I know that I promised to give you information about credit reports and how to remedy problems on these reports this week. Since my daughter and her family were stuck on Mississippi's Gulf Coast during hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, my homework on the credit subject remains incomplete and my attitude has changed on some past topics. In this light, I would like correct an article I wrote following the tsunami disaster and add some information about future investments as the losses created by this storm now face every citizen in this country.

Based on what I've learned from Katrina's aftermath, I realize that I was partially wrong about donations based on the head rather than the heart. In the article in question, Charity: Giving 'til it Doesn't Hurt, I asked you to be aware of relief scams. That advice hasn't changed, which makes my article partially correct. You can follow the link to that article to learn how to avoid those scams. However, I noted in that article that donations, rather than volunteerism, might take top priority in our lives, because monetary gifts seem - in the long run - to require no more effort than an eye to rebalancing our budgets. Also, since time spent away from responsibilities of family and work is a luxury for many of us, money replaces our willingness to physically provide relief for others. I've learned since then that different crises warrant different actions.

The idea that a few large-scale nonprofit organizations asked for money and discouraged people from sending supplies and volunteer presence now seems ludicrous in light of the lack of certain responses. The tsunami disaster was half a world away, and the U.N. was involved in that relief effort. In this case, the storm hit America's southern shores, right in our back yard and within reach of help that was - in my opinion - inexcusably delayed. My daughter, who managed to reach me several times after the storm through some non-reciprocal cell phone miracle, stated that neighbors - concerned ordinary citizens - from neighboring states arrived in her area of Mississippi's "ground zero" with food, ice, water, medication, and other necessities. Without their help, they would have been without those commodities for a week after the storm hit, which is when I wrote this article.

I learned from this information and from what news I viewed on television that disaster victims cannot eat or drink money, red tape, promises, or press conferences. In that light, I had to question the validity of urgings not to send items or volunteer services to some areas along the coast immediately following the storm. If individuals hadn't ignored those admonitions about sending these items or volunteering their time and assets, the already horrific results would have been much worse in some areas.

Despite the frustrating situation, many of you cannot help with money or time during the Katrina's aftermath. In this case, please do talk to your boss to see how your office can give. If your boss is leery about the request, contact a nonprofit organization to ask how you can convince your boss to give, and advise your employer that any effort - through a nonprofit - can be written off as a tax deduction. One admonition about this information: you cannot write off any more than you spend on items that you send or money given, and you cannot write off anymore than any item is worth on the open market if the item sent is used merchandise. You might also rethink how volunteerism can be written off as employers might send willing employees to help in viable situations.

Rising costs for everything from gas to seafood to bananas will result from the disruption to the refineries, livelihoods, and ports located along southern shores, and many people will be concerned with how much they can give as prices rise. Accordingly, Katrina will - in many cases - change how individuals view their hopes, their investments, and their ideas about how this country manages its assets and its future plans. This storm, hopefully, will provide visionaries who will remedy weak links. In the meantime, you might question how you can help in the months and years to follow, and how you might change how you view your future investments.

In my case, I have always been concerned with alternate modes of communications, energy resources, and methods of self-sufficiency. These concerns don't mean that I lean toward isolationism nor that I'm consider myself a survivalist, but that I like to envision what might happen beyond the ordinary. These issues have only increased for me since Katrina. For instance, the displacement of U.S. citizens means that these destination areas may grow while New Orleans remains incapacitated. This aspect has been proven historically in other cases where large numbers of citizens were removed from destroyed areas to relief centers. What resources will grow in the destinations, and how will these areas accommodate expansion? Alternately, how will the loss or delayed recovery of refineries and ports along the coast affect how this country replaces or renews these resources now and in the future?

While the destruction that currently lies along the Gulf Coast seems intimidating and hopeless at times, some small lights of benefit glimmer through the wreckage. Children who escaped from New Orleans' inner city may receive more education and experience than if they had remained in their previous circumstances. Individuals who lost homes, businesses, and jobs may find more safety and even more lucrative situations as they learn how to cope in their new environments. I urge you to be aware of how you can help any evacuees who may have escaped or who may have been transported into your area, especially the children. I hope that you will learn about them, give to them, and offer them hope in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles and grief.

To those individuals who helped my family and others who couldn't or who wouldn't leave the coast during and after Katrina, I sincerely thank you. Without you - people who operated outside the scope of institutional efforts and who were and continue to be unconcerned with how your efforts might be written off on your taxes - many more Americans would have suffered. You certainly gave with your hearts, and I'm fairly positive that it didn't hurt.

Until Next Week,
Linda Goin