I agonized yesterday over what I should post. Choosing one or two persons from an incredible number of missing seemed overwhelming. After going back and forth and reviewing vast amounts of information, I relented to the exhaustion and posted nothing.

So today, feeling refreshed renewed, I am back on task. However, I will not be spotlighting any of our local missing but calling on everyone to assist with the disaster resulting from Hurricane Katrina. There are now many people who will begin this journey of not knowing for an undeterminable length of time, what happened to their loved ones.

I know all to well the roller coaster ride that they will embark on....initially when the ride takes off, there is stage of overwhelming unbelivability, then the uphill stage of unwavering hope - the kind you have when you expect that person to walk around the corner any moment, followed by the the downhill stage of despair. There will be more hills, some up, some down - those potential sightings, unidentified bodies and various leads....then the ride will slow down as time passes and the posters fade. The ride will seemingly come to a halt when, like us, eight years or more have passed and there is still no word as to what has become of your loved one.

What we can do for them is pray and find an avenue to assist them in any way possible. Here are some resources:

American Red Cross: 800-HELP NOW
Catholic Charities: 703-549-1390
Operation Blessing: 800-436-6348
America's Second Harvest: 800-344-8070
Adventist Community Services: 800-381-7171
Christian Disaster Response: 941-956-5183 or 941-551-9554
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee: 800-848-5818
Church World Service: 800-297-1516
Convoy of Hope: 417-823-8998
Lutheran Disaster Response: 800-638-3522
Mennonite Disaster Service: 717-859-2210
Nazarene Disaster Response: 888-256-5886
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance: 800-872-3283
Salvation Army: 800-SAL-ARMY
Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief: 800-462-8657 ext. 6440
United Methodist Committee on Relief: 800-554-8583

To donate money: (Specify donations for victims of Hurricane Katrina)*
American Red Cross, 1-800-435-7669, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013. On the Web at www.redcross.org*

Catholic Charities USA, 1-800-919-9338, Hurricane Katrina, PO Box 25168, Alexandria, VA 22313-9788. On the Web at www.catholiccharitiesusa.org*

Christian Contractors Association, 1-800-278-7703, 2009 South Broad St., Brooksville, FL 34604. On the Web at www.ccaministry.org*

Church World Service, 1-800-297-1516, P.O Box 968, Elkhart, IN, 46515. On the Web at www.churchworldservice.org*

Convoy of Hope, 1-800-988-0664 or 417 823-8998, 330 S Patterson, Springfield, MO 65802. On the Web at www.convoyofhope.org*

Emergency Animal Rescue Services the disaster rescue program of United Animal Nations, (916) 429-2457, PO Box 188890, Sacramento, CA 95818. On the Web at www.uan.org*

Episcopal Relief and Development/U.S. Hurricane Relief Fund, 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129, PO Box 12043, Newark, NJ, 07101-5043. On the Web at www.er-d.org*

Florida Baptist Convention, 1-800-226-8584, Att. Baptist Men's Department, Hurricane Disaster Relief, 1230 Hendricks Ave., Jacksonville, FL 32207.*

Florida Conference United Church of Christ, (407) 835-7501, 924 N Magnolia Ave., Suite 250, Orlando, FL 32803.*

Lutheran Disaster Response, 1-800-638-3522, 8765 W Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631. On the Web at www.elca.org*

Mennonite Disaster Service, 717 859-2210, 1018 Main St. Akron, PA 17501. On the Web at www.mds.mennonite.net*

Presbyterian Church, 1-800-872-3283, Att. PCUSA, Individual Remittance Processing, P.O. Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15624-3700. Write on check: #000169. On the Web at www.pcusa.org*

Salvation Army, 1-800-725-2769, Salvation Army Headquarters, PO Box 269, Alexandria, VA 22313 with a note "Katrina Disaster relief." On the Web at www.salvationarmyusa.org*

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, 770 410-6133, PO Box 116543, Atlanta, GA 30368. On the Web at www.namb.net/dr Make checks payable to: NAMB.*

United Methodist Committee on Relief, 1-800-554-8583, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Use advance #982410. On the web at www.umcor.org*

United Way,Tampa Bay 813 274-0900 or (727) 535-3545, or check the Web at http://www.uwtb.org
Or donate at any SunTrust bank branch http://www.sptimes.com/2005/08/29/S...w_to_help.shtml

Internet Sites for seeking missing loved ones:
List from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/hurricanes/list/
• Craigslist: New Orleans Lost & Found http://neworleans.craigslist.org/laf/
•Nola.com's forums http://www.nola.com/
• WWL-TV's forums http://www.wwltv.com/forums/
• WDSU-TV's message board http://www.wdsu.com/news/4919183/detail.html
• Hurricane Katrina Survivors http://www.hurricanekatrinasurvivors.com/main/
• N.O. Pundit bulletin boards http://www.nopundit.com/bb/
• Now Public's missing persons board http://www.nowpublic.com/node/17228
• Salvation Army information request form http://qso.com/satern/emailfrm.htm
• Slidell Hurricane Damage Blog http://slidell.weblogswork.com/
• U.S. Next of Kin Registry https://disasterhelp.gov/portal/jhtml/index.jhtml
• Hurricane Katrina message boards http://boards.news.yahoo.com/boards/
• Katrina Family and Friends http://katrinafamiliesandfriends.com/PHPbb2/index.php
• The Sun Herald "Reach loved ones" http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/
• The Weather Channel message boards http://messageboards.weather.com/3/...764&f=457105398
• Pearl River County Katrina survivorshttp://picayunekatrina.blogspot.com/
• Hurricane Katrina Survivors http://www.hurricanekatrinasurvivors.com/main/
• GCN Survivor-Connector DataBase (alt1) (alt2)http://216.25.101.57/katrina/status.aspx
• Hurricane Katrina Connection http://survivedkatrina.proboards54.com/index.cgi
• Pensacola News Journal forums http://community.pensacolanewsjourn...n/yabb/YaBB.cgi

To see Robert Cooke's organization, RAN, and read the story of his missing daughter, Rachel, please see http://rachelalert.org/