Marian's Blog

List of Charities to Send Help to Katrina Survivors

This list - slightly re-ordered - of charities is from the Associated Press and was posted on AOL News. This is one list. Others may have more.

"Organizations Accepting Katrina Donations."

Episcopal Relief & Development: 1-800-334-7626 or http://www.er-d.org United Methodist Committee on Relief: 1-800-554-8583 or http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/emergency/hurricanes/2005 Islamic Relief: http://www.irw.org/katrina United Jewish Communities: http://www.ujc.org Operation USA: 1-800-678-7255 or http://www.opusa.org FEMA Charity tips: href="http://www.fema.gov/rrr/help2.shtm National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster: http://www.nvoad.org ICNA Relief: http://icnarelief.org Louisiana Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: http://www.la-spca.org Help for Animals: Humane Society of the United States: http://www.hsus.org Red Cross: 1-800-HELP-NOW or https://www.redcross.org Salvation Army: 1-800-SAL-ARMY or http://www.salvationarmyusa.org Catholic Charities: 1-800-919-9338 or http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org

Niger - Donate to World Food Programme: Easy as sending an SMS

I just sent an SMS that donates 100% of my contribution to the WFP. Here's just about all the info you need to donate directly to the World Food Programme.  Niger is one of the world's regions we know is most in need right this moment of immediate financial aid to provide food -- that plus some serious-as-a-heart-attack guards to stop those men in refugee & feeding camps who beat and bully women and children in order to grab emergency food supplies. I think direct grassroots contributions like this are faster and more reliable than the endless cycle of fighting, convincing, and/or working with our governments to share resources with starving people. We need to do both, but people - especially infants, children, nursing mothers and the elderly - need to eat at least one decent portion of food every day. The WFP is based at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization - known as "the F-A-O" or "faow" - in Rome, Italia. This info is right here on the WFP website: "The fastest way to help WFP's fight against hunger is an online donation by credit card. You can also donate in the following ways. Please note that, for now, only contributions by US taxpayers are tax-deductible. CHEQUES AND POSTAL ORDERS - ... are welcome in any major currency and should be made out to the World Food Programme. Please send with the printed version of the coupon available online by clicking here [the 'click here' only works directly from the WFP website. The info given & requested is: "I would like to give to WFP operations in (fill in the blank). NAME: ... ADDRESS: ... City: ... Country: ... Postal Code: ... - [WFP] Resources and Mobilization Service: TEL: +39 06 6513 2411 FAX: +39 06 6513 2810 or +39 06 6513 2071; [email protected] "] "or include a piece of paper with the same information. Depending on where you live, the cheque and coupon should be sent to:

United States US Friends of the WFP PO Box 11856 Washington , D.C. 20008 Japan Japan Association of WFP Minatomirai 1-1-1, Nishi-ku Yokohama 220-0012 Japan Rest of the world Director, FDP Resources Division WFP - Via Cesare Giulio Viola, 68/70 00148 Rome - Italy

BANK/POSTAL TRANSFER

WFP has accounts in three countries – depending on where you live, please use one of the following options for national/international transfers.

United States Bank/Stock Transfers For transfers, either send an e-mail to [email protected] or call +1 202 530 1694 Japan Bank Transfers For transfers, call +81 45 2212510 Italy and Rest of the World : Bank/Stock Transfers For transfers, either send an e-mail to resources at wfp.org or call +39 06 6513 2316 Note: we would very much like to thank you for your donations, so please send an e-mail to resources @ wfp dot org with the donation amount and your current contact information (name, address, e-mail address). Alternatively you can send a letter to the Italy address in the option above.

OTHER WAYS TO DONATE

SMS: in selected countries, you can also donate by SMS. This list is constantly growing so please check back regularly to see new countries have been added. And spread the word!

Australia: text the word DONATE to 19932222. You will receive a confirmation message and your mobile will be charged AU$5.00 South Africa : text the word DONATE to 31009. You will receive a confirmation message and your mobile will be charged R5 UK: text the word DONATE to 81333 - You will receive a confirmation message and your mobile will be charged £1.50 United States: text the word DONATE to 33133 - You will receive a confirmation message and your mobile will be charged US$1.99

Free-dial Japan number : please use our free dial number 0120-496-810

For more information: please contact one of the following depending on where you live:

United States
info -at- friendsofwfp.org
Tel: +1 202 530 1694
Fax: +1 202 530 1698
www.friendsofwfp.org

Japan
Tel: +81 45 2212510
Fax: +81 45 2212511
www.jawfp.org

Italy
resources -at- wfp.org
Tel: +39 06 6513 2316
Fax: +39 06 6513 2810
http://www.wfp.org/

"Africa Meets the Americas" - Global Black Women Leaders Meet in TEXAS Usa, October 2005

Ladies and gentlemen: "Africa Meets the Americas," the Houston Global Congress Unites Black Women Leaders. October 7-11, 2005 we will celebrate the Second Global Congress of Black Women Leaders, this year in Houston, Texas USA. Perhaps you or your organisation or someone you know can sponsor a Black woman leader to attend. The first Global Congress took place last July at UNESCO headquarters, PARIS, where pioneer African Brasilian woman political leader Benedita da Silva was outstanding, and was elected Speaker of the Congress by conference attendees. For more info on "Africa Meets the Americas," go to: www.gcbwl.org or www.globalcongressofBlackWomenLeaders.org. Register here in English. Global Congress founder & Organiser is Ms Sandrah Monthieux Pelage, native of Martinique, West Indies/le Caraibe; email: gcbwl at e-a-r-t-h-l-i-n-k dot net - don't forget to take out the dashes. The Honorable Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Member of United States Congress is the Host and Honorary Chair. Be part *Bring passion *Break paralysis *Be powerful. Honorary Chairs who will address the Congress: Dr Dora Akunyili, Director General, National Agency for Food & Drug Administration and Control, Nigeria; Dame Jocelyn Barrow, the first Black Woman Governor of the BBC & Honorary Chair of the Global Council of Black Women Leaders; la Senadora Piedad Córdoba, Member of the Senate of Colombia, South America, and Lecturer at the National University of Colombia, Bogota; the Honorable Joyce London Alexander, first Black Chief United States Magistrate Judge, Boston, Massachusetts USA; Her Excellency Barbara Masekela, first Black Woman Ambassador to Paris and to the USA for the Republic of South Africa; Ms Harriet R. Michel, president of the National Minority Supplier Development Council, New York, New York; Dr Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Associate Dean, Harvard University School of Public Health and Leader of the Global Congress' Health & Wellbeing Commission; Ministra Matilde Ribeiro, Government Minister for Promotion of Racial Equality, Brazil; Hon. Députée Christiane Taubira, Member of the Parliament of France and originator of the "Slavery, Crime against Humanity" legislation in France; Her Excellency Marina Valère, Ambassador of Trinidad and Tobago to the USA, and former board member of Trinidad and Tobago Airports Authority; and Ms Sandrah Monthieux Pélage, founder and president of the Global Congress and the Global Council of Black Women Leaders, Inc. Register here: www.gcbwl.org. Official conference hotel is Hilton Americas. Book your room now at Global Congress lower room rate; and for sure other Houston hotels also are available even if they aren't official conference hotel.

2004 Global Congress-UNESCO PARIS

Unlocking the Door of no Return: OTU People of African Ancestry Reunion, NYC 12 August

Deadria Farmer-Paellman, genetics scientist Dr Rick Kittles and others are planning the August 12 OTU ceremony in New York. On March 4 I posted an entry about Gina Paige's Atlanta, Ga lecture on Africa, DNA and Genetics. Now Farmer-Paellman and her colleagues are organising the first annual OTU African Ancestral DNA Ceremony: "Unlocking the Door of No Return." See below Dina Kraft's photo of the actual Door of No Return in Senegal, west Africa. Tens of millions of our African ancestors were forced out of Africa through those corridors and deported to the Americas. Scores of other African deportees met their deaths in "the middle passage" of the icy cold Atlantic Ocean. OTU - the Organization of Tribal Unity: Reuniting People of African Ancestry: www.theotu.com. With a keynote address by Dr. Rick Kittles, PhD geneticist and founder of African Ancestry DNA testing company. Dr Kittles did special research for the 2003 BBC tv documentary, Motherland: a genetic journey.

Dina Kraft photo. The haunting Door of No Return, Goree Island, Senegal, West Africa

August 12 performances by The Great Day Chorale, directed by Louvinia Pointer. Ceremony, 10 am to noon, reception, noon to 2 pm. Church Center for the United Nations, 777 United Nations Plaza, 1st Avenue at 44th St, New York. "Join us in recognizing those who have unlocked the "Door of No Return" through DNA testing. Learn more about these powerful tests and network with others who share our African ethnicity and nationality." Free admission but limited seating - rsvp by July 20. Co-Chair/Founder, Deadria Farmer-Paellmann; Co-Chair/Chief Genealogist, Antoinette Harrell-Miller; Chief Elder, Queen Mother Dr. Delois Blakely; Chaplain, Reverend Al Sampson. This takes place 11 days before annual 23 August International Day of Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition, recognised by UNESCO.

Motherhood in two reviews of "The Pact"

I saw an interesting-looking book on Professor Kim's News Notes. It's called "The Pact." So I checked two reviews. One was by Regina Marler: "As teenagers from a rough part of Newark, New Jersey, Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt, and George Jenkins had nothing special going for them except loving mothers (one of whom was a drug user) and above-average intelligence..." Then I began reading the one from Publishers Weekly: "Growing up in broken homes in a crime-ridden area of Newark, N.J. ..." Which version sounds like m-e-l-o-d-r-a-m-a? And guess which review I skipped. In an age when too many people in the US and elsewhere have no home or responsible parent at all, I have to critique continuing knee-jerk use of this term "'broken' home." "Loving mothers" and "broken homes" for sure don't mean the same thing, and after you've read the latter for the ten-thousandth time it's gotten pretty old. I for one have started to wonder - where the heck are the exposés, for instance, on alcoholism in wealthy and upper middle class white American homes? I know the alcohol problem exists in well-to-do 'burbs because I've seen it and my white friends have told me. It's out there just as sure as the over-exposed fact of many Black American children growing up with one parent who is a mother who loves them and doesn't have much cash. In The Pact Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt and George Jenkins describe their early lives as they helped each other through high school, college and professional school, and later started the Three Doctors Foundation.

Black High school Econ teacher leaves $2 mill to Prairie View A&M

In the so-called mainstream media no one but no one documents Black American (or other Black) philanthropy. Perhaps most insulting, many aren't even aware our philanthropy exists not to mention the fact that in the US at least, our assistance does not benefit only Black people. Salatheia Bryant's article about frugal public school teacher Whitlowe Green is from the Houston Chronicle website. "Whitlowe R. Green wore second-hand clothing, purchased out-of-date meats, shopped at auctions and stopped talking to a relative for two years because of a $6.76 debt." He served the community as an economics teacher in the Houston Independent School District (HISD). When he retired in 1983 he earned $28,000 a year. (The same year I left Laredo, Texas.) When Green started teaching in 1937 his yearly pay was $700. Most of his teaching career was spent teaching economics at Houston's Yates High School. As one friend remembered him: "When you go to the counter to pay the bill he'd kind of slow down and let you get ahead. He played poor. He was just a regular guy." Mr. Green was 88 when he died of cancer in 2002. He graduated from Prairie View A&M in 1936. Read the rest of Salatheia Bryant's fascinating and humbling story here.