FYI

Received a letter from my church yesterday, recruiting volunteers and money to help at the Astrodome. An example of what this is going to cost, just in terms of dollars:

There is a limit to the amount of funding each of us is able to give. We are being asked by The Diocese of Texas to help fund the food, together with other churches. The cost of each meal is $1.79 or $134,250 per day and $939,750.00 for the week to feed 25,000 people. These funds will provide a hot breakfast, a box lunch and a hot dinner each day for each person for a week.
It will cost nearly $ 1 million to provide a hot breakfast, a box lunch and a hot dinner each day for a week for the 25,000 evacuees at the Astrodome. The need to feed and shelter them will continue for at least a month.

This has nothing, of course, to do with the human cost; nor is it even a complaint. Just an FYI. This is what Americans are contributing for, and God bless them for that. But this is also why my teeth grind when Bush emphasizes the need for "private charities" to help out.

The Red Cross, last I heard, had raised $21 million dollars. It's probably higher than that now, but they have to spend money on more than three meals a day at the Astrodome.

So just how much can private charity be expected to do, in a situation this massive? We could use more leadership, and fewer excuses.