Employees contribute to $7 million raised for Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund

Many thanks are extended to Argonne employees who generously donated to the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund.

As of September 12, the McCormick Tribune Foundation raised over $7 million, including its matching funds, from more than 35,000 donors from many organizations. According to the Foundation, “We haven't seen a decrease in the amount of donations we receive on a daily basis and expect to continue to raise more money at the rate we have seen over the first two weeks of the campaign.” The full 100 percent of donated funds will go to organizations helping victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Preliminary plans for the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund include:

• An initial round of grants for the larger agencies such as Red Cross, Salvation Army, and America's Second Harvest.
• A second round of grants to support agencies in states where the evacuees have relocated. “We know that evacuees are in at least 18 states as of today, and will probably be even more dispersed eventually,” notes Lisa Montez of the foundation's Community Programs.
• The foundation will then look at long-term recovery efforts and determine where they can help the most.

In the future, Argonne employees may also desire to give to the Argonne Combined Appeal agencies that have announced local relief efforts. Argonne mployees can see the Argonne Combined Appeal website for details.