Reply from Phoenix Habitat for Humanity

Here is Habitat for Humanity's reply to my tempermental email:

Thank you for your communication and bringing to our attention that we were not mentioning Rita as much as Katrina - I think that this is an unfortunateresult of the simple fact that one came before the other and many mediaotlets started calling things "Katrina relief" before Rita even hit - Our solution from this point on will be to refer to assistnce for the "GulfRegion" victims which would enatil any and all affected by either or bothhurricanes. Kara ment no harm in her email and by no means was trying toleave out RITA victims in her communication - No matter what she writes all of the help will go to that region and we will not be asking the victims which hurricane they were a victim of - we will simply offer help to as manythat we can who qualify for assistance - I will share your thoughts with ourparent organiztion regarding their website - We do not have a web master atour small affiliate - we have a vista volunteer who does her best, without any background in websites, to keep the site updated.... your communication will help us adjust the words we use so that we are more accurate and thankyou for taking the time to let us know your thoughts and feelings.

Christine H. Odom President / CEO

Habitat for Humanity,

Valley of the SunP.O. Box 20186,

Phoenix AZ 85036

602.268.9022 60268.9206 (fax)

www.habitataz.org

And my reply:

Christine - thank you very much for your response and understanding. I will pass the word along to friends and family. Again, I'm sorry my tone was harsh... I know you are all (or at least most) volunteers. I appreciate all the work you have done and will continue to do to help people in need of housing, not just the ones affected by Rita or Katrina. I also appreciate your efforts to rephrase your future communications, and to clarify your position re: Katrina/Rita. I greatly appreciate your efforts in passing the information forward to the HfH international office.