Hurricane Katrina has been devastating the states of Mississippi and Louisiana for the past several days, and one of the search industries most beloved veterans was part of the hardest hit areas - near Baton Rouge, LA. However, today I received a terrific e-mail from Donna's sister letting me know that she had heard from Donna and that she and her family are OK. I don't know the condition of their home or property, but I have a bad feeling about it. I will attempt to have updates if I hear any, but as we know from Donna's blog, she was predicting and preparing for the worst.

Shirley Tan, a friend from SES San Jose, e-mailed me yesterday to let me know that it would be of interest to a lot of folks to know about relief agencies and where to go if you want to help - here they are. She also mentioned that her site would be giving away 10% of their sales to help victims. To follow in a similiar vein, I'll make sure that 100% of the money from this week's SOCEngine directory submissions goes to the American Red Cross fund. It's a small gesture, but with so many folks affected, it's the least we can do.