WWOZ Faces Hurricane Katrina
While providing basic food, shelter, and medical attention to those in need in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina must be attended to first, we should also start giving some thought to how the culture and music of New Orleans can be saved too.
The GM of WWOZ Public Radio in New Orleans wrote a very personal and compelling note about his experience, his desire to find a way to keep the station alive, and the music community that gave New Orleans its unique character. It’s posted on the blog of WFMU.
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/09/report_from_wwo.html
I attempted to make an online pledge on the membership page of the WWOZ website, but it doesn’t seem to work right now – or at least didn’t for me. I encourage other people to pledge too. After you make your pledge to The Red Cross and/or other organizations providing relief, make a pledge to sustain New Orleans culture. You can send a check here:
WWOZ
c/o WFMUP.O. Box 5101Hoboken, N.J. 07030
I hope that WWOZ will get their online donation page up and running again as that will make it easier for people from around the world to contribute and I think that many people and orgs will link to their donation page. Much of their website is working and they are adding content to it on a regular basis. It even contains a list of found New Orleans musicians.
I believe that music lovers from around the world will come together to find a way to keep New Orleans culture thriving and I will do anything I can to help make this happen.
If you haven’t yet joined the millions of people who have made an online donation to support the relief efforts, here are a few links – I hope that, like me, you’ll donate to several organizations in this very important effort.
Mercy Corps: http://www.mercycorps.org/
America’s Second Harvest: https://www.kintera.org/AutoGen/Simple/Donor.asp?ievent=130546&msource=a2hkatrina
Oxfam America – https://secure.ga3.org/02/katrina_fund
Humane Society of the U.S. (don’t forget about saving people’s beloved pets too)
http://www.hsus.org/
Thoughts and prayers to everyone impacted by this tragedy. More later.
