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Updated: Friday, November 11, 2005
Published: Monday, September 26, 2005 |
Contact:
NABJ Communications
(866) 479-NABJ
NABJ Establishes Katrina Relief Fund
WASHINGTON The National Association of Black Journalists has established a relief fund to help NABJ members and their families in need in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and will seed the fund with $10,000 to get it started.
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NABJ will also use its job network to help place NABJ members facing unemployment because of the storm and its destruction. There are nearly 200 NABJ members students and professionals alike -- living, working and studying in the affected areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and coastal Alabama.
I was in South Mississippi last week and saw the destruction first hand, said NABJ President Bryan Monroe, who, as assistant vice president/news for Knight Ridder, traveled to Biloxi, Miss. to help the newspaper company publish its sister paper, the Biloxi Sun Herald. Our members were there covering the tragedy, and were there as victims of the tragedy. They need our help.
The relief fund, established to address members immediate needs, will help them get basic necessities, find shelter and transportation. Student members who were attending schools in the area affected by the disaster and NABJ members working in the region who need aid would be eligible for the cash assistance. A committee of board members will administer the fund.
Monroe also challenges NABJ chapters, NABJ members and members of our Unity partner organizations to contribute to the fund and continue to reach out to those in need throughout the region. Members of the NABJ board of directors have already individually pledged to donate at least another $1,000 to the fund.
NABJ is like one big family, and members of our family are hurting right now, said NABJ Executive Director Tangie Newborn.
NABJ New Orleans chapter president Freddie Willis of the Times-Picayune was among those evacuated to Baton Rouge when flood waters swamped the city, and Region III director Tammy Carter of the Orlando Sentinel was with her husbands family as they, too, evacuated the city as the storm approached. The family of NABJ member Tahlya Smiles was rescued from a New Orleans rooftop and evacuated to Houston. All are alive and in good spirits.
NABJ will accept donations via mail, fax and on-line. To make donations, contact Executive Assistant Kelly Madison in the NABJ national office at 301-445-7100 or visit www.nabj.org.
TO DONATE: click here »
ALSO: NABJ President on the BBC in London; Katrina was "indiscriminate," didn't see race. »
MORE news in new NABJ blog »
An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization of journalists of color in the nation, with more than 4,100 members, and provides educational, career development and support to black journalists worldwide.
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