Greetings,

Some of us are wondering where best to send contributions for hurricane
relief. Here is a message from a colleague at APHA who has a suggestion.

Mary Anne

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 18:12:28 -0700
From: Henri Migala <hmigala@...>
To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;>
Subject: Hurricane Katrina response

Dearest friends and family,

Earlier this year I wrote to let you know that my organization,
International Relief Teams (IRT), was actively involved in providing
critically needed assistance in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka following
the tsunami that devastated Asia, and that if you were considering making
a donation to assist the tsunami survivors, to please consider IRT. Thanks
to your help (and the help of many, many others), we provided desperately
needed emergency medical care to many thousands of displaced Indonesians,
rebuilt a children's school in India and hundreds of homes in Sri Lanka,
fishing boats in Thailand, and provided thousands of families with means
to rebuild and regain their livelihoods. We also provided a mental health
training program for counselors in Sri Lanka working with post-trauma
stress among the tsunami survivors, especially children.

I'm writing again (sorrowfully) to let you know that IRT is once again
providing emergency assistance and medical care to the victims of what
many are referring to as "America's Tsunami" - Hurricane Katrina.

We, IRT, have co-sponsored a 30-person specialized Disaster Medical
Assistance Team (DMAT) that left last Saturday night (Aug 27) to be
pre-positioned in Texas, and is now working day and night at the New
Orleans Airport providing emergency medical services for thousands of
evacuees and others being rescued from shelters and buildings within the
city.

IRT has recruited additional medical volunteers to be sent as needed.
Clean-up volunteers will be deployed into the afflicted areas after the
waters recede and construction volunteers will help low-income homeowners
and the elderly, who do not have adequate financial resources, repair and
rebuild their homes. Because of the extensive poverty in the region, this
will be a massive effort that may go on for many years.

If you are again considering donating funds to help the many, many victims
of this natural disaster, I would like to urge you to please consider
International Relief Teams. IRT's administrative overhead is less than 3%,
and for the second consecutive year, IRT has received the highest (4-star)
rating from Charity Navigator, America's largest independent evaluator of
charities. Only 5% of the more than 4,260 charities evaluated have ever
been awarded the highest rating! (www.CharityNavigator.org)

Cash donations to support IRT's disaster relief efforts for the victims of
Hurricane Katrina can be sent to: International Relief Teams, 3547 Camino
del Rio South, Suite C, San Diego, CA 92108 or online at IRT's secure
website: www.irteams.org.

Please forward this email to ALL your friends and colleagues.

Thanks again for your compassion and generosity!

Henri Migala, MPH, MA
Director, International Health Programs
International Relief Teams
3547 Camino Del Rio South, Suite C
San Diego, CA 92108
phone: (619) 284-7979
fax: (619) 284-7938
email: hmigala@...
www.IRTeams.org

IRT is a non-profit international relief organization dedicated to
mobilizing medical and construction volunteers to assist victims of
disaster and profound poverty worldwide.