Alabama

• Family Services Center AmeriCorps VISTA members are soliciting in-kind support for transportation aid to support hurricane evacuees.

California

• Three volunteers and an employee of the RSVP of Greater Whittier have been driving trucks with supplies and doing computer work for the Red Cross in Baton Rouge, LA.

Georgia

• 27 Homeland Security (SVP) volunteers with Morehouse School of Medicine are actively involved with local shelters performing such services as sorting, folding and boxing clothes and food items and providing directional information to the residents.

Louisiana

• 5 Catholic Community Services of BatonRouge (CCS) AmeriCorps*VISTAs are supporting Disaster Relief Efforts in East Baton Rouge Parish and Tangipahoa Parish by providing computer and information support, providing triage at reception and answering phones, interviewing evacuees and providing information and referral on both government and voluntary resources, and identifying families who are willing to relocate.

Minnesota

• The RSVP of Crow Wing Minnesota is assisting the United Way by sorting clothes for Hurricane Katrina victims. Four semi-trucks of 75 tons of donated clothing will be leaving Brainerd, Minnesota and delivered to Long Beach and Biloxi Mississippi.

New York

• Project Rose AmeriCorps members are working with local VOAD organizations toreceive people from the Gulf Coast, helping with blood drives, and working with the State Emergency Management Office (SEMO) to design a database to document resources.

Ohio

• 6 Northeast Ohio Coalition for the HomelessAmeriCorps members have mobilized volunteers tosupport the 200evacuees inCleveland. They set up a resource guide with donations from local businesses, distributed Voice Mail boxes to evacuees, gave out toll free telephone numbers to keep in touch with families, Red Cross, and FEMA, and provided legal assistance to those in need of help.
   
• The Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine’s AmeriCorps program has deployed three members to Baton Rouge as part of the Athens County Red Cross relief team.

Rhode Island

• 6 more RSVP volunteers are assisting at the Salvation Army Office in Newport sorting donations, loading trucks and answering phones.

Tennessee

• AmeriCorps members from the Appalachia CARES program in Greeneville have organized a supply drive for displaced families who have relocated to the upper East Tennessee area. They have collected clothing and school supplies.
   
• AmeriCorps Community Cares, hosted by the Tennessee Community Assistance Corporation, are assisting evacuees in the Morristown area, as well as providing them with needed hygiene and household supplies.
   
• AmeriCorps members from the One Child at a Time program in Jackson are serving at three different shelters in West Tennessee. The largest of these shelters is at a military base in Lavinia, housing more than 500 evacuees.
   
• AmeriCorps members at Project TLC in Memphis are serving at four shelters within Memphis City Schools to house Katrina evacuees. Additionally, members have been manning drop stations at local post offices to collect non-perishable items and clothing, as well as sorting food items at the Memphis Food Bank.

Texas

• 29 Galveston County RSVP volunteers haveraised over $400, distributed food/clothing to those in shelters, sewn/donated 26 baby quilts, sorted donations, assisted affected seafarers in port, and enlisted other volunteers to assist with various activities.
   
• 25 Fort Worth RSVP volunteers have participated in a variety of response activities including:case management for seniors 60+temporarily housed inlocal community centers, volunteering in local shelters, helping with the phone bank at the American Red Cross, sewing shoulder bags for evacuees, and sorting clothing. RSVP volunteers have helped Senior Citizen Services provide 19,500 meals for evacuees.
   
• 25 Abilene Foster Grandparents assisted the First United Methodist Church and Aldersgate Methodist Church with the coordination of 79 community volunteers. Together, they put together 105 “care packets” containing a comb, toothpaste and toothbrush, nail clippers, a hand towel, antibacterial medication, and band aidsforshelters in Louisiana.
   
• Two VISTA Memorial Assistance Ministries members coordinated the efforts of 302 community volunteers in Houston, TX as they assisted several elementary schools set up for evacuated children. The volunteers have raised $17,500 for the relief effort and they haveorganized the processing of donated food and clothing.
   
• Over 200 San Antonio RSVP volunteers have participated in the response efforts by assisting with food distribution, intake, clothing, answering phones, assisting with donations and sortingat designated relief locations throughout the city.
   
• 4 AmeriCorps*VISTA members at theGoodwill Industries of Central East Texasare assisting Hurricane Katrina evacueesbyproviding vouchers for evacuees inRed Cross shelters and the community at-large to use in Goodwill stores to get free clothing, shoes, household items, bedding, furniture, toys and books for children, professional attire for job interviews, etc. 200 vouchers have gone to over 550 evacuees, for items totaling $13,000.00.

Wyoming

• An AmeriCorps*VISTA member with the Boys and Girls Club of Central Wyoming, is organizing teens in the Casper area to be involved in a drive for backpacks and school supplies for the children impacted by Hurricane Katrina.The goal is to have 1000 backpacks donated from this area by September 23 to send to kids on the Gulf Coast.
   
• RSVP volunteers with the Southern Wyoming RSVP program are working with the Red Cross and the Salvation Army to help raise awareness of the need for donated goods and funds to help victims of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast.

For the latest news, information, and updates on hurricane relief and recovery efforts from the Corporation for National and Community Service, please visit http://www.nationalservice.gov/katrina.

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