Jackson Free Press

Dec. 4, 2006—Sweet Potato Queen Jill Conner Browne just forwarded us this e-mail. Everyone, please do what you can to help these children get presents this year; drop-off info in Jackson and Oxford is included at the bottom:

[verbatim] There is a DESPERATE need for toys for kids affected by Katrina! First it was the Boys & Girls Clubs, but we have also been informed that there are several groups serving Coastal kids who need your help. The following are e-mails from groups on the Coast concerning their needs:

"Sue (executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs) has not made a plea to me like this in the past 15 months. I know first hand that these kids are having a particularly difficult time right now, so I am hoping that you can find a way to help."  (From a volunteer worker)

"...the school age kids on the Coast, are really not anyone's focus, they have fallen off the radar." 

"We have called a lot of the long term recovery groups, Toys for Tots and other groups. They either have no toys or have had so many requests that they can't give us anything." (Sue Reed, Boys & Girls Club)

We have made a commitment to help in the Katrina relief effort.  PLEASE help by buying a present for one of the Katrina Kids.  This is what you need to do:

PRESENTS: The kids are between the ages of 5-18, but most are in the midrange of 7 - 12. Types of presents requested are: "games, puzzles, dolls, trucks, balls. Purses for older girls or makeup cases. Just anything you can." They would prefer that the presents be unwrapped, but if you would like to wrap your present, be sure to place a tag on it indicating what it is, and what age, sex, size, etc.

DROP OFF INFORMATION: AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!  You can drop your presents off as soon as possible, but NO LATER THAN DECEMBER 20 at these locations-

1- JACKSON:  Wells Church, 2019 Bailey Avenue, Jackson between 9 and 4 on weekdays or on Sundays during Worship Services. Phone (601) 353-0658

2-JACKSON:  Central MS Planning and Development District, located 1170 Lakeland Drive in the back of the parking lot between Smith-Wills Stadium and the MS Sports Hall of Fame between 8 and 4:30 weekdays. Phone (601) 981-1511

3-OXFORD:  Oxford Conference Center, Sisk Ave Exit off of Hwy. 7 By-Pass (head East) on Ed Perry Blvd. during working hours with Moni Reynolds- Phone (601) 941-7803

THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS!

Bruce S. Reynolds
Director, Planning and Management
Central MS PDD
601-981-1511

Previous Comments

ID

90253

Comment

Shameless bump. Thanks for the info :) What a great way to teach kids while shopping this season. Monkey, Princess and I will be shopping soon.

Author

emilyb

Date

2006-12-06T12:55:17-06:00

ID

90254

Comment

Yep, this will get me into the stores as well this week. It made me cry to think about all the kids who are forgotten because people are Katrina-weary. The travesty of our time happened during Katrina, and the like of appropriate response, in this state, Louisiana or federally. THIS is the least we can all do.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-12-06T12:57:26-06:00

ID

90255

Comment

Meantime, back on the ranch: One year after Katrina, the government is still squandering tens of millions of dollars in wasted disaster aid, including $17 million in bogus rental payments to people who had already received free trailers and apartments, federal investigators said Wednesday. At the same time, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has recovered less than 1 percent of the $1 billion it wasted on fraudulent hurricane assistance after the August 2005 storm, highlighting a need for stronger controls the next time a major hurricane strikes. The report by the Government Accountability Office paints a picture of an agency still struggling - at significant taxpayer expense - to find the balance between distributing quick aid to those in need while guarding against substantial abuse. Last week, a federal judge in Washington ordered the Bush administration to resume housing payments for thousands of people displaced by Katrina, criticizing FEMA for a convoluted application process. FEMA is appealing that ruling. The GAO audit found that numerous aid applicants received duplicate rental aid, with FEMA in one case providing free apartments to 10 people in Plano, Texas, while sending them $46,000 to cover out-of-pocket housing expenses.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-12-06T13:16:31-06:00

ID

90256

Comment

Here is FEMA's latest stunt: From TP Editorial page Friday, December 01, 2006 Vermilion and Iberia parish school officials believed FEMA when the agency said it would pay to replace storm-damaged elementary schools. That's why they pursued plans to build new schools on higher, safer ground. But their faith was misplaced: 14 months later, FEMA is reneging. FEMA officials say that the commitment was made in error. The agency says that damage to Peebles Elementary in Iberia Parish and Henry Elementary in Vermilion Parish from Hurricane Rita turns out to be less than 50 percent and doesn't meet the threshold for replacement. David Garratt, FEMA's deputy director of recovery, said that John Connolly, the new public assistance manager in Louisiana, made the "correct call knowing it wouldn't be popular." Advertisement But the decision isn't just unpopular, it's also unfair. FEMA made a mistake more than a year ago, and now Iberia and Vermilion parishes are being penalized for the agency's blunder. That's frustrating, especially when the school systems are simply trying to rebuild in a safer place. The Iberia Parish school system bought land for a new school at a cost of $390,000. They were expecting to get $3.2 million from FEMA to build the new elementary school, which was to house students from Peebles and a second parish elementary school. They also planned to use money from a bond issue for school construction approved by voters. FEMA says that the two school systems can still apply for money to repair the damaged buildings. They can even seek replacement money under a new application process, although there's no guarantee that they'll get it. But Iberia Parish school officials say that they fear they'll get less than half of what was promised. Donald Powell, federal coordinator for the Office of Gulf Coast Rebuilding is looking into the situation, and Sen. Mary Landrieu has written FEMA Director David Paulison urging him to honor the commitment. Perhaps they can persuade FEMA to rethink this decision. School officials in both parishes showed good sense and vision by deciding to minimize flood risk rather than pour money into repairing low-lying buildings. FEMA ought to be sympathetic to that goal instead of undermining it.

Author

Kingfish

Date

2006-12-06T13:43:14-06:00

ID

90257

Comment

Here's a breakdown of needs sent from Wells via Jill Conner Browne. Y'all this breaks my heart but looks DOABLE at the same time. I want to cry and get to shopping at the same time! Check out the list for the eleven year old girls. Now how many of us have those accessories, make-up, nail polish, hand bags, etc. that we bought and just changed our minds on?? I don't mean OLD OR USED. I mean shoppers remorse items. Ask your girlfriends what they've got lying around that they MEANT to return but are still in there with the tags on them? On what GUY doesn't love to check out action figures? Admit it! You love to look in the toy department at the legos, Star Wars and nerf balls! ******** [verbatim] An update from the Boys & Girls Club on the Coast on the breakdown of the kids being served, their ages as well as a listing of the type toys that would be appropriate: We put together a toys idea list and also a list of our membership. This will give you an idea of the ages we serve and the numbers in each age group. Membership Break Down: Age 5 Male 53 Female 28 Age 6 Male 149 Female 116 Age 7 Male 186 Female 161 Age 8 Male 206 Female 157 Age 9 Male 186 Female 188 Age 10 Male 167 Female 143 Age 11 Male 154 Female 188 Age 12 Male 144 Female 146 Age 13 Male 81 Female 89 Age 14 Male 62 Female 43 Age 15 Male 31 Female 32 Age 16 Male 14 Female 20 Age 17 Male 10 Female 16 Age 18 Male 9 Female 12 TOYS LIST: Boys: 5-7 Legos Hot Wheels Nerf Products Milton Bradley Games Power Rangers Transformers Rescue Hero Action Figures Star Wars Action Heroes Batman/Superman/Spiderman Marvel Comic Legends Wrestling Action Figures GI Joe Girls: 5-7 Dora the Explorer Products Disney Products Board Games Barbie Leapster Bratz Jewlery Boys: 8-10 Dr. Dreadful Electronic Battleship Video Games Nerf Products Athletic Equipment RC Cars KNEX Legos Yu-Gi-Oh Cards and Accessories Star Wars Verticon Air Battle Arena Skates Skate Board Girls: 8-10 Jewelry Make-up Barbie Cabbage Patch Kids Polly Pocket Bratz Tea Sets Teen Trends Doodle Pets Board Games Skates Boys:11+ Play TV Baseball 3 Phlat Ball Spy Vision Goggles Nerf Products Video Games RC Cars Verticon Athletic Equipment Girls:11+ Make Up Accessories Jewelry Leapster Journals Board Games Art Products Video Games Hand Bags Teen Trends Polly Pocket Hollywood Girls The Boys & Girls club also say that they have a contact from Toys for Tots who we will call if we receive more then we can use. They say Toys for Tots have 5,000 families and toys for only 1,000.

Author

emilyb

Date

2006-12-08T07:45:21-06:00

ID

90258

Comment

Oh, great list, Emily. (And thanks, Jill!) All, let's get shopping. We can make a difference here.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-12-08T10:52:39-06:00

ID

90259

Comment

[quote]At the same time, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has recovered less than 1 percent of the $1 billion it wasted on fraudulent hurricane assistance after the August 2005 storm, highlighting a need for stronger controls the next time a major hurricane strikes.[/quote] Even though I've seen this figure being bandied about a number of places, I still have trouble with it. Yes, I've heard about the guy that tried to use the money for a sex change operation, and the person who used it the money to go to Hawaii, but that still leaves about $999,990,000.00 in other fraudulent claims. That's a lot of money- and a lot of fraudulent claims, if they were doled out in the same "efficient" manner that was being used when my aunt filed a claim. It took months of standing in lines, and many, many trips to actually get anything done. While I suppose that it is possible that 1000's of the other people in the lines were filing falsely, FEMA at least seemed to be doing some pretty rigid checking- look how long it took anyone to get a trailer! While it is hard for me to believe that there were so many people filing false claims, it is even harder for me to believe that FEMA paid out over a billion dollars in false claims; they simply aren't that efficient. But the hardest thing to believe of all is that the GAC is so good that they have already tracked down so many of these claims in such a short period of time! If they have, why are we not reading about thousands of people being prosecuted? Something here doesn't pass the smell test...

Author

Rico

Date

2006-12-08T11:02:56-06:00

ID

90260

Comment

I believe it Rico. Think of all those trailers in Arkansas that went to waste. The problem is the liberals see how few people were helped by FEMA and scream foul, the conservatives see all the money that was truly wasted and scream foul and the sad part or not so sad part is, both are right. Alot of it was wasted AND alot of people were left out. Toys: I'll make my recommendations (why not, we are all know it alls on this site. ;-) ). Toys R Us has Lincoln Logs and Tinkertoys. Less than 20 bucks and still great. Better than video games and lets a kid be creative. Didn't see BB guns on the list though. rats. Thanks for the list by the way.

Author

Kingfish

Date

2006-12-08T11:26:22-06:00

ID

90261

Comment

Hudson's has great deals on spa type kits that girls eight and up adore. They also (if you hurry) have Yu-Gi-Oh cards, Power Rangers, Legos and remote control cars. Great day of shopping. Y'all PLEASE share this list with friends. I gave it to my doctor today...just in case who knew someone...and HE was so excited! He'd been looking for something to do with the office. Dropped a copy at the drug store. You just NEVER know. And this is for our state and is plain jane out there for ya and you KNOW where it's going. Love the recommendations Kingfish. Did you get by Toys R Us today? And my kid could MAKE a video game with Tinkertoys and Lincoln Logs (that's soooo baby stuff now!) HOWEVER, KNEX and LEGOS are where it's at if you're looking for good price point and creativity! But the list wasn't recommendations. Came straight from the source! I do, in fact, know it all and I KNOW that our state's kids deserve this.

Author

emilyb

Date

2006-12-08T18:20:34-06:00