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It stated: “No one in Homestead is slamming
doors on the Jehovah’s Witnesses this
week—even if they still have doors to slam.
About 3,000 Witness volunteers from across
the country have converged on the disaster
area, first to help their own, then to help
others.... Any military organization
might envy the Witnesses’ precision,
discipline and efficiency.” In…

Jehovah's Witnesses have organized hundreds
of Regional Building Committees all over the
world to construct Kingdom Halls and large
Assembly Halls. Thus, they have trained
manpower ready to respond on a few hours’
notice.

During Hurricane Andrew, the Anheuser Busch
company donated a truckload of drinking
water. On arriving, the driver asked
officials where he should deliver the water.
He was told that the only ones who had
something organized were Jehovah's
Witnesses. In fact, within a week after
Andrew struck, some 70 tractor-trailer loads
of supplies had arrived at the Fort…

A volunteer there reported (I'm quoting from
the magazine here): “So we received a whole
truckload of drinking water. We immediately
included this among the other foodstuffs
that we were sending to the distribution
centers at the Kingdom Halls. It was shared
with the brothers and with the neighbors in
that area who were in need.”

In the beginning, city authorities were
sending non-Witness volunteers to the
Kingdom Halls, saying, ‘They are the only
ones who are properly organized.’ Eventually
the military moved in and began to set up
food and water relief centers and tent
cities.

The original Witness staging area was set up
by the relief committee at the Fort
Lauderdale Assembly Hall, which is some 40
miles north of the main disaster zone around
Homestead. To relieve some of the pressure,
a primary staging area was established at
the Plant City Assembly Hall near Orlando,
about 250 miles northwest of the disaster
zone. Most…

In turn this staging station supplied food,
materials, water, generators, and other
needs to three Kingdom Halls that had been
repaired in the center of the disaster area.
There, capable Witnesses organized building
and clean-up crews to visit the hundreds of
homes that needed attention. Kitchens and
feeding lines were also opened on the
Kingdom Hall grounds, and anybody…

For many of the homeless, alternative
accommodations were found in the homes of
Witnesses untouched by Andrew. Others stayed
in trailers lent or donated for that
purpose. After Hurricane Andrew, the
superbly-organized relief program of the
Witnesses was so well-known that some
business establishments and individuals who
were not Witnesses and who wanted to make
significant donations of…

According to the article, these folks knew
that their gift would not be simply left in
a stockpile, nor would it be used for
profit, but it would truly benefit the
hurricane victims, both Witnesses and
non-Witnesses.

In the research I have done, the disaster
relief efforts organized by Jehovah's
Witnesses are too many to mention.
Again, their honesty, use of donated funds
and organizational abilities are
unsurpassed.

They have two official web sites.....

http://www.jw-media.org (This is the
site where you can get their phone number
which is (718) 560-5000)

http://www.watchtower.org

Look into this organization for yourself
and see how they measure up to others for
disaster relief. Like you, I also care
deeply for all the people who are…

Perhaps when you call them you might want
to ask how Jehovah's Witnesses are already
administering relief aid to Hurricane
Katrina victims. This could ultimately help
you in your decision-making process.

And even if you don't end up using this
organization to distribute your relief
funds, I hope that you have at least found
this information helpful and can see that I
truly care and appreciate what you are
doing. I want you to know that my prayers
are with you and your efforts to raise
money.

I wish you the most successful
money-raising campaign EVER and I absolutely
KNOW you will pull it off. You are an
*amazing* individual....I know because I
read your Boron Letters. Need I say more?

Respectfully,

Jina Henry

God Bless Us All,

Gary C. Halbert

P.S. For those of
you who want to make a donation without going to the website
Jina listed, here's the details: You can send your check or
money order made payable to "Watch Tower" and in the "memo"
section of your payment, write "Hurricane Katrina". Send it
to:

Watch…

# 2005 - 09-03-05

From:

North of Jewfish Creek

Dear Friend & Subscriber,

Here's a suggestion one of my newsletter
subscribers wrote to me about helping the victims of
Hurricane Katrina. I thought it was worthy of sharing with
you.

Dear Gary,

I don't know how exactly to accomplish this, and I'm
sure this was already thought about, but... What
about moving the homeless people into the military
bases that are being abandonded and have been
abandonded with the base closures?

Is there some way that people could be mobilized to
pressure "the powers to be" to put up the refugees
from New Orleans and Mississippi, and Alabama in
some of the Military barracks that have been closed?
Whether here in Florida, or Texas, Virginia, or
wherever. Housing is already built. Infrastructure
is already built. They are near cities and towns…

From there perhaps some cottage industries could be
set up so the people could start to work, make
money, and rebuild their futures, rather than sit
wallowing in misery waiting for the government to
completely take care of them.

Sounds harsh, but as you know, when disaster strikes
it is best to get up and take some action for
yourself.

Just another thought.

Sincerely,

Allen

I know all of our thoughts and prayers
continue to be with those suffering individuals.