Passing it Along - Housing for Katrina Folk

Via badgerbag: messy, surly, full of books

"Please spread this, my grassroots media queens! We are Direct Relief! We can call and say that we are media, and ask for information, and they will put out.

Anyone who is from the disaster-affected zipcodes can get their hotel bills paid directly by the Red Cross. This is a joint effort between the Red Cross, FEMA, and a company called Corporate Lodging. They'll pay your hotel bill for 14-28 days. Here is the information from Corporate Lodging; you will need it to give to the hotel. I was told by the Red Cross media contact that this company has 90% of the hospitality industry participating.

How to use the Red Cross free hotel room program:

- are you from one of the affected zip codes?
- call a hotel and find out if they are willing to participate; tell them the web site for the ARC program, which has all the info on how the hotel can bill the Red Cross directly
- make sure you have *something* that says what your zip code is. I don't know if you need an ID. I'll call corp. lodging tomorrow and check. But, it's best to check with the individual hotel anyway.
- make your room reservation
- figure out how to get there!

The program was already in place nationwide, to help families whose homes were destroyed by fire. the Red Cross committed the money for expanding, and it sounds like Corporate Lodging scaled it up very quickly to respond to the disaster. Around 60,000 families are already in ARC-sponsored hotel rooms.

If you have already been staying in a hotel, you can submit your receipts to the Red Cross to your local chapter, and they will reimburse you.

...I will blog this info in many different places and it will spread very quickly to people who are reading blogs only, and are not seeing newspapers. It will go straight to the people that need the help in some cases. Renita, thank you very much for your useful information. ...

Even MORE direct financial help is available through this RC hotline :

Families in need can access this program by calling 1-800-975-7585 beginning at 9:00 a.m. EST Sunday. To apply for aid, victims calling in must be ready to provide their name, pre-storm address, ZIP code and home telephone number to call center agents. Callers must be prepared to write down a client identification number which they will take to a financial institution in their new community to receive the support. Families in need can access this program by calling 1-800-975-7585 beginning at 9:00 a.m. EST Sunday. To apply for aid, victims calling in must be ready to provide their name, pre-storm address, ZIP code and home telephone number to call center agents. Callers must be prepared to write down a client identification number which they will take to a financial institution in their new community to receive the support.

recovery2, katrina, hurricanekatrina, kitchentablerelief