Sunday, September 04, 2005
Brookland Steps Up
Elephant, neighbors ponder how to help
Yesterday was a wonderful day here in DC. I started work on my shed and had a neighbor, who I had spoken with on the street many times, over for lunch. The topic of discussion what if anything we could do to help the victims of Katrina. Most of us have already given money to the Red Cross or other charity. (Elephant reccommends: Lutheran World Relief, Catholic Charities, American Human Society, and Noah's Wish). But with word out that 400 refugees are headed to DC's amory, we discussed the pros and cons of opening our homes to refugees (Houses in my neighborhood tend to be fairly large and most people have some extra space).
But the underlying question of taking in folks isn't so easy. How long do you open your home for? How do you protect yourself from fraud (remember back in college where your roommate left you with his $700 phone bill?!). At this point it seems like an open ended commitment. So we're getting a group together to discuss these issues today.
We had discussed working together to rent an apartment for 1 year for a family relocated to DC. Helping out with food, but generally providing them with support and most importantly autonomy. That seems like a good option too, but poses tax questions and someone would have to handle to money.
The bottom line is, that we here in Brookland want to do much more than just writing a check...but we need to work out some of the obstacles. I'll keep you posted. Any advice would be helpful.
Yesterday was a wonderful day here in DC. I started work on my shed and had a neighbor, who I had spoken with on the street many times, over for lunch. The topic of discussion what if anything we could do to help the victims of Katrina. Most of us have already given money to the Red Cross or other charity. (Elephant reccommends: Lutheran World Relief, Catholic Charities, American Human Society, and Noah's Wish). But with word out that 400 refugees are headed to DC's amory, we discussed the pros and cons of opening our homes to refugees (Houses in my neighborhood tend to be fairly large and most people have some extra space).
But the underlying question of taking in folks isn't so easy. How long do you open your home for? How do you protect yourself from fraud (remember back in college where your roommate left you with his $700 phone bill?!). At this point it seems like an open ended commitment. So we're getting a group together to discuss these issues today.
We had discussed working together to rent an apartment for 1 year for a family relocated to DC. Helping out with food, but generally providing them with support and most importantly autonomy. That seems like a good option too, but poses tax questions and someone would have to handle to money.
The bottom line is, that we here in Brookland want to do much more than just writing a check...but we need to work out some of the obstacles. I'll keep you posted. Any advice would be helpful.
