At 3:00 PM EDT on Sunday, September 11, Central Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky hosted "Compassion Sunday" -- a multi-faith service to be taped and broadcast via the Internet the next week to congregations across the country, and into the homes of Americans concerned about the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The broadcast will include speeches by national religious leaders from many of the faith traditions which have made the United States so great, including:

The Rev. Dr. Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr. of Shreveport, Louisiana is the Presiding Bishop of the Fourth Episcopal District of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. He serves as the current President of the National Council of Christ in the USA, whose 36 Protestant, Anglican, and Orthodox member communions comprise some 140,000 congregations and 50 million congregants. In addition to serving as the Chair of the General Assembly of Church World Service, Bishop Hoyt also currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the National Board of Directors of the National Conference for Community and Justice, and as president of the North American Region of the World Methodist Council. He is the author of three books on New Testament themes, co-author of three other books, and contributor to many more. He was one of two senior editors for the American Bible Society’s 1999 Jubilee Bible, and he worked on The New Testament and Psalms: An Inclusive Version, sponsored by Oxford Press. He also has written more than 40 articles for academic and church publications.

The Rev. Dr. Nancy Jo Kemper is pastor of New Union Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Woodford County, Kentucky and is the Executive Director of the Kentucky Council of Churches, a body of more than 800,000 Roman Catholic and Protestant members. Dr. Kemper has served as the minister of congregations of the United Church of Christ in locations across the Midwest. A graduate of Transylvania University and Yale University Divinity School, she was ordained by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and has held ministerial standing in the United Church of Christ since 1968. Dr. Kemper has received many honors including being named the Humanitarian of the Year by the Kentucky chapter of the NCCJ.

Dr. Marc Kline is renowned for his scholarship, interfaith work, and dedication to tikkun olam. Rabbi Kline serves Temple Adath Israel, a Reform congregation in Lexington, Kentucky that is more than one hundred years old. A native of Las Vegas, Rabbi Kline attended Tulane University in New Orleans and the University of Arkansas Law School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Rabbi Kline left a successful law practice in Arkansas in 1990 to study the Torah. After graduating from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati in 1995, he served as rabbi at Temple Beth Israel in Florence, South Carolina until coming to Temple Adath in 2003.

Dr. Avinash Sathaye of the Bharatiya Temple & Cultural Center is Secretary of the World Association of Vedic Studies. He has chaired sessions on Studies in Hinduism during the International Congress of Vedanta, the premier meeting of North American scholars specializing in all aspects of Indian philosophy and religion. Dr. Sathaye is also for a Professor of Sanskrit and serves as the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the University Department of Mathematics.

Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed obtained his Ph.D. in Sociolinguistics from the Indiana University at Bloomington, Indiana, in 1984. As President of the Muslim Students Association of USA & Canada he pioneered its transformation into the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). During 1984-1988, he was Secretary General of the International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations (IIFSO) in which capacity he traveled widely through the former Soviet Union, and Europe, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and South America. Dr. Syeed, one of the founders of the quarterly American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences served for a decade as AJISS Editor-in-Chief. Dr. Syeed has served as the General Secretary of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists and currently serves on the Board of Advisory Editors for the Middle East Affairs Journal and the Board of Advisors for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. In his present position as Secretary General of the Islamic Society of North America-- a national umbrella organization which has more than 300 affiliates all over the U.S. and Canada-- Dr. Syeed is also chairman of the Editorial Board of Islamic Horizons. Among the many honors he has received, Dr. Syeed was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for distinguished service in furthering the Islamic tradition in North America and for promoting inter-religious understanding and harmony from the Catholic Heritage Foundation, Louisville, Kentucky on November 18, 2001.

Please bookmark the Internet broadcast site, www.thecompassionatecommunity.com, today-- and distribute the following Action Agenda as widely as you can:

Compassion Sunday will feature the national responses of America's many religions to the Hurricane Katrina disaster, a telecast that will be an interfaith event, to show how compassion builds bridges to hope and understanding, forging a unity that we desperately need in this nation, and giving aid to our neighbors. There are many ways to participate.


1. Organize a Viewing of "Compassion Sunday": Please attend this live national event in Lexington if you can. These speakers are coming to Central Baptist Church Lexington, and childcare is provided for the service. You are also encouraged to schedule a viewing of this event the week after. Whether you are a faith-based congregation, a religious youth group, a neighborhood association or just an individual with a laptop, you can join our virtual community by watching the inter-faith service to be held in Lexington, Kentucky on September 11. With national religious leaders, it will serve as wonderful inspiration for service. Beginning sometime the week of September 12, you can access a video of the service at www.TheCompassionateCommunity.com. To receive an email alert when the video will be available, you can sign up for our mailing list at http://capwiz.com/kychurches/mlm/.

2. Take an Offering/Make a Contribution: Simply put, the most effective way a congregation or an individual can make a big difference in the lives of those suffering from the impact of Hurricane Katrina is to make a financial contribution. Attached is a list of several reputable faith-based and secular charities and organizations that are helping leading the effort in the Gulf region. You can pool your resources and aid one charity, or diversify and aid many separate efforts.

3. Adopt a Displaced Family: There are still tens of thousands of families who have been left homeless by Hurricane Katrina. A congregation can adopt one or more of these families, providing them with temporary housing and the means to provide for the necessities of life. To identify families in need of assistance, contact the Red Cross at (800) HELP-NOW or www.redcross.org or the Salvation Army at (800) SAL ARMY or www.salvationarmy.org.

4. Join in an Interfaith Charitable Effort: Make this an opportunity to build interfaith bridges of understanding, as we all act from our compassion. Your church might help rebuild a mosque in New Orleans. Your synagogue might provide infrastructure and resources to a small church in Mississippi. You can lead an interfaith fundraising drive in your community. Through aiding our neighbors, inter-religious coalitions of compassionate people will help build bridges to hope and understanding and forge a unity that we desperately need in this nation. One ecumenical effort deserving your support is the Louisiana Interchurch Conference, which is coordinating recovery efforts in the affected region. They can be contacted at www.lainterchurch.org.

5. Give Blood/Challenge Others: Set up a blood drive at your congregation or association and challenge another group to see which can donate the most. Contact your local blood bank or the Red Cross at (800) HELP-NOW or www.redcross.org.

James 2:14-16: "What use is it if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body?"

Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi 13: "Not one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself."

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3: "But he who, with strong body serving mind gives up his mortal powers to worthy work, not seeking gain, Arjuna! such an one is honorable. Do thine allotted task!"

American Red Cross (800) HELP-NOW www.redcross.org Adventist Community Services (800) 381-7171 www.adventist.communityservices.org African Methodist Episcopal Church (843) 852-2645 www.ame-church.com American Baptist Churches USA (800) ABC3-USA www.abc-usa.org AmeriCares (800) 486-HELP www.americares.org America's Second Harvest (800) 771-2303 www.secondharvest.org Baptist World Aid (703) 790-8980 www.bwanet.org B'nai B'rith Disaster Relief Fund (202) 857-6600 www.bnaibrith.org Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund www.bushclintonkatrinafund.org Catholic Charities USA (800) 919-9338 www.catholiccharitiesusa.org Christian Church, Disciples of Christ (317) 713-2450 www.weekofcompassion.org Christian Contractors Association (800) 278-7703 www.ccaministry.org Christian Disaster Response (941) 956-5183 www.cdresponse.org Christian Methodist Episcopal Church Fourth Episcopal District 109 Holcomb Drive Shreveport LA 71103 (318) 222-6884 Christian Reformed World Relief (800) 848-5818 www.crwrc.org Church of the Brethren (800) 323-8039, x234 www.brethren.org

Church World Service (800) 297-1516 www.churchworldservice.org Convoy of Hope (417) 823-8998 www.convoyofhope.org Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (800) 352.8741 www.thefellowship.info/Landing/relief.icm Disaster Psychiatry Outreach (212) 598-9995 www.disasterpsych.org/default.aspx Episcopal Relief and Development (800) 334-7626 www.er-d.org Feed the Children (800) 525-7575 www.feedthechildren.org Greek Orthodox Church in America (212) 570-3500 www.goarch.org Habitat for Humanity International (229) 924-6935 www.habitat.org Humane Society of the United States (Louisiana Chapter) (888) 259-5431 www.la-spca.org hurricanehousing.org Islamic Circle of North America (718) 658-7028 www.icnarelief.org Islamic Relief (888) 479-4968 www.irw.org/donate/ Islamic Society of North America (317) 839-8157 PO Box 38, Plainfield, IN 46168 http://www.isna.net

Louisiana Interchurch Conference 527 North Boulevard, 4th Floor Baton Rouge, LA 70802 www.lainterchurch.org Lutheran Disaster Response (800) 638-3522 www.lwr.org Mennonite Disaster Service (717) 859-2210 www.mds.mennonite.net Mercy Corps (888) 256-1900 www.mercycorps.org Military OneSource (800) 342-9647 www.militaryonesource.com NAACP store.yahoo.com/naacp-donate1/ Nazarene Disaster Response (888) 256-5886 www.nazarenedisasterresponse.org Oxfam America https://secure.ga3.org/02/oxfamamerica PRC Compassion (888) 966-6600 www.prccompassion.org Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (800) 872-3283 www.pcusa.org/pda/ Salvation Army (800) SAL ARMY www.salvationarmy.org Southern Baptist Convention -- Disaster Relief (800) 462-8657, ext. 6440 www.namb.net/dr/ Union for Reform Judaism (212) 650-4140 www.urj.org/give/index.cfm United Church of Christ (866) 822-8224 www.ucc.org United Jewish Communities (877) 277-2477 www.ujc.org United Methodist Committee on Relief (800) 554-8583 www.gbgm-umc.org United Way (800) 272-4630 www.national.unitedway.org

Please check with your tax advisor or the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for more information regarding the tax deductibility of your donation. The inclusion or omission of an institution or organization on this list does not refer to programmatic capability nor does it confer any official status, approval, or endorsement of the institution or organization itself. This listing does not purport to be a listing of all organizations that are providing relief in the affected area. Additionally, there may be organizations providing relief in the affected area that are not accepting donations at this time. It is not the purpose of this communication to make, or enable to be made, any representation to the public concerning the organizations listed. This listing is for informational purposes only. Any contributions you choose to make are at your sole discretion. The inclusion of a group in the list above does NOT imply that any named organizanization is sponsoring this event on September 11, 2005.