Advent

Advent, Inc., a software development company for the transportation industry has a working plan that can directly assist those that have been affected by the Hurricane Katrina.

Advent and their customer, Sea Star Line, have established a partnership to gather and transport supplies to the City of Baton Rouge, LA. Since the disaster, many people have heard of the plight of the people of New Orleans and have witnessed the great amount of refugees at the Houston Astro Dome. Baton Rouge, LA, has not received the same visibility. It is a city of about 500,000 people that has taken on an equal number of people from the devastated areas. This city has doubled in size and is desperate for supplies for the refugees.

Advent is working directly with the St. Vincent De Paul organization of Baton Rouge. This organization is managing the distribution of supplies to many of the refugee groups in Baton Rouge. The plan is for Sea Star Line to provide 40 ft. containers that will be placed at the Advent office located at 890 Mountain Ave, New Providence, NJ 07974. The hope is to be able to fill these shipping containers with supplies and truck them to the St. Vincent's distribution center in Baton Rouge. Advent staff will be manning these containers from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, Monday ' Friday. Donations will also be accepted on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.

The goal is to fill the first container by the end of this week and hopefully continue to fill two more in the following week. As soon as the first container is filled, it will be sent to Baton Rouge, LA.

The direct results of all donations and will be able to work directly with those distributing the items to the families in need. If you are in the New Jersey area, Advent would be grateful for any donation that can be brought to their corporate office. If you are not in NJ, or cannot bring items directly to the office, a monetary donation would be used to purchase items on your behalf.

St. Vincent's is grateful for any and all donations but have a list of items that are most in need. They have asked not to send clothing as they have been inundated by people donating old clothes and cannot manage any more.