Paul Simon aiding Katrina victims
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Paul Simon is among the dozens of musicians pitching in to help aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Associated Press reported that Simon traveled to the Gulf Coast to announce the formation of ´Operation Assist,´ which will provide emergency medical care, food and clothing to Katrina´s victims in and around Biloxi, Mississippi. Two mobile medical clinics from the Mississippi Children´s Health Fund program in Clarksdale, as well as another from New York City, are already on-hand to help victims. Simon promised that the clinics aren´t just a temporary solution but that, quote, ´They are going to stay here for a long time,´
Simon, who is the co-founder of The Children´s Health Fund, which provides health care to medically underserved communities around the US, said that, ´I´m not down here as a songwriter, but as someone to call attention to it, particularly in the smallest communities´. Simon described damage to the coast as ´suffering, on a Biblical scale.´
He went on to say that he has relatives from New Orleans who ´lost everything´ and are now staying in a hotel in the town of Pearl, located in central Mississippi, because that´s as far as the gas in their car would take them.
Paul Simon, along with Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Brian Wilson and many more, will be performing on the ReAct Now: Music & Relief telethon, airing commercial-free from 8 to 11 p.m. ET this Saturday (September 10th) on MTV, VH1, CMT, VH1 Classic, and MTV2 in America.
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