New Katrina recovery volunteer camp in Mississippi.

[intheflow]

I have a local community group I'm working with that can house volunteers for $10/day, which includes all meals, and you'd be able to a variety of things, from house gutting to administrative office work to cultural preservation to just, sustainable community development. Plus they're wicked cool people. The group is the Turkey Creek Community Initiative (http://turkeycreek.migcom.com /). Here's their information on craigslist.org: http://gulfport.craigslist.org/vol/192451197.html You can contact them directly about reserving a spot. I would contact them as soon as you have concrete dates because Thanksgiving and Christmas break are actually busy times because that's when everyone has time off from work and school to come down and volunteer.

Please do not let the cost keep you from coming down! When Katrina first hit, I was living in Denver and unemployed. I sent an email out to everyone in my address book asking for money so I could go volunteer for a week in Houston. Some people then forwarded the email onto their friends. The upshot was that I got over $600 to help defray my travel expenses, mostly in $10 or $20 checks, and weirdly enough, mostly from people I didn't know. I learned that most people want to help, but can't get down here themselves, and/or don't want to donate to large organizations that have a history of mismanaging funds. Having a real person to fund gives them a human face to their donation. If you have groups you (or your family) already belong to (Sierra Club, a church, or other non-profit kind of place), you might ask them to do a fundraiser to support you in exchange for you giving them a talk on your experience when you return.

If you have any other questions, pm me. Looking forward to seeing you down here. Thanks, Y'All! :hi:

[soothsayer]

1. That's a GREAT thing to do if you're unemployed! Good on ya'!

kick

[thepurpose]

2. I want to thank you for doing something so great for your country. I would

also put a shout out to all the individuals, college kids, church groups and employers who support sending people down there to help.

[noamnety]

3. K&R

Glad to see another good relief community starting up.