Finish The Job: 14,000 in FEMA trailers on the Gulf

by Daily Kos' Commonscribe, a volunteer who regularly returns to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to invest his talent, time, and sweat in rebuilding. Original posting here on December 2, 2007.

With federal relief money still bottlenecked in the system and 14,000 residents displaced by Katrina about to go through their third winter in FEMA trailers or tents, the housing charities of Mississippi are trying to raise $300 million dollars to Finish The Job of getting these people back into permanent housing.

It's been diaried elsewhere how insurance settlements have been low-balled or stalled in ongoing litigation.

It's been diaried elsewhere how state politics and bureaucratic red tape have kept federal relief funds from reaching the residents of the gulf coast.

It's been diaried elsewhere on the long term health risks the FEMA travel trailers pose, and how they were never designed to be occupied for years on end.

What's not well-known is that many of the charities that have organized, financed and carried out the bulk of the rebuilding over the past two years are now running out of money.

A new 501(c)3 is trying to raise one dollar per American to provide the funds for these organizations to continue their work.

You can watch their videohere.
You can make a contribution online here.

Give what you can, or better yet, go yourself. I'll be in Bay Saint Louis the week after Christmas with a group of 30; come by and say hey.

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