE KATRINA
:

- The poor AND the wealthy hurt by the
storm.- Black, White, Hispanic, Oriental and Indian ALL hurt
by the storm.- Neighbors going door to door helping one
another.- Christian people giving, giving, giving, and continuing to
give with their time, money, and
services.-
Churches going all out to minister to people in need.- Thugs and
hoodlums going door to door looking for someone vulnerable.- Ice and
water being fought over as police tried to keep the peace.- People
coming up from New Orleans taking over empty houses because shelters are
full.- Out of town volunteers coming with food and staying for weeks
now still serving it.- The Churches all over the nation
doing what Christians do in a crisis and other times...help
out, give their time, their money, their love, and all
types of necessities.- FEMA doing a wonderful job in getting help to
us.- The American Red Cross doing a great job in the
shelters.- The Salvation Army doing a great job in the
community.- Four Hundred crewman from everywhere bringing back the
power to our homes,churches
and businesses.-
Lines at service stations a block to a mile long.- Our nation’s
military and the national guard working tirelessly to help a nation in
need. - National Guardsman patrolling the streets of
McComb along with Kentucky policemen protecting us from
the hoodlums and thugs of McComb, Pike County and New
Orleans (one of the most dangerous cities in the world
before Katrina.).- Drug dealers working outside
shelters.- Doctors, nurses and other hospital personnel working
tirelessly, even sleeping in the hospital to do the job God
called them to do.- Liberal groups, liberal politicians, and the
liberal mainstream news media all across the
nation doing
everything possible to politicize this national disaster and
bash our president for their political gain.
NOW WHAT I HAVE NOT SEEN
SINCE KATRINA:
- The ACLU setting up a feeding line, or helping
out in any way.
- The atheists and gripers and complainers about
religion and Chrisitians in America doing
ANYTHING
to help out, leaving everything up to the good organizations, churches and
Christians that they criticize on a daily or weekly
basis.
- Americans United for the Separation of Church and State
putting out any time,
money, or energy to help the
nation and it people in a national disaster. - The liberal
mainstream news media doing anything to help show the
wonderful work that good people, churches, and organizations are doing
for the people in their time of crisis.
- People for the American Way helping in the shelters, or in any
other way- MoveOn.Org and the other liberal complainers doing
anything at all to help. - The NAACP doing any work
whatsoever.- The American Atheist organization serving meals in the
shelters.- Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton directing traffic at the
gas stations.- Ted Kennedy and John Kerry helping the elderly,
children, and the homeless. - The gripers and complainers in
Congress doing any work on anything to help people.

I could go on
and on but you get my message. As always, when a disaster hits our nation,
it's the nation’s military, the American Red Cross and Salvation Army, good
conservative and Christian organizations, and Christian people with love and
compassion who do the work, pour out the money, and give of their time to help
out.

The loud mouth liberals and their complaining groups hardly
ever get involved other than to make speeches and spew out their poison about
how everybody messed up and the things that went wrong. While good, decent
people are out working so hard to take care of people, these loud complainers do
nothing at all to help out with money or time, instead they try to take
advantage of the situation to further advance their liberal agenda. What
pathetic people and groups to try to use a national disaster for selfish
purposes!

These liberal groups and the gripers in Congress should
come on down and get in line to pass out water and ice and food, go to work
cleaning up the mess, and help out the situation instead of hindering the
situation with their complaining and griping.

Are you
listening ACLU, MoveOn.org, Americans United, you liberals news reporters,
you other liberal groups, Hillary, Chuck, Teddy, John, and all the other sorry
loafers we call Senators and Congressmen? You don’t have a clue as
to what this life is all about here on the gulf coast, or what is important to
mainstream Americans. And you never will have a clue because you haven’t
got time to listen – you’re too busy trying to promote your atheistic
liberal agenda!

BOY I FEEL BETTER NOW. I NEEDED THAT.

Thanks for listening,

David A. MillicanMcComb, Ms.

My first thought when I read this is, How dare he. I got the impresssion the anyone who is a liberal or a non christian isn't doing shit to help.

Well i got a response to this letter sent to me by a friend that was written by Someone at Americans UIited i believe. Letter follows:

Mr. Smith,

First of all, please learn how to use BCC so that
the recipients of your e-mails don't see the names and e-mail addresses of
everyone else you addressed. Privacy issues - I'm sure you
understand. I will, however, take advantage of your oversight by
responding to all of your recipients.

I'm speaking for myself - not
for any organization. I feel compelled to show you that your perceptions
(giving you credit for the message you forwarded) are grossly incorrect. I
live in the area of Florida what was hit by Hurricane Charley last year.
Luckily, my immediate area was spared. While the news and media focused on
the coastal areas of Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda, the inland counties (which,
incidentally, tend to be much less wealthy) were virtually ignored. We
ventured into the Arcadia and Wachula areas the morning after Charley hit.
There was devastation beyond what most people can imagine and seeing it in
person has a much stronger impact on one's heartstrings that the television can
elicit. Sadly, we were the only people driving around. There was no
FEMA, no Salvation Army, no Red Cross, and no church organizations. Only
us with our meager case of bottled water.

The
following morning we returned (now two days after Charley hit). Still
no governmental or (as you put it) "Christian" organizations. There was
only us. This time we were prepared. We filled our pick up truck
with $2000 worth of groceries and other essential non-perishables from a local
Publix supermarket and gave them out to the dumbfounded and abandoned survivors
who hadn't prepared because they didn't expect such devasation so far
inland. A hurricane of that strength cutting through the state like that
was unprecedented. We gave dry cereal and canned foods to mothers who
cried at the thought of our generosity. We gave cases of water and juice
to children who were thrilled to be able to bring it home to their
parents. We even gave out portions of dog and cat food. Some people
told us that Jesus sent us - Jesus had nothing to do with our desire to help our
less fortunate neighbors. Just plain humanity and compassion.
Nothing based in religion. We didn't need a "god" to inspire
us.

Two other non-Christian concerned and caring Pagan (as I'm sure
you view us) friends also donated their time, money and personal belongings to
these victims. One is a Democratic activist, who, in the matter of a few
hours, was able to gather enough donations from fellow Democrats that her truck
was filled twice. We were the only ones in sight. And, yes, the area
was still dangerous. At one point, our truck got caught in a downed
telephone line and almost pulled the already slanted pole down upon us. We
eventually got our chassis unraveled and continued on our mission. We were
seemingly willing to risk our well being while none of the organizations you
credit for doing everything to help victims were willing to do the same.
No one ever reimbursed us for the purchases we made. None of us are
wealthy - my home equity line of credit paid for those supplies. And, no,
we weren't the only non-Christians who acted so benevolantly.

The
organizations that you list as those who are not seemingly providing direct
assistance to the victims of the hurricanes are not geared toward such
activities. They serve a different purpose altogether. Political
activism mainly. Yet, I did receive slews of e-mails from many
"progressive" organizations asking us to help the victims. None of these
organizations are based in religion. If you'd like a list of the Jewish
and other minority religious organizations that also requested (and received my
donations), I'll be happy to forward them to you. For your perusal, I'll
cut and paste excerpts, in no particular order, of some of the
NON-RELIGIOUS e-mail requests for aid below.

Meanwhile,
if you go to the Christian Coalition of America's website, they have one meager
blurb about Katrina:
Ministries' Response to Hurricane Victims Lauded; Prayer Asked for
Worn-Out Volunteers
Not exactly focused on helping the victims
directly - just like their politically oriented progressive
counterparts. Actually, probably less than.
Focus on the
Family's website offers a barely noticeable link to a donation form:
Help
Hurricane Victims
You can do more research on your own. I'm not
familiar (by choice) with enough of the right wing conservative Christian
organizations to do more.

The point is: altruism, compassion, and
love has no direct positive correlation to one's faith or lack thereof.
Anyone with an open mind and a loving heart will be happy to know that someone
or anyone is helping the victims of natural or man-made disasters. Whether
it be the most right or left wing organization, whether it be a Christian,
Moslem, Buddhist, or Atheist organization. Believe it or not, I have many
"real" Christian friends - the ones who expend their energy on doing what they
believe Jesus would have done instead of trying to point twisted fingers at
people who don't share their beliefs. To try to use a catastrophy like
Katrina as a political tool intended to divide people is, I'm sure, a sin in
such people's eyes. People who send out messages like the one I received
from you are part of the problem, professing hatred instead of love, and are not
part of the solution.

Here are the excerpts I mentioned
above:

------------------
Dear
MoveOn member,
The devastation from hurricane Katrina is heart-breaking.
With water supplies running out and shelters bursting at the seams, people in
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida need somewhere safe to go. But
relief workers are struggling to find adequate housing for the one million
people who've had to evacuate their homes.
Because you live in the region,
you could do a lot to alleviate this crisis by opening your home. Do you have an
extra room, bed or couch where someone could stay? Post whatever you can offer
at:
http://www.hurricanehousing.org/index2.html?id=5952-3167753-11QbcKF.DozdhHURL4zx_w&t=2
Since
we launched this website 24 hours ago, more than 40,000 beds have been offered
throughout the country. But we need more in the Southeast region, closest to the
families forced from their homes by the storm and
flooding.
------------------
In
the last few days, as the full impact of the tragedy in the Gulf Coast becomes
known, we at the American Humanist Association have received an outpouring of
requests from members who wish to give as Humanists to the relief efforts. In
response we have set up a secure website so that you can give online.
https://www.americanhumanist.org/secure/humanistcharities.php
This
serves as a reminder that the time is overdue to establish a permanent,
unambiguously, Humanist, means of supporting relief efforts. That's why we'd
like to offer you the option to allocate 5% of your donation toward establishing
Humanist Charities so we can better respond to catastrophes like this.
To
offer your support for the people of the Gulf Coast and help launch a lasting
and effective means of responding to future tragedies, contribute online now.
Funds collected will be batched and sent to the American Red Cross, the most
established and active relief agency recommended by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency that are not sectarian in
structure.
-------------
Storm Refugees Desperately Need Housing
- Can You Help?
Hundreds of thousands of people have been flooded out of
their homes and are in desperate need of someplace to stay -- especially in
southeastern states near you. Can you open your home?
Two web sites have
been set up to connect refugees with potential hosts. If you have a spare room,
please make a charitable offer of housing by clicking here:
http://www.hurricanehousing.org/
http://www.openyourhome.com/
Also, a
wide range of charities will be playing a large role in the recovery efforts.
Click on the links below to donate:
Second Harvest: http://www.secondharvest.org/default2.asp
Mercy Corps: http://www.mercycorps.org/
Acorn Institute: https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=36&referer=http%3A%2F%2Facorn%2Eorg%2F
American Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/
Please forward this newsletter to
your friends and help spread the word about this important campaign!
Thank
you for working to build a better world.
Will EastonManagerActForChange/Working
Assets
-----------------
As progressives, we share a core belief that we are all in this together, and today
is an important chance to put that idea to work. There are thousands of families
who have just lost everything and need a place to stay dry. Let's do what we can
to help.
http://www.hurricanehousing.org/

If hosting doesn't work for you, please consider donating to the
Red Cross to help with the enormous tasks of rescue and recovery. You can give
online at:
http://action.truemajority.org/ct/I1SkfK41ERc8/
With gratitude,
The
TrueMajority Team
-----------------------
Over
the past few days we have all been overwhelmed by the devastating pictures and
stories that have come out of the hurricane stricken areas. So many of us
want to do what we can to help. The following is a message from Louisiana
Senator Mary Landrieu that we wanted to share with you.
J.B.
PoerschExecutive Director, DSCC
(It requested we donate to the Red
Cross)

-----------------------
Dear
NRDC Member,
I know you join me in sending our thoughts and prayers to our
40,000 Members and activists who live in the hurricane-stricken areas of
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Many members of the NRDC family --
and millions of others -- are in urgent need of assistance as they struggle to
emerge from the terrible aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. If you are moved to
donate, we recommend the following two websites that list highly-rated charities
assisting in the relief effort:
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/content.view/catid/68/cpid/310.htm
http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/animal_environ/hurricanes/
Thank
you for helping at this very difficult time.
John H.
Adams
President
Natural Resources Defense Council
------------------------
If
hosting doesn't work for you, please consider donating to the Red Cross to help
with the enormous tasks of rescue and recovery. You can give online at:
Donate to the
Red Cross
This is a time for America to come together. And today, two of
the largest and most active online communities in the nation -- Moveon.org Civil
Action and johnkerry.com -- are working side-by-side to help in any way we can.
There are thousands of families who have just lost everything and need a place
to stay dry. Let's do what we can to help.
http://www.hurricanehousing.org/
Thanks for being there for families in urgent need of your immediate
help. Please keep the people of the Gulf Coast in your thoughts and prayers.
Sincerely,
John Kerry
-----------------------

Your
immediate help is urgently requested. Please make an
emergency gift today to help the women, children, and men caught in this
disaster. I pledge to you that 100% of your gift will go directly to the Planned
Parenthood affiliates and health centers in the affected region — so that they
can serve the women, children, and men who have nowhere else to turn. Planned
Parenthood staff in this region, and beyond, are determined to do all that we
can to serve every person who comes through our doors. Your support will allow
us to serve those most in need during this unprecedented crisis. Thank you,
Karen PearlInterim PresidentPlanned Parenthood Federation of AmericaOn behalf of
the Planned Parenthood community
---------------------------------
In
addition to mobilizing our infrastructure to support the housing drive, we have
also taken the following steps in the last week:
All DNC fundraising events
have been cancelled until further notice and donations are being directed to
relief organizations.
The DNC Fall Meeting that had been scheduled to take
place this week has been postponed.
All staff have been given leave to
participate in relief operations (many are completing Red Cross training this
week and will deploy shortly).
The Democratic leadership in Congress has
proposed a comprehensive policy package to ensure that victims receive health
care, financial assistance and educational and employment opportunities during
the crisis (go to www.democrats.org/reliefplan
for more).
But more than anything our organization has done, the thousands
of acts of compassion by ordinary citizens and a renewed sense of common purpose
will be the legacy of this effort.
Our American community will emerge
stronger from this crisis.
Thank you for doing what you can.
Governor
Howard Dean, M.D.
P.S. -- A number of organizations on the ground still need
financial support. You can learn about them here:
http://www.democrats.org/reliefgroups

Well said. It's hateful people like this that really make me mad. How is this the "christian" thing todon't I dont understand.

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