Americans who have homes they’re willing to share with Hurricane Katrina victims can be matched up with evacuated families via a new Louisiana-based website, shareyourhome.org.
Created Aug. 30, the new organization “has exploded and is growing exponentially,” says the man behind the effort, Charlie Davis. The site allows both those offering homes and those needing homes to enter their specific information into a database.
“Already over 15,000 families have offered to share their home with a hurricane victim,” Davis stated in an e-mail. “They’ve offered free houses, free apartments, free plane tickets, spare rooms and occasionally a spare couch. Americans all across the country want to help so bad that it hurts.”
The Family Research Council, which is helping evacuees in Louisiana, has helped promote the organization, and the Alliance Defense Fund is helping to file articles of incorporation for the group.
What the organization needs now is manpower.
Says Davis: “To process all of these families we need a mass effort – an army of volunteers armed with laptop computers to visit shelters and teams of caseworkers who will work remotely to facilitate the matches” of donors with evacuees.
The group needs licensed social workers to help with the process as well as cash donations for equipment and other supplies. Also needed are laptop computers for volunteers to use.
“We have families that are desperate for housing, but we lack the infrastructure to help connect them with the host families that have offered to take them,” said Davis. “Because of the situation down here the families must be placed one at a time.”
Davis asks anyone who can donate money to do so via the group’s website or by sending a check to:
Operation Share Your Home
12232 Industriplex Blvd. Suite 1
Baton Rouge, LA 70809
Those who can help in other ways can contact Davis directly by e-mail.
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