Barbara J. Hamby

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We Can All Help

I am so proud of the publishing industry. It’s been reported that two publishers (Random House and Bertelsmann’s) have each made a donation of $500,000. to the Katrina Hurricane recovery efforts. I’m sure there are other smaller publishing organizations that have donated in accordance with their size, also, although I’ve not heard about them. I hereby forgive every editor and/or publisher who’s rejected my work.

It’s sad that it takes a disaster of this magnitude to bring people together. But it’s wonderful to watch all sorts of adults and children, as well as organizations, unite in a common cause. Every day my email bag contains new ideas for ways to help the homeless victims of the hurricane. Today I heard about a project soliciting backpacks filled with school supplies and toiletries for students who have nothing.

There are creative ways for nearly all of us to contribute at whatever level we can.

Needs and the needy are always with us. Less is heard about the chronically homeless who are in our cities all the time. In the hullabaloo of the giant crises that seem to be more and more prevalent every year, we tend to forget that poverty and hunger never go away. Once in a while, the empty shelves at food banks get some press coverage and people step up to fill them. Let’s hope that those of us who are too well fed will remember those who are not, every day, and do what we can to help on a regular basis.