Just as we did with the Asian Tsunami, the Sisterhood of Avalon
has made a donation to the American Red Cross to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Individual sisters are making a difference both in the disaster area and in their local communities, hoping to alleviate the suffering and to help save lives. I am proud of my Sisters and others in the Pagan community who are mobilizing resources to help others in this dire time of great need.
My intention is not to blow our own horns about this, but it makes me angry when sweeping generalizations are made about Pagans not being involved in charitable activities — this has simply not been my experience. It has always been an important part of the Sisterhood to become involved in some cause or charity — Sisters have worked at soup kitchens, built homes with Habitat for Humanity, raised money for Cancer research, donated time and resources to Women’s Shelters, adopted roads for clean-up, collected food for food pantries — the list goes on. I know other groups and organizations do the same — so why are charitable Pagans invisible? I think it’s because — aside from being a relatively small political demographic — by nature, we do not aggregate into large umbrella groups the way other religions do in America. I’ve seen several attempts at creating Pagan-specific charitable organizations, but sadly they all seem to peter out eventually. There have been some attempts at bringing Pagan charitable works into the public eye, but the community has yet to find a banner to rally around.
This said, I’ve seen several posts around the net in the past few days about a new Pagan Charity called Avalon Cares that was set up for Hurricane Katrina victims. I have mixed feelings about donating to an intermediary group instead of directly to an established organization like the Red Cross, but I do feel that we need to start somewhere as a community, and the person who is spearheading this project — Kerr Cuhulain — is someone with whom Ive been on Pagan Leadership e-lists, and Ive never felt that he was anything but on the level. Follow your heart, but whether you choose to give to Avalon Cares or directly to the Red Cross, please do give. Even a small amount of money can make a big difference in this devastation.