Our fellow PR blogger BL Ochman turned me on to this and it is terrific.

An LA Times op-ed blasted The Red Cross earlier in the week here.  

The Red Cross responded on their website with a clear, dispassionate response here.

They demonstrated a clear understanding of the power of the Internet and their ability to contribute to the conversation. Bravo.

When New Orleanians see a Mardi Gras float coming, they holler, "Throw me somethin', mister!" A parade of refugees is about to return to what is left of their homes in New Orleans. Is there something you can throw to these passing krewes...   more »

I just returned from two days in New Orleans: two days with no running water, no electricity, and almost no one offering help...   more »

I relocated to Richmond, Virginia, yesterday to visit with family and assess the possiblity of relocating here. These are issues all Katrina survivors are dealing with now. I'm hoping for a new phone number and mailing address soon, which I'll post.

Two more responses to aid requests have come in. From Joseph E. Farren, Director of Public Affairs for CTIA - The Wireless Association, comes this reply:

"Please be assured that the wireless industry is doing everything humanly possible to not only restore service in impacted areas but also provide displaced and stranded residents with access to critical telecommunications services.   We are working around-the-clock with federal, state and local officials in New Orleans to make this happen as soon as possible.   Our thoughts and prayers are with you and every person affected by this horrific storm."

I have asked Mr. Farren to please *quantify* the nature of CTIA's efforts: how many phones are being sent, where are they, who is distributing them. Pre-paid cell phones are still desperately needed in the area.

I received a call from Mike Militana, in PepsiCo Inc.'s cutomer affairs department to inform me that Pepsi has already shipped 9000 cases of 1-quart Aquafina water into the area and another 12,000 cases of water are being prepared for shipment. Pepsi lost a major bottling plant in Harrahan, Louisiana. PepsiCo food and water aid is being distirbuted by Second Harvest, among other relief groups. PepsiCo is matching employee donations to relief agencies and has upped their initial $100,000 donation to the Red Cross to $1 million for the Red Cross and $1 million for the Salvation Army.

The water crisis has eased in New Orleans, but obviously water will be needed for some time to come. I thank PepsiCo for providing numerical details about the level of their assistance.

STEVE O'KEEFE
IAOC Vice President
New Orleans Refugee

Today, I sent the e-mail, below, to Hank McKinnell, CEO of Pfizer, Inc., and Loretta Ucelli, Vice President of Corporate Communications for Pfizer, Inc.:

I am a Tulane University professor, Vice President of the International Association of Online Communicators (IAOC), and a refugee from New Orleans. I am writing due to an MSNBC news report on Monday, September 5, interviewing a nurse who just spent the last week ministering to the sick and dying in New Orleans. In his interview HE SPECIFICALLY ASKED FOR NEOSPORIN to be dropped onto the streets of the Marigny/Bywater district on the riverfront in New Orleans.

Pfizer is the manufacturer of NEOSPORIN. I am hoping that you will do everything in your power to see that NEOSPORIN reaches the people of New Orleans TODAY. I know from your track record with Tsunami aid that you will help the people of the Gulf Coast, but I hope that you will make an extra effort TODAY to see that the relief workers getting into this area are carrying extra NEOSPORIN for distribution as best as possible. This is a time for heroics. Please do something and then tell us what you've done so we can post it on our blog.

Thanks For Your Efforts,
STEVE O'KEEFE
New Orleans Refugee
Executive Director, Patron Saint Productions, Inc.
Bywater Tech Center, 538 Louisa St, New Orleans, LA 70117 USA
Voice: (504) 947-4994   Fax: (504) 947-4984   Cell: (504) 715-3051
Web Site: http://www.IAOCblog.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Is your company or organization doing something to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina? If so, could you post here about the measures you have taken? I can help get information about your offers or efforts to people in need in the area.

Thank You!
STEVE O'KEEFE
Vice President, IAOC
New Orleans Refugee

I am a refugee from New Orleans, safe with my family in Nashville, Tennessee. As near as I can tell, we have suffered only minimal property damage due to the Hurricane Katrina. I have been blogging the hurricane at the sites mentioned in a previous posts. Online communicators have helped provide the minutia of block-by-block reporting, ferrying information from those who rode it out to those who evacuated. We are ferrying messages of dire emergencies and we are getting aid for people who need it. If you can bear the heartbreak, you can follow some of these threads at the news blogs shown previously.

Everyone is asking, "What can we do to help?" New Orleans needs two things right now: WATER and POLICE. If you are employed by a beverage manufacturer or bottler or distributor, you should lead with your brand *immediately* and get water airlifted to the overpasses of New Orleans no matter what it takes. If you are a CEO of Coke or Pepsi or Budweiser -- or you know someone who knows the CEO -- please get the corporate jet fired up and drop pallets of bottled water onto New Orleans. Without this water NOW thousands will die. I realize this is asking for something beyond reason, but if you are in PR with a beverage company I implore you to insist on immediately transporting water to New Orleans by whatever means necessary.

Houston has agreed to house our refugees. Dallas has agreed to educate our children. San Antonio has opened its gates and hearts to 25,000 displaced. Your city, your state, needs to step up, too. If you are in government relations, help your largest employers to coordinate giving. These people will need clothes (JC Penney, Levi-Strauss, Nordstrom?), they will need automobiles (Avis, Enterprise, Ford, Toyota?), they will need gasoline (many of the dead in Mississippi and New Orleans could not afford to buy gas to get out because the hurricane hit at the end of the month). Prepaid cards are wonderful aid for individuals; donations to the Red Cross are wonderful in aid for all of us; and finding a way to get water into New Orleans NOW would be the most marvelous, life-saving gift of all.

From Nashville, Tennessee,
STEVE O'KEEFE
Vice President, IAOC
New Orleans Refugee