The below comes from a colleague, New Orleans native, contributor to the effort, and generally good guy. Please spread the word around, and help out however you can.

Don’t Close Camp Algiers By Christopher Malone, Ph.D.

June 1st marks the beginning of 2006 hurricane season. Still reeling from the effects of Katrina and a recovery effort that is moving at a snail’s pace, the people of New Orleans are courageously bracing for what will come this summer.

Yet, June 1st is notable for another reason. At the very moment that hurricane season commences, the Bush Administration has decided to cut off funding for a facility that has been a lifeline for dozens of relief organizations and thousands of volunteers who have given their time and compassion to help New Orleans get back on its feet.

That is the day FEMA will discontinue funding for Camp Algiers, a temporary, full-service base camp located in the New Orleans neighborhood of Algiers, run by Deployed Resources.

Camp Algiers is one of the few things FEMA got right in the wake of Katrina. Situated just across the river from downtown New Orleans, the camp opened on September 27th, 2005 and received its first volunteers the next day.

Camp Algiers can house up to 1600 volunteers a day. It comes equipped with linens for the beds in air-conditioned tents, hot and cold personal showers, and laundry tent with washer/dryer units. There is a recreational tent with a large screen color TV. There is also a football field and running track on the premises. The dining hall serves three square meals a day, including a “to go” lunch for volunteers who are working in the city during the day. It also has bottled water, soft drink fountain, coffee, hot water for tea and hot chocolate and fresh fruit out at all times.

The camp is open 24 hours a day – and the entire enterprise is funded by FEMA.

How important has Camp Algiers been to the recovery of New Orleans? Since it opened, Camp Algiers has housed over 11,000 volunteers. Nearly 40 relief organizations have used Camp Algiers to conduct their operations by housing staff, volunteers and contract workers there. Most of the nearly 4,000 college students that traveled to New Orleans for spring break stayed at Camp Algiers. In late March, I went home to New Orleans and brought fifty of my Pace University students with me who stayed at Camp Algiers for a week while we worked with ACORN to clean and gut homes.

Quite simply, my students would not have been able to make the trip if Camp Algiers was not available. The same could be said for thousands of others.

The cost to maintain Camp Algiers is but a drop in the bucket of funding already allocated in the wake of Katrina. Consider this: Congress has allocated some $80 billion for recovery and rebuilding along the Gulf Coast. FEMA pays $116 per person per day to keep Camp Algiers open. The average volunteer or contractor stays at Camp Algiers for 5 days. Thus, by even the most liberal of calculations, FEMA has subsidized the army of volunteers which has descended upon New Orleans these last 8 months all for less than $10 million. Talk about getting the most bang for your buck.

If FEMA discontinues funding for Camp Algiers, thousands more who may want to go to New Orleans to help out this summer will be faced with the unfortunate choice of either paying for housing for themselves or not going at all. Given this choice, we know the outcome: the river of volunteers will simply dry up.

I know this because I plan to go back to New Orleans this August with a group of my students. Many have said they simply could not afford staying in New Orleans for a week if they had to pay their own way for housing and food.

George W. Bush came in to office in 2001 promising to unleash the power of the “armies of compassion” upon the country’s social ills. In the wake of Katrina, an army of compassion materialized and descended upon New Orleans to help her people; for the past 8 months these loyal foot soldiers called Camp Algiers home base. Abandoned once, New Orleanians need not face this double humiliation.

Christopher Malone is Associate Professor of Political Science at Pace University in New York. He is a native of New Orleans.

Contact FEMA and tell them to Keep Camp Algiers Open!! Main Number (available 24/7): Telephone: (202) 646-4600

Media Desk: E-mail: FEMA-News-Desk@dhs.gov

Kathy Cable, Media Monitor E-mail: kathryn.cable@dhs.gov Telephone: (202) 646-7917

Barbara J. Ellis, News Desk/Preparedness E-mail: barbaraj.ellis@dhs.gov Telephone: (202) 646-4021