There are 12 Lutheran churches in Mississippi. When Katrina happened, one of the churches was Christus Victor in Ocean Springs. They had a food pantry. They opened their doors. They called Lutheran Disaster Response. They got a flood of volunteers. They bought an abandoned factory, put up plywood partitions and made bunks out of 2x4s, housing for volunteers, and called it Camp Victor. Now, years later, they've got 200 people here this week going out in crews to rebuild houses. There are groups here who've been here seven, eight times since Katrina. With only 12 Lutheran churches in Mississippi, Lutheran organizations were some of the biggest contributors of time and money for disaster relief and continuing rebuilding.

Lutheran World Relief is one of the better charities in the world for percentage-of-money actually getting to the people who need it.

Lutheran Services in America is bigger than the Catholic social services organization, though Catholic social services has more publicity.

I'm down here in Camp Victor right now. Just spent a day demoing the kitchen and bathroom of a house belonging to a 70-year old man who has been living with his son since Katrina. He doesn't have a job, but he does volunteer at the hospital. His family bought the house when he was one.

The problem: if there were another hurricane or major disaster tomorrow, Lutheran Disaster Relief would not have the money to build another volunteer camp, staff it, and run it. Money flooded in right after Katrina, but donations have been steadily decreasing, and the recent economic problems haven't helped. And LDR isn't alone--the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, all the other private charities have been having similar problems getting enough money to do their work.

So. I know times are hard. But if you have anything you can donate to charity--money, time, materials, anything--please do so. This is not a plug specifically for LDR, this is an appeal for any charity you choose.