To our newspaper friends and supporters:

 

The damage to much of Iowa from the tornados and floods of 2008 has been well-documented by the newspapers of Iowa. One of the stories behind the story is the personal hardship suffered by many of the newspaper employees helping to deliver critical weather information to the public. Another story is the generosity of newspaper people helping newspaper people to cope with these disasters.

 

The staff of The Cedar Rapids Gazette, for example, has been overwhelmed with the generous and unsolicited help and offers to help from newspaper colleagues as they continue to publish and broadcast on all platforms through the flooding disaster in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. They were especially overwhelmed by the truckload of bottled water, cots, fruit and other donations from the Dubuque Telegraph Herald.

 

The Iowa Newspaper Foundation wants to help you help these people in need. Newspaper employees in Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Vinton, Iowa City and other towns in the flood zone face personal losses. Some employees have had their homes and personal belongings destroyed or severely damaged.

 

The Iowa Newspaper Foundation has established a fund to help these employees, some of whom have contributed to the outstanding coverage despite their personal upheaval. We hope you will spread the word to your staff, colleagues, readers, viewers, listeners, web site visitors and others in the industry and encourage donations to help these workers.

 

You may send tax-deductible checks to Iowa Newspaper Employees Disaster Relief Fund at the Iowa Newspaper Foundation, 319 E. Fifth St., Des Moines, IA 50309, or go to www.inanews.com to make a credit card donation.

 

You can't get flood insurance unless you live in the 100-year flood plain and this flood went beyond the 500-year flood plain, so we truly are looking at a disaster of millennial proportions, with much of the damage uninsured. And we are only now getting our first glimpses of the devastation in some homes.

 

While we know victims will receive FEMA assistance, we also know that is not enough. We will take steps to ensure that any aid we collect is used only for legitimate flood damage beyond any reimbursement from insurance, FEMA or other public assistance. We are grateful that this has not been as catastrophic as what our colleagues along the Gulf Coast experienced when Katrina hit in 2005. But we want you to know that colleagues in the news media are hurting and we hope you can help. Many communities are hurting and we encourage you to contribute to community relief efforts as well.

 

In addition, the Iowa Newspaper Foundation will assemble two databases -- one of the needs of newspapers affected by the flood and one of resources offered by other newspapers.

 

Please consider volunteering to help those in need with a contribution.