[16800] in APO-L
Help for North Dakota
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Charlie Zimmerman)
Fri May 2 08:11:48 1997
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 08:10:30 -0400
Reply-To: CharlieZ@AOL.COM
From: Charlie Zimmerman <CharlieZ@AOL.COM>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
Dear Brothers,
It's great to hear about all of you who are concerned and raising money
and gathering supplies to help the flood victims in North Dakota. The
devestation is evident in what we see on television, and of course it
hits home even harder for those of us who have been there and can
recognize those places that are now mostly underwater. Thankfully, the
water is going down now -- and so the clean-up effort begins in earnest
as people return to their homes.
As Tanya Refshauge, the Region IX Director, is now on her way to visit
our Alpha Phi Omega brothers and sisters in the Philippines, I thought I
might quote from what she posted about a week ago regarding *where* you
can best direct your relief efforts:
If you or your chapter is in a position to be of assistance, the best
means
by which to do this are:
(1) Monetary drives for donations to the American Red Cross,
SPECIFICALLY designated for the North Dakota Flood Response. This
money is used in the form of vouchers to victims for food, clothing,
cleaning supplies, etc.
(2) Supplies and material drives for donations to the Salvation
Army.
These supplies are shipped to the affected areas to assist with
the clean-up. Needed supplies include: bottled water, paper plates,
plastic silverware, paper cups, cleaning supplies, rubber gloves,
paper towels, regular towels, large garbage bags, toilet paper,
beverages, institutional-sized cans of food. (I'd suggest contacting
your local Salvation Army office for instructions if you wish to
help
in this way.)
As Dave Bujak mentioned last week, the Red Cross has phone numbers set up
to help coordinate contributions:
Monetary donations, call 1-800-HELP-NOW
In-kind donations of food, materials, supplies, etc., call
1-800-7-IN-KIND
(A quick late-night call to this number was answered with a recording
that
due to overwhelming generosity, individual offers of goods and
materials
are no longer being accepted by the Red Cross. If this is the case,
I'd
suggest contacting your local Salvation Army office.)
According to everything I've seen and heard, the best thing to do if you
have
a question about how you can help is to call your local chapter of the
Red
Cross or the Salvation Army.
I have not heard anything from the Epsilon Theta chapter at the UND Grand
Forks,
but students there were sent home and classes were cancelled for the rest
of the
semester as the flood hit. I doubt that any chapter members are in a
position
to coordinate any relief efforts on their end - and that's quite
understandable!
Any Brothers left in the Grand Forks area were most likely displaced like
the
rest of the area residents.
It's great to see the concern shown for the people of North Dakota and
our Brothers
in Grand Forks. I might add that one casualty of the flood was a
Petitioning Group
ceremony scheduled for last weekend at North Dakota State University, but
I'm sure
that it will be rescheduled at a later date. I hope this information
helps those
of you who are doing your best to help folks in North Dakota. If you
need further
information, I'd be glad to help as best I can.
Yours in Service,
Charlie Zimmerman
National Membership and Extension Director
(Region IX Director, 1990-96)
Alpha Phi Omega
charliez@aol.com
