September 1, 2005 -- Final Report on Story Tsunami (Asia) and thoughts about Hurricane Katrina:

Story Tsunami took place over a period of four months, but it has taken me until today, during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, to put together a final report. 

The village of storytellers is a wonderful thing! Together, in just four months, we were able to organize 58 storytelling benefit concerts and we raised $56,235 for the tsunami relief efforts in Asia. A special collection of stories and story books from Sumatra, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, the Maldives, Andaman, and Nicobar Islands, and Somalia, as well as stories about courage and hope from other parts of the Asia was assembled by Jackie Baldwin, using your ideas and suggestion It will be a valued resource for years to come.

When I asked the members of the Story Tsunami organizing committee to send me any last thoughts they had, Marilyn Kinsella wrote, “With every tragedy there are gifts. Ones that we really hope we will never have to open again.” Regina Ress wrote about the joy of being able to “do something” in the face of terrible disaster. They both matched my thoughts. (See their full letters below).

Seeing so many storytelling communities springing into action to respond to the crisis with love and compassion was the best gift for me. 

Thank you all so very much!

Story Tsunami for Katrina Relief

We are again faced with the challenge of finding something appropriate to do in response to a terrible disaster. This time, the disaster is so close to home that storytellers are talking about how to help other storytellers -- friends as much as colleagues -- as well as making contributions to relief efforts for everyone.
I strongly recommend that we take advantage of the momentum generated by the first Story Tsunami by holding a second “Story Tsunami”. This time, the project will be targeted for Katrina Relief. 

Again, some people have doubts about the appropriateness of the name of this project. However, my time is limited, so I have to recognize that I will not be able to start up a project with a new name. I have started a preliminary revision of the web site by putting everything related to the Asian project in a separate folder and by making a new home page with Diane de Las Casas' poem, "I Will Rise Above". (http://www.storytsunami.org)

If enough organizations are comfortable with the idea of “Story Tsunami for Katrina Relief” (or a similar name) I can offer my services to provide organizing, web, and publicity resources, working with the tools already developed for the first project.
If you are thinking of organizing a storytelling concert by a different name but still want to be listed as a part of the Story Tsunami effort, just let me know about your event and I’ll include it on the events page.

Reginia Ress, a member of the national organizing committee sent these thoughts: 

I live in lower Manhattan and witnessed both the disaster and the response to the disaster of September 11, 2001; and, like so many, many others, I was a part of that extraordinary response. So, the moment I received an email from Laura Simms about "a project Lee Ellen Marvin wants to do in response to the tsunami," I knew that I would be part of it. And what an extraordinary experience that was.

Meeting (if only "virtually") Lee Ellen and the others involved in organizing the project was a joy; contacting storytellers and organizations was fun and gratifying; helping to create wonderful events which brought delight to both audiences and tellers along with money for the relief effort; these were the "ordinary reality" benefits of my participation. In the emotional and spiritual realm, there was the sense of being able to "do something" in the face of such overwhelming suffering. In the days following 9/11, many people far from NYC called me, speaking of their feelings of sadness, frustration, even anger at their inability to "do something" to help. This speaks greatly of the goodness of humanity: in the face of suffering, our instinct is to help. The Story Tsunami project gave us all a means. I am deeply grateful for having been a part of Story Tsunami.

And, as always, I am grateful for working in Story.

And Marilyn Kinsella wrote:

With every tragedy there are gifts. Ones that we really hope we will never have to open again. As the tsunami rushed its waters over the Southeast Asia, the Riverwind Storytellers found a ground swell of support from the people in the Metro-St. Louis area. The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville and the First Christian Church in Edwardsville, Illinois coordinated efforts to provide places where the Riverwind Storytellers, Co could tell the stories of the regions hit hard by the tsunami. Local Media – radio and newspapers ran stories about the events. The Belleville News Democrat even became a sponsor for the event providing free advertisements. As the memory of this tragic event recedes, the gifts remain in the hearts of those who so generously gave of themselves.