Amandapanda talks about how reports of New Orleans sinking into debauchery were greatly exaggerated. In random anecdotes, one of my professors has volunteered at the Red Cross to do mental health work. She says that the volunteers are a bit traumatized because there is so much they can't do, and the victims can not return home for the most part, so that is taking a toll. If there are any people with mental health training, I would urge you to volunteer with the Red Cross, or a similar organization. I'm not trained, but I would guess a lot of people would end up with Post Traumatic Stress syndrome and a lot of people may have pre existing mental illnesses that are not getting the right treatment.

Speaking of professors, Bitch PhD says you should give money to ACORN. If you need to unwind, ADV is selling anime hyper cheap! I hate how ADV does that whole box + #1 nonesense, give me a break! Also, they have a lot of Hello Kitty DVDs, if you want to send those to hurricane shelters.