A Call to Action

Mike's original e-mail sent 9/14/2005

To All –

I need your help….

First, I want to thank everyone who’s inquired about the safety of my family in New Orleans. They’re okay. Everyone except my dad left before Katrina hit. Some have been staying with me. The rest are staying with other family members in Baton Rouge and Memphis. My dad remains in New Orleans because he works for Jefferson Parish and has been on call since Saturday, August 27. He had the privilege the Thursday after Katrina of driving a NOLA city bus shuttling evacuees to and from the Superdome and the I-10/Causeway staging area. I also have a friend, Troy Gilbert, down in Lakeview who didn’t evacuate. His blog, www.gulfsails.blogspot.com, gives a poignant first-hand account of what’s going on.

Anyway, this is what I need your help with. Those of you who know me well know that although I live in Dallas, my heart remains in NOLA. It’s my hometown, it’s where I grew up, it’s who I am. I’ve always said I’ll move back, and I stick by that statement today. After Katrina hit and the destruction became self-evident, I immediately started thinking of how I could play a proactive part in helping get my hometown back on her feet. Like so many others, I gave to the Red Cross. But I kept thinking that surely I could do more – more, at least, than I did with my Red Cross donation. And knowing that the rebuilding effort will take time, I wanted to help keep the plight of NOLA top-of-mind for as long as possible – because I know that long before all those shattered lives can be put back together, Katrina won’t be front-page news anymore. And when that happens, we need to find a way to remind people that New Orleans still needs our collective helping hand.

What I kept thinking about were those yellow “Livestrong” bracelets, which are a key part of the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s support for cancer survivors (www.livestrong.com). Well, my hometown is a survivor, too. So, I got on the Web, found out who makes them and called them. The manufacturer agreed to make a custom purple, green and gold (think “Mardi Gras”) bracelet at cost. However, before I could place an order, I had to come up with a phrase to put on them. My family and I kicked around a bunch of different names – rebuild, save, help NOLA – until we finally agreed on “Renew New Orleans,” because what we all should be striving for is not only to rebuild New Orleans, but to make it new, vibrant, and alive again – and even better than before.

So, this is the goal: I want to use the “Renew New Orleans” bracelets as a means to raise $100,000 to give to local NOLA charities involved in the “heavy lifting” of renewing NOLA. The Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, and the other large charities are great organizations and I encourage everyone to donate as much as they can to them. However, there are also a bunch of local charities – staffed by people who are proud of their hometown and have a vested interested in its rebirth – that are going to need a lot of help. For instance, the Kenner Central Lions Club (my dad is a member), the Covenant House, and Kids smArt are a few that are going to need help. Heck, I even saw last night on the news Mayor Nagin talking about how the city is broke (no economy = no tax revenue) and how a special New Orleans Police Department fund – www.nopf.org – has been set up for donations to help support the families of police officers (I also encourage everyone to donate to this fund.) My plan is to charge a $5 donation per bracelet, raise $100,000 (or more), and donate it all to local charities.

In order to assure anyone who asks that my intentions are honorable (we’ve all seen those reports about fraudulent Katrina charities), I had an attorney file articles of incorporation for a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization last week and submitted for an IRS tax ID #, which I received yesterday. The name of the organization is the Renew New Orleans Foundation and its sole purpose is to raise funds for local New Orleans charities. In conjunction, a co-worker of mine has been volunteering his time building an e-commerce site – www.RenewNOLA.org – which will be able to process online credit card orders. We have a temporary page up right now and expect to have the full site up and running by next week.

What I specifically need your help with is spreading the word. Lance has been able to raise over $50m with his “Livestrong” bracelets. My $100k goal with “Renew New Orleans” is just a fraction of that. If I’m able to raise more money, great – but regardless, I’ll need your help in order to do it. So, please buy a bracelet, spread the word, and give me your feedback and suggestions on any other local NOLA charities you feel are also worthy of receiving donations.
Thanks in advance for your support and assistance in a cause that is near and dear to my heart. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Mike Latino
mike@renewNOLA.org

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at 214-673-3000 or info@renewNOLA.org

Hurricane Katrina Wristbands