Michael Moore: We've Raised a Half-Million Dollars and Sent Over 50 Tons of Food

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We've Raised a Half-Million Dollars and Sent Over 50 Tons of

Food and Water

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 22:52:18 +0100

 

 

 

Michael Moore

Wednesday, September 14, 2005.

We've Raised a Half-Million Dollars and Sent Over 50 Tons of

Food and Water

 

Friends,

 

Last week I closed my New York production office and sent my staff

down to New Orleans to set up our own relief effort. I asked all of

you to help me by sending food, materials and cash to the emergency

relief center we helped set up on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain

with the Veterans for Peace. We did this when the government was doing

nothing and the Red Cross was still trying to get it together. Every

day, every minute was critical. People were dying, poor people, black

people, left like so much trash in the street. I wanted to find a way

to get aid in there immediately.

 

I hooked up with the Vietnam veterans and Iraqi war vets (Veterans for

Peace) who were organizing a guerilla, grass-roots relief effort. They

were the same group that had set up Cindy Sheehan's camp in Crawford

and now they had moved Camp Casey to Louisiana.

 

I have good news and horrible news to report. First, your response to

my appeal letter was overwhelming. Within a few days, a half-million

dollars was sent in through my website to fund our relief effort. This

money was immediately used to buy generators, food, water, a mobile

medical van, tents, satellite phones, etc.

 

Others of you began shipping supplies to our encampment. People in

communities all over the country started organizing truck caravans to

us in Louisiana. Twenty-two trucks from southern California alone have

already arrived. A semi-truck from Chicago delivered ten tons of food.

A group of friends in New Jersey got two 24 foot trucks, got their

community to load them up with goods, and arrived in Covington

tonight. Fifteen iMacs are inbound from California. One man gave us

his pick-up truck and another donated truck is en route from Houston.

 

Your response to my appeal has been nothing short of miraculous. And

it has saved many, many lives.

 

A number of you decided to just get in your cars and drive to our camp

to volunteer to help. We now have had 150 volunteers here doing the

work that needs to be done. Last night they unloaded twenty tons of

food from a tractor trailer in under two hours. Each day more

volunteers arrive. Everyone is sleeping on the ground or in tents. It

is a remarkable sight. Thank you, all of you, for responding. I will

never forget this outpouring of generosity to those forgotten by our

own government.

 

My staff and the vets spend their 18-hour days delivering food and

water throughout the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas.

What they have seen is appalling. I have asked them to post their

daily diaries on my website ( http://www.michaelmoore.com ) along with

accompanying photos and video so you can learn what is really going

on. What the media is showing you is NOT the whole story. It is much,

much worse and there is still little being done to bring help to those

who need it.

 

Our group has visited many outlying towns and villages in Mississippi

and Louisiana, places the Red Cross and FEMA haven't visited in over a

week. Often our volunteers are the first relief any of these people

have seen. They have no food, water or electricity. People die every

day. There are no TV cameras recording this. They have started to

report the spin and PR put out by the White House, the happy news that

often isn't true ( " Everyone gets 2,000 dollars! " ).

 

The truth is that there are dead bodies everywhere and no one is

picking them up. My crew reports that in most areas there is no FEMA

presence, and very little Red Cross. It's been over two weeks since

the hurricane and there is simply not much being done. At this point,

would you call this situation incompetence or a purposeful refusal to

get real help down there?

 

That's why we decided not to wait. And we are so grateful to all of

you who have joined us. The Veterans for Peace and my staff aren't

leaving (and that's why we are hoping those of you who can't get to

Covington will make it to the Veterans for Peace co-sponsored anti-war

demonstration in DC on September 24: www.unitedforpeace.org.)

 

If you want to help, here's what we need in Covington right now:

 

Cleaning Supplies (glass cleaner, bleach, disinfectant, etc.)

Aspirin and other basic over the counter drugs.

Bottled Water

Canned Goods

Hygiene Supplies

Baby Supplies - Baby Food Formula, diapers #4, #5, Wipes, Pedialyte

Sterile Gloves

Batteries - All kinds, from AA to watch and hearing aid batteries.

Volunteers with trucks and cars

Self contained kitchens with generators, utensils, workers

 

Consider sending supplies in reusable containers. List the contents on

the outside of the package so the folks in the warehouse can easily

sort the items.

 

Clothes are not needed. If you go, keep in mind that you MUST be

self-sufficient. Bring a tent and a sleeping bag. People are driving

to Covington from across the country and often have extra room in

their cars for you or for an extra box of supplies. For more

information, go to the Veterans for Peace message board:

www.vfproadtrips.org/katrina/.

 

Send supplies via UPS to:

Veterans for Peace

Omni Storage

74145 Hwy. 25

Covington LA

 

Thanks again for funding and supporting our relief efforts. It has

been a bright spot in this otherwise shameful month.

 

Yours,

Michael Moore

mike

www.michaelmoore.com

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