Muslim Comedy Show Helps Katrina Victims

Salam/Peace:

CONNECTICUT, USA, September 6, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – In a continuing Muslim show of solidarity, a US Muslim comedian group has allocated their performance revenues to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, a local US daily reported Tuesday, September 6.

The Muslim Comedy Tour performed their famous show “Allah Made Me Funny” at Richardson’s Charles W. Eismann Center for Performing Arts in Texas and did not hesitate to donate the proceeds to Katrina victims, Connecticut’s Daily Campus newspaper reported.

Read the whole article at:
http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2005-09/06/article05.shtml

US Muslims Pledge $10m for Katrina Victims

Salam/Peace:

A coalition of major American Islamic groups have formed a task force to coordinate humanitarian relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, pledging to raise $10 million for the effort.

"It is a national and Islamic obligation to assist one’s neighbors when they are in need," Sayyid Syeed, the secretary general of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), said in a press release e-mailed to IslamOnline.net.

"The American Muslim community pledges to do its part in helping those Americans, of all faiths, who suffered such great losses in lives and property."

Read the whole article at:
http://www.turks.us/article.php?story=20050905090303358

Muslim Americans and Disability Groups Partner to Get Medical Equipment to Hurricane Survivors With Disabilities

Salam/Peace:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Spinal Cord Injury
Association (NSCIA) and a national coalition of disability organizations had
to look beyond conventional disaster relief to aid Katrina survivors with
disabilities. The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) has stepped in with a
$25,000 solution. The donation from Muslim Americans will allow essential
medical supplies to be delivered to those most in need. This has been
necessary as desperate survivors with disabilities are repeatedly turned away
or ignored by the Red Cross and other disaster relief groups.

Beginning on September 9th, the MPAC donation will allow trucks filled
with wheelchairs, hospital beds, catheters, walkers, nutritional supplements,
and other essential medical supplies to leave Atlanta, GA headed for evacuees
with disabilities along the Gulf Coast stopping first in Jackson, MS., and
Shreveport, LA. Paul Timmons, CEO of Portlight Strategies Inc. is coordinating
the effort. Since it's inception in 1997, Portlight Strategies has provided
medical equipment free of charge to people with disabilities in need.

[...]

"Thanks to the Muslim Public Affairs Council who stepped in to help while
other funding sources bogged down in their own bureaucracies, Portlight
Strategies will be able to deliver a minimum of five truckloads of supplies
and equipment to hurricane survivors," said Marcie Roth, CEO of the National
Spinal Cord Injury Association. "We are deeply grateful to MPAC for their
generosity and commitment to assist fellow Americans in the direst of
circumstances."

Read the whole article at:
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-09-2005/0004103846&EDATE=

Texas Muslims to Feed Hurricane Evacuees on 9/11

Salam/Peace:

HOUSTON, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- On Sunday, September 11, some 1200 Muslim
volunteers will feed Hurricane Katrina evacuees in four shifts at the George
R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. National and local
representatives of the Muslim Hurricane Relief Task Force (MHRTF) will also
hold a noon news conference at the convention center to outline the American
Muslim community's ongoing relief efforts.

[...]

In a statement, MHRTF said: "The Texas Muslim community's response to the
suffering caused by Hurricane Katrina has been overwhelming. Because of that
response, Texas Muslims have committed to feed the evacuees for a second day."

The Houston Muslim community has trained more than 2500 volunteers to be
available for hurricane relief.

The newly-formed Muslim Hurricane Relief Task Force recently announced a
pledge to raise $10 million in humanitarian relief. MHRTF members include (in
alphabetical order) Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic
Circle of North American (ICNA), Islamic Relief, Islamic Society of North
America (ISNA), Kind Hearts, Life for Relief and Development, Muslim Alliance
in North America (MANA), Muslim American Society (MAS), Muslim Public Affairs
Council (MPAC), and Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA). For more information
on the task force, go to: http://www.mhrtf.net

This weekend's feeding of the evacuees is taking place in coordination
with the Second Baptist Church of Houston and Interfaith Ministries of Greater
Houston (IMGH). For more information on relief efforts by the local Muslim
community, go to: http://www.houstonmuslimrelief.com

Read the whole article at:
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-08-2005/0004103585&EDATE=

Muslims Give $1 Million for Katrina Relief

Salam/Peace:

WASHINGTON, Sep 8 (MASNET) - On Thursday, the Muslim American Society, and its Freedom Foundation, and Islamic Relief, were joined on Capitol Hill by Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and interfaith leaders for a press conference to express their views and support for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

A check for $1 million from Islamic Relief was presented by MAS Freedom Foundation Executive Director Mahdi Bray and Islamic Relief President Ahmed El-Bendary on the terrace of the Cannon House Office Building next to the U.S. Capitol to aid 30,000 victims of Hurricane Katrina currently housed in the Houston Astrodome.

Read the whole article at:
http://www.masnet.org/news.asp?id=2736