MDA telethon gives $1 million
Beverly Hills, Calif. The Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon raised $54.9 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and more than $1 million for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Lewis, 79, decided to devote the two-day telethon to both children with muscular dystrophy and Katrina victims after seeing reports from the Gulf Coast.
The Katrina donations will go to the Salvation Army in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
The telethon’s total to fight muscular dystrophy was $4.5 million less than last year, but lower figures were expected due to the outpouring of donations for the hurricane victims.
European nations contribute to effort
Brussels, Belgium European nations on Monday prepared aid teams, food rations, water pumps and even cruise ships to help U.S. regions hit by Hurricane Katrina.
Countries large and small have offered aid – from tiny Luxembourg’s beds and blankets to half a million food rations from Germany and Britain.
Greece put on standby two cruise ships to house refugees and Sweden has offered aircraft to help distribute aid shipments, said Barbara Helfferich, a European Union spokeswoman.
Helfferich said an EU aid coordinator would go to the United States soon to help ensure aid goes to victims of Katrina in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. U.S. authorities made a rare request for help from Europe over the weekend, asking for anything from diapers and baby formula to forklifts and veterinarian supplies.
NATO officials said the alliance was coordinating offers of food, shelter and other aid from several allies, including Germany, Canada and Norway which was offering navy divers as well as 10,000 blankets. Latvia and France were preparing to send disaster relief teams.
Habitat plans massive Gulf Coast project
Columbus, Ga. Habitat for Humanity is laying the ground work for its largest construction project yet, a blitz build of thousands of homes along the Gulf Coast for people left homeless by Hurricane Katrina.
“Operation Home Delivery” is expected to start later this month in Jackson, Miss., where volunteers will assemble housing frames and put them on trucks bound for Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.
About 30 volunteers per house will then do a blitz build, constructing each house in about a week. More than $450,000 in donations have already poured in for the project, which will likely take years.
Former President Jimmy Carter, a Georgia native who has volunteered with Habitat for more than 20 years, said this was the nonprofit organization’s most important mission yet in the United States.
Typically, Habitat builds 1,200-square-foot homes with three bedrooms and one bathroom. Costs for “Operation Home Delivery” are expected to average $66,000 per home.
“These are not mansions by any means, but to the homeowners, they will be palaces,” said Habitat CEO Jonathan Reckford.