Hurricane Katrina, three years later

Edna: Margie, I know all this talk about Tropical Storm Fay has preoccupied everyone, but did you know that this week is the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina?

Margie: My word, Edna. Those were scary days. Remember how we watched all those poor people on TV? Some were stranded on the roofs of their houses. Some died in their homes. It broke my heart. I sure hope they're still recovering although I don't hear a lot of news about it these days.

Edna: Well, looky here at this article I saw today in the Jericho Tribune. It's all about Habitat for Humanity, and how hard they work every day to build new houses on the Gulf Coast for people who were displaced during Katrina.

That was such a massive tragedy, but it's taking so long to rebuild that it stands to reason that it's not at the forefront of people's minds any more. It's surely a good thing that those Habitat for Humanity folks don't feel that way.

Margie: That's the truth, Edna. I believe they've built over 1300 homes. Now that's an organization that could still use donations and volunteers.

If I was a young girl again I'd sure go give them some of my time. Wouldn't you, Edna?

Edna: Oh yes, Margie. And since neither one of us are as young as we used to be, it's wonderful that we have this blog so we can spread the word about wonderful programs like this.

To our wonderful and compassionate readers: at Habitat for Humanity's site for their Gulf recovery effort, there are links to click in order to donate your time and donate your money. Please consider doing one or both of these things very soon, they need all the help they can get.

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"'The New Orleans 100' is a worldwide initiative that will highlight and encourage discussion among millions about 100 of the most innovative and world-changing ideas to take root in the city since Katrina.

To combat top down media during the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we will leverage bottom up tools on the social web (email, blogs, twitter, facebook, digg, etc.), which can reach a combined audience of millions to raise awareness about New Orleans and inspire action to make a difference.

The list will be released on Monday, August 25th - the week of the Hurricane Katrina anniversary. Our goal is to reach 1,000,000 pageviews by 8/29/08. We encourage everyone to spread the word by emailing the list, blogging it, digging it, stumbling it, and yelling it out their windows.

You can make a difference. All it takes is a click!"