bizjournals: Katrina relief efforts expand across the nation

oryzacody.wordpress.com
One Memphis company is donatin apartments in the area to help housse theestimated . Circle K convenience stores will sell bracelets and donating the proceedz tostarting Sept. 13, while a grou of restaurants and other businesses in are donatin half their proceeds from one nighgt torelief organizations. In Tennessee, Gov. Phil Bredese n has suspended several state laws to help expeditereliefv efforts, mainly in the medical regulation the reports.
In Memphis, now home to some 10,000 refugeesa with more possibly onthe way, The Lightstone Group is offeringb 50 apartments to evacuees, rent-free for six Vanderbilt Lite Flight of Nashville has sent a helicoptert and medical team to Mississippi to help in recoveryy efforts there, the reports. Amont similar donations, is donating about 800 hotepl rooms in suburban member hotels for families displace bythe hurricane. In the Cincinnatii area alone, donations had topped $2.5 million About 1,000 refugees were expected to arrive in this In , a local staffing compant will host a job fair Thursday for evacueexs looking for part-time work.
And in , anothetr job fair is on the way for health care workerz displacedby Katrina. In North Carolina, where aboutf 2,000 refugees are being sheltered, the Employmen Security Commission is setting up shop at evacuation centerzin Raleigh, Charlotte and . Kentucky-connecte d companies are organizing fund-raisers at restaurantsd and a jazz festival and donating communications technology to damaged businessezs along theGulf Coast, reports. Help is cominf from as far awayas , whicj is taking in evacuees, to , wheres the state is helping to coordinate donations.
From the Twin Hugh Parmer, president of the American Refugee Committee is serving as a senior adviserd to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop a plan for relocatinyg HurricaneKatrina evacuees, the reports. "Every day at ARC we provide relief to thousands of displaced people aroundthe world," Parmert said in a statement. "I hope that my experience in dealing with internationa l refugee crises will be helpful in bringing reliefd to my fellow Americans in the wake of thisterrible disaster." Across the nation, states and the federaol government are calling on health care workera to volunteer to help Hurricand Katrina's victims.
Among the agencies recruiting healthn care volunteers were those as far away as the andThe U.S. Departmentr of Health and Humah Services. "The outpouring of support from health professionalsa who want to volunteer for Hurricanew Katrina recovery efforts hasbeen tremendous," Pa. Department of Health Secretaryg Dr. Calvin Johnson said. In the Houstob area, where about 150,009 refugees have taken shelter, business leaders are banding together to provide supportand relief. Loca government officials have convinced a group of business leaders to runa newly-formed nonprofit devotedd solely to helping Katrina the reports. Retired ExxonMobil Production Co.
President Terry Koonced will bethe nonprofit's president. Texasw Gov. Rick Perry has callex on health officials in his state to come up with a plan for to the thousandxs of people who have flooded into the Lone Star Statse as a resultof Katrina. "As Texas manages the needss of an unprecedented numberof evacuees, it is clead that one of our chief concerns must be meetin the short-term and long-term health care needs of those with special needs, including children with disabilitiez and the frail and the elderly," Perry Meanwhile, the is helping to process Louisians unemployment benefits. Clear Channel, Entercokm Communications Corp.
, and two independently-ownecd radio station groups have banded together to form the United Broadcasters of NewOrleans -- 15 stationa that have combined programming and engineering resources to assisrt in the relief the reports. Clear Channel owns seven stationx inNew Orleans, while Entercom owns six. "Givenn the state of New Orleans, we believe it is critical for the community to have the most currenft and accurateinformation available," Clear Channel Radik President and CEO John Hogan said. "By coming togethet and pooling our resources we will be able to providew the communitywith news, updatee and a connection with the outside world.
" In , where thousande of refugees from the storm are now temporarilyg housed, Time-Warner Cable has set up digita l phone and cable television service and equipment, as well as Road Runner high-speed Internetg access and computers at refugee centers. Time-Warnetr is also providing access to the Federal Emergency Managemengt Agency to its networkin Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, the Austimn Business Journal reports. More than $500 milliobn has been donated sinceKatrina hit, about double the amount given during the same periodf following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the Newark Star Ledgere reports Wednesday.
Corporations including Federated Department Storexand Wal-Mart have been among the big donors. The Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation has donated $1 million to the Americahn Red Cross. The foundation is supportexd by magazines, newspapers (among them the New Orleana Times-Picayune) and American City Businesws Journals, owned by the Newhouse family.