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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=maillist@michaelmoore.com href="mailto:maillist@michaelmoore.com">Michael
Moore</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=noworris@blueyonder.co.uk
href="mailto:noworris@blueyonder.co.uk">noworris@blueyonder.co.uk</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, September 14, 2005 7:30 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> We've Raised a Half-Million Dollars and Sent Over 50 Tons
of Food and Water</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<P>Friends, </P>
<P>Last week I closed my New York production office and sent my staff down to
New Orleans to set up our own relief effort. I asked all of you to help me by
sending food, materials and cash to the emergency relief center we helped set up
on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain with the Veterans for Peace. We did this
when the government was doing nothing and the Red Cross was still trying to get
it together. Every day, every minute was critical. People were dying, poor
people, black people, left like so much trash in the street. I wanted to find a
way to get aid in there immediately. </P>
<P>I hooked up with the Vietnam veterans and Iraqi war vets (Veterans for Peace)
who were organizing a guerilla, grass-roots relief effort. They were the same
group that had set up Cindy Sheehan's camp in Crawford and now they had moved
Camp Casey to Louisiana. </P>
<P>I have good news and horrible news to report. First, your response to my
appeal letter was overwhelming. Within a few days, a half-million dollars was
sent in through my website to fund our relief effort. This money was immediately
used to buy generators, food, water, a mobile medical van, tents, satellite
phones, etc. </P>
<P>Others of you began shipping supplies to our encampment. People in
communities all over the country started organizing truck caravans to us in
Louisiana. Twenty-two trucks from southern California alone have already
arrived. A semi-truck from Chicago delivered ten tons of food. A group of
friends in New Jersey got two 24 foot trucks, got their community to load them
up with goods, and arrived in Covington tonight. Fifteen iMacs are inbound from
California. One man gave us his pick-up truck and another donated truck is en
route from Houston. </P>
<P>Your response to my appeal has been nothing short of miraculous. And it has
saved many, many lives. </P>
<P>A number of you decided to just get in your cars and drive to our camp to
volunteer to help. We now have had 150 volunteers here doing the work that needs
to be done. Last night they unloaded twenty tons of food from a tractor trailer
in under two hours. Each day more volunteers arrive. Everyone is sleeping on the
ground or in tents. It is a remarkable sight. Thank you, all of you, for
responding. I will never forget this outpouring of generosity to those forgotten
by our own government. </P>
<P>My staff and the vets spend their 18-hour days delivering food and water
throughout the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. What they have
seen is appalling. I have asked them to post their daily diaries on my website
(<A href="http://www.michaelmoore.com/">www.michaelmoore.com</A>) along with
accompanying photos and video so you can learn what is really going on. What the
media is showing you is NOT the whole story. It is much, much worse and there is
still little being done to bring help to those who need it. </P>
<P>Our group has visited many outlying towns and villages in Mississippi and
Louisiana, places the Red Cross and FEMA haven't visited in over a week. Often
our volunteers are the first relief any of these people have seen. They have no
food, water or electricity. People die every day. There are no TV cameras
recording this. They have started to report the spin and PR put out by the White
House, the happy news that often isn't true ("Everyone gets 2,000 dollars!").
</P>
<P>The truth is that there are dead bodies everywhere and no one is picking them
up. My crew reports that in most areas there is no FEMA presence, and very
little Red Cross. It's been over two weeks since the hurricane and there is
simply not much being done. At this point, would you call this situation
incompetence or a purposeful refusal to get real help down there? </P>
<P>That's why we decided not to wait. And we are so grateful to all of you who
have joined us. The Veterans for Peace and my staff aren't leaving (and that's
why we are hoping those of you who can't get to Covington will make it to the
Veterans for Peace co-sponsored anti-war demonstration in DC on September 24: <A
href="http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?list=type&type=91">www.unitedforpeace.org</A>.)
</P>
<P>If you want to help, here's what we need in Covington right now: </P>
<P>Cleaning Supplies (glass cleaner, bleach, disinfectant, etc.)<BR>Aspirin and
other basic over the counter drugs.<BR>Bottled Water<BR>Canned Goods<BR>Hygiene
Supplies<BR>Baby Supplies - Baby Food Formula, diapers #4, #5, Wipes,
Pedialyte<BR>Sterile Gloves<BR>Batteries - All kinds, from AA to watch and
hearing aid batteries.<BR>Volunteers with trucks and cars<BR>Self contained
kitchens with generators, utensils, workers </P>
<P>Consider sending supplies in reusable containers. List the contents on the
outside of the package so the folks in the warehouse can easily sort the items.
</P>
<P>Clothes are not needed. If you go, keep in mind that you MUST be
self-sufficient. Bring a tent and a sleeping bag. People are driving to
Covington from across the country and often have extra room in their cars for
you or for an extra box of supplies. For more information, go to the Veterans
for Peace message board: <A
href="http://www.vfproadtrips.org/katrina/">www.vfproadtrips.org/katrina/</A>.
</P>
<P>Send supplies via UPS to:<BR>Veterans for Peace<BR>Omni Storage<BR>74145 Hwy.
25<BR>Covington LA </P>
<P>Thanks again for funding and supporting our relief efforts. It has been a
bright spot in this otherwise shameful month. </P>
<P>Yours,<BR>Michael Moore<BR><A
href="mailto:mike@michaelmoore.com">mike@michaelmoore.com</A><BR><A
href="http://www.michaelmoore.com/">www.michaelmoore.com</A></P><PRE><BR>
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