Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Romney, Patrick Call for Volunteers

With the immanent arrival of more than 2500 Katrina evacuees to Camp Edwards at Otis Air National Guard base on Cape Cod, Governor Romney has put out the call for help. From the Globe:

Governor Mitt Romney said yesterday that the roughly 100 National Guardsmen on the base are not enough to help the evacuees. He called on residents to volunteer for weeklong stints cooking and serving, counseling, teaching, and providing child care and pet care at the base.
If you want to volunteer locally, individuals should call 800-293-4031 and businesses 508-820-2000. Cape Cod Works also has a great rundown of what the Cape's new guests need and can expect.

Romney is not the only one urging people to get out there and help with the relief effort here in Massachusetts. On Friday, gubernatorial hopeful Deval Patrick instructed his supporters to direct their efforts toward hurricane relief. According to his campaign, Patrick will also be volunteering his own time to help Katrina victims who are being relocated here. From their press release:
Patrick is encouraging people to rise to the spirit of his grassroots campaign by donating their time and money to the Katrina efforts. "There is so much to be done. I hope we see the kind of partnerships we need between government, business, charities and other private interests to get the job done in the Gulf Coast and wherever refugees may land. I want us to show the survivors who come here what welcome and community mean to us in Massachusetts."
As an aside, almost every Democratic mailing list I've managed to get on, including the Mass Dems, sent out a call for donations of volunteers in the wake of the hurricane and subsequent floods. The Mass GOP, who routinely emails out talking points for Romney initiatives, on the other hand, sent nothing.