Responding to Hurricane Katrina

For the last few hours I have been watching the continued devastation in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina on CNN. It is sobering to see that even in a nation like the USA, with great resources, the power of nature is overwhelming. It also drives home the feeling that it is only by the grace of god that any of us avoid a situation like this.

I and Search Niche will be donating to the American Red Cross. There has been a call for action throughout the HR/Staffing community from Craig Silverman. Craig sent the following message through today. His points make sense for all of us who are involved in business, whether in the USA or not -- we all have some influence and we also have the ability to act rather than just watch. Whether we live in the USA or in Asia or anywhere on the planet -  Act now.

"We have to act and do it now to help the people affected by Hurricane
Katrina. Our jobs as professionals are to help people. Since many of the
people I am able to contact can have great impact on their organizations, I
am putting out this call for aid. With your help we can quickly raise over
$1,000,000,000 (yes one billion dollars) and help people to find work to
support their families".

"We have so many large and successful firms in our great country that could
easily write a check for $10 Million dollars. Every person in every Human
Resources department in America needs to get up right now and walk into
their CEO’s office and ask, “What are we doing to help?” The entire Fortune
500 for example can stand together and each donate $5 Million and we
would have $2.5 Billion. It’s time to give something back".

"As the people who support people for a living it is our duty to act quickly
to help the people in the affected gulf coast areas. This natural disaster
is way beyond what any of us could have ever imagined. This is a call to
action, a grass roots effort to mobilize our industry to immediately begin
funding raising efforts. President Bush just stated on national television
to donate to the American Red Cross as our top priority".

"Don’t just sit there. Do something!
Be the person who helps put your company into action today".

Craig Silverman
Hireability

Make a choice to act positively for humanity, donate to those worse off than yourself in their time of need and encourage all you know to do the same. Imagine being in the same situation. You know you would want the same for yourself, your family and friends.

UPDATE:
Just donated on the Red Cross website. If you are donating from overseas, the website won't let you choose your country in the credit card section. But in green writing underneath note it asks you to choose European APO/FPO for international donations (Intl: Select European APO/FPO). That worked fine for me and I was able to donate with a credit card.