A story of how you can help US children continue to recover from hurricanes Katrina and Rita and celebrate Christmas.

I am completing an interview with a doll maker who lives in the New Orleans area. Through our virtual meetings, I have become acutely aware, again, of how much damage families themselves have sustained in that part of the country.

I also follow World Vision's work here and abroad. Today I am going to tell you about World Vision's work to aid the families in the areas of Louisiana and Mississippi in a very quick version via much copy and paste.

But before that ... let me explain "Gifts-in-kind" are gifts of new, unused materials donated by companies, often from surpluses. These help stock the World Vision Storehouses. But you as an individual can also help in many ways.

• Help your employer and companies you are familiar with be aware of how they can help children in the US (and internationally) through Gifts-in-Kind.
  
• If you wish to make a financial contribution, check to see if your employer participates in "matching fund donations." Sometimes this substantially increases the amount your are giving.
  
• Contribute independently -- either financially &/or by volunteering. To donate specifically to the Gulf Coast efforts: click here
  
• Keep reading because the World Vision Storehouses are also accepting donations of new, unused toys – all over the nation.

About World Vision in the areas hit by Katrina and Rita:

At the core of World Vision's revitalization and rebuilding campaign for the Gulf Coast is a new gifts-in-kind distribution warehouse in Picayune, Mississippi. The need for a distribution center to serve this devastated region became apparent as U.S. Programs staff was helping churches recover from their own losses while those same congregations were still trying to reach out to families that also suffered greatly because of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Picayune center is strategically located just 54 miles from New Orleans, and 37 miles from Gulfport, Mississippi, in the heart of the Gulf's most devastated area. The facility is a 40,000-square-foot warehouse at 1203 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The majority of the warehouse space is being used to store and distribute building materials. Clothing, personal care items, household goods, and school supplies also are being distributed from the new site to help families in the region.

About the World Vision Toy Drives:

Press Release Seattle, WA, November 1, 2006-–To help bring Christmas joy to U.S. children in need, World Vision is urging companies, schools and churches to collect and donate new toys to any of World Vision's eleven storehouses in the United States.

"We want to share Christmas joy with as many children as possible this season," said Keith Neroutsos, national director of World Vision's Storehouses nationwide. "New toys that are donated help families restore dignity and celebrate in a way that used supplies cannot."

The items will be provided to local organizations whose staff and volunteers are dedicated to children and families within their local communities. World Vision's Storehouses help meet basic needs for children and families by offering donated, high-quality goods to revitalize neighborhoods and sustain families.

For more information on storehouse locations or how to donate items, please visit www.worldvision.org/thestorehouse or call the following numbers:
(888) 56-CHILD (individuals)
(800) 462-1616 (corporations)
There is more contact info in the press release

To make a financial donation to the US storehouse program nation wide or where the need is greatest in the US. click here

To learn about World Vision Storehouses in your area click here. Locate your area on the US map and click on the city name. This will take you to a page &/or set of pages that describe the work World Vision is doing in the area. (If you want to make a financial donation in that specific area look for an orange "donate" button in the left navigation bar.) Many have much more detailed information about how you can help. It appears that some areas are helping individuals co-ordinate organized toy drives while other areas are also providing info on how individuals can send toys.

To create this short blurb and obtain permission to use the World Vision logo (to be added shortly), I contacted an appropriate World Vision Press Liaison. Melanie Cripe (mcripe@worldvision.org 253.815.2906) was my final contact. If you want to write about World Vision in your area, you will find World Vision very helpful.

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