Qatar Katrina Fund

The NHP Foundation Ambassador James Joseph today announced the NHPF will create 3,000 affordable housing units in New Orleans and the surrounding parishes for low- and moderate-income families. The estimated cost of development is $300 million for the Gulf Coast region. "To date, NHPF has received nearly $10 million in donations to help rebuild the housing stock in the Gulf Coast," said Joseph.

"The families we serve will be the benefactors of the world's goodwill. It's our mission to create affordable housing, but it is our objective to bring our families home. " Following a bus tour of the New Orleans areas hardest hit by Katrina, NHPF CEO Ghebre Selassie Mehreteab said four properties with 1,004 units will be under construction in Orleans, Jefferson, Calcasieu and Tangipahoa parishes: Walnut Square Apartments and Forest Park Apartments in New Orleans, Tanglewood Apartments in Westwego, Village at McNeese in Lake Charles, and Village at Pebble Creek in Ponchatula. NHPF also identified 1,400 units for new construction in former sites of the public housing complexes in New Orleans. "If we can provide our hard-working families affordable housing, then we can bring life back to our communities, our schools and our businesses. It's critically important that we revitalize our communities and we must first start with quality affordable housing," said Helena Cunningham, NHPF senior vice president and managing director of the Gulf Coast Region. NHPF will finance the projects through conventional mortgages from Bank of America, tax exempt bonds issued by the state, equity through the Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program and philanthropic support. The following organizations have donated to the NHPF: Qatar Hurricane Fund, $4.5 million; Ford Foundation, $3 million; Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, $600,000; JPMorgan Chase Foundation and Bank, $525,000; MacArthur Foundation, $250,000; and NeighborWorks America, $500,000. The NHP Foundation is a national nonprofit organization formed to increase the quality and quantity of affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families by providing and rehabilitating properties while offering training and support services for residents and surrounding communities. NHPF has created 43 properties totaling 9,000 units. It owns 25 properties totaling more than 5,000 units located in 11 states.

Recovering drug addicts can apply to live in 101 affordable single-room apartments in New Orleans.

And "they can stay as long as they want -- this isn't temporary housing," said Jim LeBlanc, chief executive officer of the Greater New Orleans Volunteers of America, which in four weeks will have restored all of its single-room-occupancy housing destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and floodwaters from broken levees.

Gifts from a country in eastern Arabia, Freddie Mac and others helped provide the more than $1.8 million needed to renovate the two housing facilities. Duvernay House at 1801 Canal St. and Tulane SRO at 3901 Tulane Ave. had been set up by Volunteers of America for recovering addicts before Katrina battered the city.

Approved applicants may pay as little as $25 a month for rent or as much as 30 percent of their gross income. The housing is for single recovering addicts who earn $21,960 a year or less.

Monthly rent is based on each resident's income. Most residents pay about $200 a month, said LeBlanc, who eagerly awaits the reopening of the 81-unit Tulane Avenue facility. It's scheduled to reopen in the first week of January.

The affordable housing is only for individuals "serious about recovery," he said. Prospective residents must be clean and sober for 90 days and a current tuberculosis test is required, said Sandy Feraci, director of the SRO program.

A prospective resident must have a drug-treatment program or a drug-abuse counselor certify that the applicant has not abused drugs for three months, LeBlanc said.

Historically, about 60 percent of the recovering addicts living at the two housing facilities have been laborers or service-industry workers, "a population critical to the rebuilding of our city," LeBlanc said.

"Affordable housing is the key to people getting their lives back on track," he said.

The Duvernay House, which opened its doors in the summer of 2002, was shuttered by Katrina and floodwaters as was the Tulane SRO, which opened its doors in the summer of 1997.

Although Volunteers of America celebrated the reopening of the 70-unit Duvernay House in August, it still has 20 vacant units, LeBlanc said. In four weeks, 81 more units will be available at the Tulane Avenue site.

Single men and women without children can apply for the housing by writing Sandy Feraci at 1801 Canal St., New Orleans, LA 70112, or calling her at (504) 299-1260. Prospective residents also can send her an e-mail at sferaci@voagno.org.

Each resident is provided a single bedroom with a basin, closet, desk and minirefrigerator, LeBlanc said. In European fashion, several showers for individuals are on each floor. A key or pass code is required to enter an SRO building. Residents, LeBlanc said, are subject to random drug testing. Anyone who falls off the wagon will be forced to leave, he said. A couple of caseworkers assist residents in acquiring and keeping jobs as well as improving family relationships.

At the single-room-occupancy housing facilities, "there's a sense of everyone's in this together," LeBlanc said. It's a "supportive environment for people who want to stay clean and sober."

Contributions to the renovation effort include $899,000 from the country of Qatar via the Unity of Greater New Orleans organization; $280,000 from Freddie Mac, a company that buys and sells mortgages; $75,000 from Entergy and $50,000 from Capital One.

NEW ORLEANS - The lead agency for the network of groups working to end homelessness in the New Orleans area handed out $2 million Thursday from the nation of Qatar in the Persian Gulf to 10 nonprofits.

The money will help the groups repair hurricane-damaged buildings that provide housing and services to the homeless.

Martha Kegel, executive director of UNITY of Greater New Orleans, said the money will "help ease the housing crisis that we have'' by restoring housing for more than 800 homeless people.

"We are very grateful that the world has embraced us,'' she said.

Kegel estimated there are 2,100 homeless persons on the streets of New Orleans, thousands more living in deplorable post-Katrina conditions and another 10,000-plus migrant workers and their families struggling for housing.

Kegel, during a press conference at the New Orleans Mission emergency shelter that lost its roof during Katrina, distributed checks to:

Belle Reve (housing for people with HIV/AIDS) in the amount of $85,000.

Catholic Charities (housing for women who are victims of domestic violence and people with disabilities) for $90,000.

Community Christian Concern (transitional housing) for $55,270.

Hope House (transitional housing for families) for $22,932.

McCaleb Foundation (housing for people with disabilities) for $148,730.

National Council of Negro Women (housing for young mothers) for $348,068.

New Orleans Mission for $250,000.

Responsibility House (housing for people recovering from addiction) for $25,000.

The Salvation Army (emergency shelter and transitional housing) for $75,000.

Volunteers of America (single-room occupancy) for $899,000.

"The need is very, very great here,'' Hope House Director Don Everard said.

Nevertheless, New Orleans Mission Executive Director Ron Gonzales said the collaborative of five dozen agencies working to end homelessness in the city can achieve that result. "That is a goal we can attain,'' he said.

Southern University
SHAWN CHOLLETTE

To get to Southern University at New Orleans' temporary quarters in row upon row of trailers, Ernest Ruffin, a junior business management major from the city's West Bank, must drive past the original campus.

A year after Katrina swept through New Orleans and swallowed the university's campus on Press Drive, Ruffin is still reminded of the school's former vibrancy.

"The old SUNO was a lot more diverse, and you could always find people hanging out in the university center," Ruffin said.

Southern University shares its plight with Dillard University and Xavier University of Louisiana. New Orleans' three historically blackcolleges and universities are struggling to remain viable assets to a community that, many say, needs them now more than ever.

The schools are renowned for producing thousands of pharmacists, musicians and business leaders in a city that was largely black and mostly poor.

Michael L. Lomax, former president of Dillard, now president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund, said, "Dillard and Xavier, in combination with Southern, have helped ensure that there is stable black middle class, as well as professionally trainedleaders who have been important not only to the African-American community, but to the city as well. And right now those groups are at risk."

He said, however, he's "guardedly optimistic that, given the outpouring of support, the storm won't have the devastating impact that itmight have had otherwise."

Currently, Southern University is the only one of the three schools that cannot return to its campus. Dillard set classes to resume Sept. 25 in its own buildings in the hard-hit Gentilly neighborhood. Xavier has resumed classes and reopened all but three buildings.

All three shut down for the fall 2005 semester but were able to resume classes in January, and help students overcome the loss of academic hours by offering two accelerated semesters. By summer 2006, Dillard graduated 354, Southern University 321, and Xavier 536.

But as Ruffin observes, it will be a long time before any of the colleges are "back to normal." All three cope now with debts, reduced enrollments, and still face losses in the millions of dollars as wellas limited resources.

"Our outlook is excellent," said Victor Ukpolo, Southern University's chancellor. "At this point we've already surpassed our enrollmentfrom the spring semester, and we have about 500 other students in the [process] of paying their fees" [for the fall semester].

As of presstime, the official number of students for Southern University at New Orleans was 2,351, nearly 65 percent of last fall's enrollment of 3,647.

Meanwhile, Dillard estimated it would have 1,100 returning this fall, 51 percent of last fall's enrollment. Xavier expected 2,800, nearly 70 percent of last fall's enrollment.

Although enrollment remains far from pre-Katrina levels, officialsat each school said positive factors keep them optimistic about the future.

Warren Bell, Xavier's associate vice president for university and media relations, said the Catholic university, which is known for itspre-med programs, has not only rebuilt but upgraded many facilities.

"I believe that we are very well positioned for the future as we enter a new academic year," Bell said. "We've made tremendous progresswhen it comes to the physical repairs to the campus. Most of our remaining repairs are now being made to noncritical areas, since we already fixed our dormitories, classrooms and student-related areas many months ago, before we reopened the campus in January 2006."

Meanwhile, Dillard will hold classes at its campus for the first time since the storm inundated the school with at least four feet of water. When the university reconvened classes in January, students were housed and taught at the New Orleans Hilton Riverside. Since then, the university has renovated several of the buildings on campus. The 2006 graduates were able to continue a long-standing Dillard tradition of marching on the Avenue of the Oaks.

Highlights of campus recoveries extend beyond enrollment numbers and renovated buildings. Each university has been able to rehire a fewfaculty members who had been previously laid off.

Several have made technological improvements. Southern University now offers classes and degree programs via the Internet in order to allow displaced students to continue their education from afar, said Ukpolo.

Xavier, meanwhile, is expanding its academically renowned pharmacyprogram after receiving a $12.5 million grant from the nation of Qatar.

The three historically black universities also face the burden of heavy debts.

Dillard, which incurred $400 million in damages and losses, was still working on readying the campus before classes started in late September. A number of buildings were lost to fires in the aftermath of the flooding; a few others had to be demolished.

Ukpolo explained that because Southern University's buildings are owned by the state, it must wait for the state to make damage assessments and initiate rebuilding efforts. Initial damage estimates were near the $500 million mark. He expects that the university will be able to return to its main campus as early as January 2007, but in the meantime, classes will continue being held at the SUNO-North modular campus in the trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Administration.

Xavier was able to move back onto its campus in January, but must still pay for an estimated $45 million for repairs. Bell said Xavier has obtained bridge loans and depleted some of its $50 million endowment to cover some of these costs. "But that is probably less than half of what we will need to cover Xavier's losses from Katrina, even after all insurance settlements and government assistance--including FEMA--are factored into the equation."

In August, the United Negro College Fund announced plans to renew fundraising efforts for the three colleges, and for Jackson State University in Mississippi, which was also affected by Katrina.

Unity of Greater New Orleans, the lead agency for a local network of homeless service organizations, will distribute $2 million from the nation of Qatar to 10 nonprofits Nov. 16. The funds will be used to help repair the facilities of agencies that provide housing and services to the homeless, including children and people with disabilities.

The housing will be coupled with supportive services designed to stabilize people in housing and emphasize employment. Martha Kegel, Unity executive director, said the money is desperately needed. "I don't know that people are aware of the homeless crisis we are experiencing in New Orleans post-Katrina," Kegel said. "It's grown tremendously and it's getting worse every day. " Kegel said people are living in cars, ungutted homes, abandoned buildings, and conditions no human being should have to live in. The Agencies receiving funds to repair housing are: - Belle Reve housing for people with HIV/AIDS; - Catholic Charities housing for women who are victims of domestic violence and people with disabilities; - Community Christian Concern transitional housing; - Hope House transitional housing for families; - McCaleb Foundation housing for people with disabilities; - National Council of Negro Women housing for young mothers; - New Orleans Mission emergency shelter; - Responsibility House housing for people recovering from addiction; - Salvation Army emergency shelter and transitional housing on Claiborne Avenue; - Volunteers of America single-room occupancy.

GULFPORT - "Club closed" reads a sign posted on the door of the Forest Heights Boys & Girls Club.

A peek inside reveals walls stripped to studs and debris scattered across the floor.

"That little space back there is where they had their teen center," Sue Reed, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of the Gulf Coast, said as she stepped over broken pieces of wood and chunks of drywall.

Situated in the forward arch of the subdivision's main circle, the 4,600-square-foot club once was the centerpiece of the North Gulfport neighborhood. The facility was crippled when Hurricane Katrina flooded nearby Turkey Creek, tore holes in the roof and deposited some 3 feet of water within its walls.

The club that had served 140 students a day and maintained a waiting list for others was among five of seven club facilities on the Coast damaged or destroyed by Katrina.

The cost to rebuild three of the facilities is an estimated $18 million.

In some instances, the clubs had been operating from dedicated spaces at school sites. Some still do, but the strain is evident, as schools themselves struggle to recover.

"We're very appreciative of what they are doing and everybody knows we need to help kids, but it's difficult," Reed said. "Teachers' classrooms are their domains and with us using them, it's just difficult. We need to get out of their schools and into our own buildings if we can."

Local organizations have stepped forward, as have a slew of others based outside the state.

With the help of The Bret Favre Fourward Foundation and Operation Hope, a financial literacy organization, Rockworks, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit, has taken on the Forest Heights project.

The group's Web site, rockworks.us, features videos from Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, a humorous David Spade, CSI star Gary Dourdan and several others. Viewers are asked to send $1 to rebuild Forest Heights.

Scott Kramer, the group's executive producer, said a little more than $2 million has been raised.

Reed said the Forest Heights Center, which was designed pro bono by New York architect Daniel Libeskind, could cost as much as $6 million to rebuild.

Qatar steps up

In September, the Persian Gulf country of Qatar stepped forward with a $5 million donation to fund the rebuilding of the group's Pass Christian facility. It was declared structurally unsound after 20 feet of water washed through it.

Also destroyed was the East Biloxi facility, a 10,000-square-foot cinder block building reduced to a frame after its exterior walls were washed away.

Plans for the Biloxi facility haven't been nailed down, partially because it's unclear how much affordable housing will be available to draw families. With casinos already rebuilding there, the city's east end could be heavily commercial. The Biloxi Public Schools decision on reopening schools will influence the Boys & Girls Clubs' plan.

Biloxi Superintendent Paul A. Tisdale said the school board isn't expected to make a decision about schools in East Biloxi for another year.

"With the cost of land and what folks can get for it, it will be interesting to see what kind of housing is developed and what the cost will be," Tisdale said.

The massive rebuilding is allowing the Boys & Girls Clubs to change their operations.

The three new facilities will be between 19,000 and 29,000 square feet, giving the organization space to dedicate to community groups.

Forest Heights, for example, could serve as many as 400 youngsters a day, possibly getting rid of its waiting list.

Meanwhile, Reed said the Boys & Girls Club is in the early stages of planning a fund drive.

Road to recovery

Rockworks representatives said they would like to help Forest Heights residents rebuild after they finish the Boys and Girls Club. But residents aren't waiting. Many are in various stages of returning to their homes, helped largely by North Carolina Baptist Men, a volunteer organization doing everything from painting to replacing flooring.

Residents such as Marilyn Riley, 48, have moved from their trailers into their homes. She looks forward to a new club for the area's youth.

"I think its going to be wonderful because the children I think will enjoy it," Riley said.

Reed appreciates the neighborhood support.

"I think we feed off of each other," Reed said. "I think they know what's coming for the kids and we, of course, are so proud of everybody."

Nations have no permanent allies, only permanent interests, Lord Palmerston said. Countries have different interests, it's true. But President Bush was right when he said that there comes a time to choose sides.

Most Americans are familiar with the deep and abiding solidarity Great Britain has demonstrated to the United States, embodied by British Prime Minister Tony Blair's pledge that his country will stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the United States through difficult and lonely times.

Less familiar to us are the brave and generous nations that have also stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States even if they do not contribute troops, share a common language and culture or provide large markets for American goods and services.

Take Qatar, the small nation of 250,000 citizens in the Arabian Gulf. Not only has Qatar been host to the U.S. Central Command-the operations center for the war in Iraq-taken the US higher education system as its model in a region filled with Islamist schools, and liberalized its political system, they were among the first countries to commit financially to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The Amir of Qatar pledged the extraordinary sum of $100 million. In May, a committee of Americans of which I was a member, announced in New Orleans some $60 million in grants aimed at providing health care, housing, and scholarships to people who were hurt the most by the storm. This included a $10 million gift to Tulane University to provide scholarships for students who were directly impacted by Katrina, as well as a $22 million donation to Habitat for Humanity to rebuild nearly 300 homes along the Gulf coast.

A year after the storm, the last $40 million of the gift will hit the streets in places like Pass Christian, Miss., which was nearly destroyed by the storm. The amir's gift on behalf of the people of Qatar, some 8,000 miles away, will rebuild, among other things, a Boy's and Girls Club and a community center, the kinds of places that mean so much in the day-to-day life of a town.

A poll released last month by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that America's popularity remains shaky worldwide, particularly in the Arab and Muslim world. That is what makes Qatar's gift all the more bold and ambitious.

Qatar, which lies just 40 kilometers from Iran, stood up to be counted with the United States. They gave in spite of whatever policy or cultural differences may exist, and in spite of whatever regional pressures and risks of supporting the US in so personal and high-profile a way might bring about.

In so doing, Qatar gave the world a clear and powerful example of the people-to-people diplomacy needed to bridge differences and promote shared values. The values that distinguish America and its friends include compassion.

Many Americans might be hard-pressed to find Qatar on a map. For Qatar, there is no "strategic value" in presenting such a massive sum of money to a people disenfranchised and displaced and with no ability to influence trade or geopolitics.

Americans shouldn't forget their friends. The people of New Orleans and Pass Christian certainly won't forget Qatar.

MOST small countries find it wise to keep their heads down in world affairs. Qatar is small, a pancake-flat peninsula less than half the size of Belgium. Barely a quarter of its 750,000 people are citizens, the rest being foreign workers and their families. But the bantam-sized emirate has a habit of punching above its weight, and in several directions at once.

This week, for instance, Qatar has bolstered the UN's peacekeeping efforts in Lebanon with a pledge of up to 300 troops. In doing so it broke ranks with other Arab states that remain wary of interposing Muslim bodies between Israel and Lebanon's Hizbullah guerrillas. That has made it easier for other Muslim countries, such as Indonesia and Turkey, to begin joining the force, which the UN wants to be 15,000-strong, some half of it from Europe. At the same time, Qatar became the first Arab country to heed Lebanese pleas to break Israel's blockade (due to end this week), by launching daily flights to Beirut in defiance of Israel's demands that air traffic receive its prior clearance.

One reason Qatar can challenge Israel is that it, unlike most Arab countries, maintains discreet, low-level relations with the Jewish state. It is also a crucial ally for Israel's main patron, America. It hosts a large base and regional command centre for the US Air Force; the invasion of Iraq was managed from here, and Qatar-based B-1 bombers continue to fly missions over Afghanistan. The emirate has also generously helped American causes. The $100m it has so far spent on relief for victims of Hurricane Katrina includes a $17.5m grant to New Orleans's Xavier University, which serves mostly black Americans.

Yet Qatar is hardly beholden to the superpower. It has the friendliest relations of any other Arab country with America's most outspoken foes in the region, Syria and Iran. Since taking up a two-year rotating seat at the UN Security Council in January, Qatar has vocally dissented from such American policies as trying to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions, or sending UN peacekeepers to Sudan's Darfur region against the wishes of the government in Khartoum. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the country's emir, is heading to next week's summit of non-aligned leaders in Cuba to hobnob with such American bogeymen as Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez.

Qatar's ruler also happens to bankroll the al-Jazeera satellite channel, which American officials often accuse of cheering on their enemies. Al-Jazeera's daring coverage has not just angered Americans. Iran, Iraq, Israel and Saudi Arabia, among other countries, have all curtailed the activities of its reporters for different reasons. This may explain why al-Jazeera consistently has the largest number of viewers in the Arab world.

It helps, of course, that Qatar has money, and plenty of it. Its territorial waters include the world's third-largest reserve of natural gas. Energy exports have pushed the emirate's GDP per head to more than $40,000, on a par with Europe's richest countries. Huge investments in both oil and gas mean that, by the next decade, Qatar could be producing the equivalent of 5m barrels of oil a day. That is half Saudi Arabia's daily output, but would be comfortably shared by a population that numbers less than 1/25th of the neighbouring kingdom's.

MARIA RECIO

Until recently, Pass Christian 13-year-olds Jordan Lizana and Eric Hammond had never heard of the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar.

On Friday, they unfurled a banner thanking Qatar Ambassador Nasser Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa for $5 million that the Qatar Katrina fund is giving to rebuild the Boys and Girls Club Community Center in Pass Christian.

At an event at the National Press Club, Al-Khalifa met with the recipients of $40 million in grants, the final phase of the awards from Qatar's $100 million Katrina fund.

"What Katrina has taught a lot of us is that while we are thousands of miles away, we are really in a small cup," said Al-Kahlifa as he spoke of his country's emotion at seeing the devastation of Katrina a year ago and the decision to create a $100 million fund. "It tells us we have shared humanity."

Al-Khalifa told the Sun Herald he plans to visit South Mississippi soon, probably in November, and wants to visit Gov. Haley Barbour to thank him for his help in deciding how to allocate the money.

The ambassador toured New Orleans in May and said he was shocked by what he saw. "I looked at houses, moved hundreds of yards away and no sound of a human being anywhere," he said.

Lizana, selected for the trip - his first to the nation's capital - enjoyed his moment in the spotlight but is cheered at the prospect of having his club back. "I couldn't believe that my club that I went to every day was gone," he said.

Pass Christian Mayor Chipper McDermott and Sue Reed, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of the Gulf Coast, also attended. "It's our dream come true," said Reed of the $5 million gift.

The dozens of grant winners, including officials from Memorial Hospital at Gulfport and the Coastal Family Health Center, were flown to Washington for the event and for lunch at the embassy.

"It's the largest gift we've ever received," said Gary Marchand, Memorial president and chief executive officer, of the $10.8 million grant. "We think it will help 20,000 Mississippians get their health back." The money will go to pay the costs of the poor and uninsured who were affected by Katrina.

Coastal Family Health Center, which operates 14 centers along the Coast, said the $3.35 million gift will also go to pay for uninsured costs. "To be perfectly honest, it will keep all those clinics open," said executive director Joe Dawsey. "We were looking at closing some of the clinics down." The award from the Qatar fund will also pay to staff a mobile health care van at Pass Christian.

ANUSHKA ASTHANA

Sue Reed, the executive director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Gulf Coast, was sitting in her temporary office in Biloxi, Miss., in April when the phone rang. She could not believe what she heard.

"My name is Jocelyn White, and I represent the ambassador and the country of Qatar," the caller said, adding that Reed's organization -- hit hard by Hurricane Katrina -- could be in line for millions of dollars of aid from the small, but oil-rich, Middle Eastern country.

"In my mind I thought, 'Who is this playing a joke?' " Reed recalled. "Calls usually were -- 'We're doing a bake sale and want to send the money.' "

But this was not a joke. Qatar's ambassador to the United States had heard that the Boys and Girls Clubs lost five buildings when the hurricane devastated the Gulf Coast. In Pass Christian, Miss., one center that ran programs to help the city's 16- to 18-year-olds enter adulthood had been torn apart after 21 feet of water flooded it. All that was left was the roof.

The world saw what was happening and responded. The U.S. government was overwhelmed by offers of support from abroad that included $126 million in cash to assist federal programs. Hundreds of millions more came for private charities and organizations. A year later, much is left to be done and the aid is still coming.

Today Reed's will be one of a number of organizations to receive a large donation from Qatar. The country's U.S. ambassador, Nasser bin Hamad M. Al Khalifa, will announce $40 million in grants for educational, health and housing projects hurt by Katrina -- that is on top of the $60 million the country distributed in May. Among the grants, $5 million is directed to rebuild the Pass Christian club.

Sitting in his office at the Qatar Embassy in Washington recently, Khalifa explained why his country is so keen to help. This time last year, he and his family watched in shock as the news about Katrina unfolded. "I was hooked to the television like everyone else," he said. "We soon realized that the damage was worse than what people thought at the beginning."

His initial reaction was that "these are human beings like us -- brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sons or daughters," he said. In Qatar, people watched news channels such as al-Jazeera and called in asking what they could do to help.

The emir of Qatar agreed to put forward $100 million to be distributed by the ambassador. "We thought, these people whose homes have been destroyed, tomorrow they will need a lot of help," Khalifa said.

The ambassador advised against a direct contribution to the federal government in case it could not track where the money went. Instead, his team would support the government by finding the victims most in need themselves. An advisory board that included former secretary of state James A. Baker III was set up to help choose the recipients.

While Qatar is one of the largest donors in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, 130 countries offered help, including cash contributions to the government, charities, hospitals and schools; and equipment and expert teams to help in the immediate aftermath.

According to a report by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the largest contributors included Kuwait, which gave hundreds of millions of dollars in oil and cash; Saudi Arabia, which donated cash to charities; and the United Arab Emirates, which gave money to the government.

Anne C. Richard, a vice president at the IRC and the author of the report "Role Reversal: Offers of Help From Other Countries in Response to Hurricane Katrina" said the federal government initially fumbled, resisted and mishandled some offers of international help. For example, 500,000 meals-ready-to-eat sent by the British government were never used because the U.S. Department for Agriculture blocked them out of concern about mad cow disease.

The report, primarily based on interviews with key U.S. government officials and international experts and diplomats, said the Bush administration, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, maintained that international help was not needed. When the State Department reversed its decision, it took more than a week to set up a system to vet offers and donations.

While the federal government has been widely criticized for its response to Katrina, Khalifa is a defender, saying the disaster reached "biblical magnitude."

"People think governments have a magic touch; they can say, 'We will do things' and it will happen," he said.

"Personally, I didn't think the damage was as much as it was until I myself went to New Orleans. There were no human beings, while a few months before there had been more than 200,000 people. It is like I wake up one morning and my people are not in their homes."

He described a scene where some houses had been thrown hundreds of yards and others were full of sand. "I put myself in the position of people who were there; it must have been so frightening," Khalifa said.

Such scenes compelled the international community to help, as described by the IRC report. The Netherlands and Germany sent water pumps and expert teams to help empty the floodwaters from New Orleans, the Canadian military and coast guard came to work with their U.S. counterparts, and Japan and China sent generators.

The French sought to protect the Gulf Coast's culture with a program to bring jazz, Creole and Cajun musicians to France for concert tours, while the Hungarian ambassador's rock band, the Coalition of the Willing, held a fundraising concert at the House of Blues in Cleveland.

"I think most Americans have little understanding about the extent to which other countries were moved and concerned," Richard said.

Tulane University's Community Health Center at Covenant House, founded last year when Tulane physician Anjali Niyogi set up a card table in the street to serve Hurricane Katrina's first responders, received a $5 million grant today from the State of Qatar.

According to Karen DeSalvo, executive director of the Community Health Center, the Qatar grant will be used to triple capacity at the center by adding six examination rooms and purchasing a mobile medical unit to serve neighborhoods most damaged by Katrina. Money from the grant will also fund salaries for physicians, nurses and other support staff and to purchase equipment and supplies.

The Tulane grant was announced, along with gifts to other institutions and agencies, at a 10 a.m. press conference today at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. Todayýs grants are the final disbursement of a $100 million pledge Qatar made to victims of Hurricane Katrina last September.

In that first round of gifts Tulane received a $10 million grant from the People of Qatar via the Qatar Katrina Fund, which the university is using to provide scholarships for students who suffered losses from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Qatar Katrina Fund was originally announced in September 2005 by His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar. The first group of gift recipients was announced in May 2006 by His Excellency Nassir Al-Khalifa, Qatar's Ambassador to the United States.

"We are indebted to the State of Qatar and its people for their continued support of our university and community," Tulane University President Scott Cowen said. "Through gifts like this Tulane and New Orleans will emerge from Katrina stronger, safer and healthier."

The Tulane Community Health Center at Covenant House, located at 611 N. Rampart Street in downtown New Orleans, has served more than 7,800 patients since the storm. Services include adult primary care, mental health counseling, geriatric care and health education. Spanish translation services are also available. The center's services are currently free but will soon be provided on a "pay-what-you-can" basis.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Qatar's U.S ambassador announced $40 million (euro31 million) in grants for education, health and housing projects affected by Hurricane Katrina on top of $60 million (euro47 million) the country distributed in May.

The envoy, Nasser Bin Hamad al-Kahalifa, who met in Washington Friday with recipients of the grants, said the true legacy of his country's gifts " will last generations. Our intention was to meet emergency needs, yes, but also to express friendship and compassion."

Among those attending the ceremony were two children from the Pass Christian, Mississippi Boys and Girls Club, whose clubhouse was destroyed by the hurricane.

The children presented the al--Khalifa with a banner signed by the children of the club, thanking Qatar for a $5 million (euro3.9 million) gift to rebuild the facility.

Al-Khalifa explained to The Washington Post why his country was so eager to help

As he and his family watched in shock as the news about Katrina unfolded, "I was hooked to the television like everyone else. "We soon realized that the damage was worse than what people thought at the beginning."

The emir of Qatar agreed to put foward $100 million (euro78.6 million) to be distributed by the ambassador. "We thought , these people whose homes have been destroyed, tomorrow, they will need a lot of help," al-Khalifa said.

Contributions from other Arab countries to Katrina relief included $500 million (euro393 million) from Kuwait,$100 million (euro78.6 million) from Saudi Arabia and $100 million (euro78.6 million) from the United Arab Emirates.

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans a year ago, universities across the country quickly responded to the plight of the higher-education institutions in the Crescent City, whose campuses were inundated with floodwater.

Students enrolled at Xavier, Dillard, Loyola, Tulane, Southern University at New Orleans and other New Orleans campuses were welcomed at schools in many other states, including Southern Methodist University and Baylor University. Some of the guest campuses even waived tuition for the semester.

Since then, the New Orleans schools have struggled to rebuild. And well below the radar, where so much unsung good will occurs, individuals and institutions have continued to help these schools with their recoveries.

The response has been hearteningly widespread. Some examples:

• The University of Texas and University of Idaho supplied Tulane's microbiology department with a new set of bacteria because the school's old supply was destroyed by the hurricane.
• The student Key Club at Belen Jesuit Prep School in Miami raised $10,000 for Loyola.
• The University of Dortmund in Germany raised money to pay tuition for five Loyola students as part of an exchange program.
• Southern University, whose library was destroyed by flooding, received donated books from Tufts University, Swarthmore College, Lehigh University and the University of Missouri through a program coordinated by the American Library Association.
• Foreign governments contributed a combined $30 million, which was distributed by the U.S. Department of Education to the New Orleans universities to pay for new equipment and instruction.
• Jon D. Hlafter, Princeton University's architect, said he met with a Dillard University task force last spring to help develop a five-year plan to restore the campus. Princeton and Brown University have reached out to Dillard specifically because Brown's president, Ruth Simmons, is a former vice provost at Princeton and a Dillard alumna.
• Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., let its fellow Jesuit school, Loyola, use Georgetown's phone-a-thon room and callers last fall and covered the cost so Loyola could conduct its Katrina Relief Fund, which raised $3.3 million.
• Tulane received donations from a wide range of groups, including $750 from the Princeton Alumni Class of 1958, $24,000 from Nogoya University in Japan, and $40,000 from the University of Southern California.
• Students at Loyola University in Baltimore raised $10,000 through a concert and sent it to Xavier.
• Qatar pledged $12.5 million to expand Xavier's college of pharmacy and $5 million for students displaced by the hurricane.
• Xavier received grants of $1 million each from the Mellon and Bush foundations to retain faculty and staff.

Many of the Katrina relief projects were spearheaded by small groups of students or individual faculty members. But what of the institutions themselves? It appears some seemingly obvious opportunities for good will went unfulfilled.

For instance, SMU has a strong and obvious Methodist history and affiliation. Dillard, a historically black university that has struggled to cover about $500 million in storm repairs, has a Methodist history itself. In 1869, the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church - a precursor of the United Methodist Church - established Union Normal School, which eventually became New Orleans University. In 1930, it merged with Straight College (founded by the American Missionary Association of the Congregational Church) to form Dillard.

While Dillard's endowment is a relatively meager $45 million, SMU's is $1 billion. Why didn't SMU, as an institution, make a significant financial contribution to Dillard after Katrina, given their shared Methodist roots?

Another example: Drexel University in Philadelphia was founded by Anthony J. Drexel in 1891, the same year his niece, Mother Katherine Drexel, founded an order of Catholic nuns dedicated to serving African-Americans and American Indians. She created schools for both groups, including Xavier University in New Orleans.

Drexel University officials jumped on the school's historic connection with the Drexel family when Mother Drexel was canonized a saint in 2000. In fact, during an interfaith celebration in Philadelphia just before Mother Drexel's canonization, Drexel president Constantine Papadakis called on the audience to emulate her dedication to the poor and the neglected.

"Can we look for ways to continue her mission in our own lives?" Dr. Papadakis said at the time.

But when Mother Drexel's Xavier was in need after Katrina, where was Drexel University? Drexel has a $500 million endowment; Xavier about $37 million, and has had to raid the endowment and arrange for other bridge loans to pay for an estimated $50 million in Katrina-related repairs.

Universities often talk to their students about the importance of community, of giving back, of being good citizens. In the response to Katrina, it seems the students and faculty, as individuals, heard that message loud and clear and reached out to the beleaguered schools in New Orleans.

But some universities, as institutions, should take a moment to reflect on why they didn't respond in a financially dramatic way to their peer institutions in the Crescent City.

Another case of do as I say, not as I do.

The government of Qatar has awarded Unity of Greater New Orleans $2 million to repair housing for 816 low-income Hurricane Katrina victims who are now homeless.

Unity of Greater New Orleans is a collaborative of 60 homeless housing and service organizations in the New Orleans area.

"New Orleans faces a new crisis of homelessness yet Unity looks to the future with hope and resolve, bolstered by the remarkable generosity of the state of Qatar," said Unity executive director Martha Kegel.

Unity's top priority has been to restore the capacity of 60 of its agencies that provide emergency, transitional, and permanent housing and services for the homeless in the New Orleans area. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the Unity collaborative housed 2,781 people. Thirty buildings in the Unity network were damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

The gift from Qatar will enable Unity to make strides toward restoring the housing capacity of the collaborative by funding repairs for 11 housing programs.

When Hurricane Katrina made landfall, Qatar donated $100 million to a variety of community organizations to help Katrina victims. Recipients included Memorial Hospital, the Boys and Girls Clubs Community Center, Covenant House and the Tulane University Community Health Center.

The formal announcement will be made at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., at 10 a.m. Sept. 8.

The small oil-rich country of Qatar is again coming to the aid of New Orleans, this time with $2 million to help repair the facilities of 11 New Orleans agencies that provide services to the homeless, including children and the disabled.

The gift to a consortium called UNITY of Greater New Orleans bolsters Qatar's already generous donations to New Orleans' institutions. In May, the Persian Gulf country sent $61.1 million to help in the recovery from Hurricane Katrina, with $22 million awarded to Habitat for Humanity, $12.5 million to Xavier University, $10 million to Tulane University, and the rest to Louisiana State University, Children's Hospital and the March of Dimes.

Institutions applied for the aid through a painstaking review by Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa, Qatar's ambassador to the United States, and his staff. He has said he wanted to be sure the money would go to the people who needed it most.

Martha Kegel, UNITY's executive director, said she expects to receive the grant next month and to divvy it up among agencies that will use it to repair damaged buildings that provided housing to homeless people before the storm.

Kegel said the money is desperately needed. The challenge is enormous in the face of reduced staffing at the agencies and an increase in the population of homeless people in New Orleans, she said.

"It's grown tremendously," Kegel said. "The need was great before the storm because the city had such a high poverty rate. But since the storm, you have so many people who were never at risk of homelessness who are now homeless: people who are living in cars; people who are living on the street; people who are living in abandoned houses; people who are living in ungutted houses; people who are living in conditions that no human being should have to live in.

"When you see babies having to live in those conditions, it makes your heart break," she said.

Kegel called Qatar's gift an "extraordinary boost" to the funding local agencies receive from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"Clearly the magnitude of this housing disaster is so great that we . . . are so grateful that people around the world want to help," she said.

The agencies that will receive funds through Qatar's most recent gift are:

• Catholic Charities shelters for battered women and people with disabilities.
• The Volunteers of America single-room occupancy facility on Tulane Avenue for people with disabilities.
• The National Council of Negro Women's Liberty House in Central City for young mothers.
• The McCaleb Foundation's shelter for people with disabilities.
• Christian Community Concern's transitional housing facility.
• The New Orleans Mission's emergency shelter.
• The Hope House transitional housing facility for families.
• Belle Reve's shelter for people with HIV/AIDS.
• The Responsibility House shelter for people recovering from addiction.
• The Salvation Army's emergency shelter and transitional living facility on Claiborne Avenue.

After decades of sending assistance all over the globe, the United States -- specifically, the part of the country devastated by Hurricane Katrina -- has become a recipient of foreign aid.

So far 151 countries and their citizens have sent money and materials, including roof tarps, clothes, beds, cleaning and medical supplies, and towels, said Henrietta Fore, undersecretary of state for management, who accompanied U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to New Orleans on Thursday.

Of those countries, 28 sent cash contributions totaling about $126 million that were earmarked for Spellings' agency to help schools in the hurricane-stricken area recover, Fore said.

Higher-education institutions in Louisiana and Mississippi will get $30 million for reconstruction, Spellings said, and $30 million will go to elementary and secondary schools for the same purpose.

"The United States isn't used to receiving," Fore said. "We're used to providing aid around the world, but we are enormously appreciative that other countries stepped forward to help out. They saw the need."

Among the private donors was a European woman who had been liberated from a concentration camp by U.S. soldiers 61 years ago. She sent her life's savings, Fore said, because "she wanted to repay Americans."

A French family contributed $600,000, she said, and foreign citizens who work for the State Department overseas sent 52 flights of merchandise with a total weight of 55 million pounds.

"There was an outpouring of sympathy and care for America and what we have done around the world," Fore said. "We are grateful."

The countries sending money for education were mighty and tiny, ranging from China and Japan to Cyprus and Djibouti, according to a State Department list.

Fore's announcement, which came during Spelling's meeting with local college leaders at the University of New Orleans, was the second time that high-profile overseas aid has come to this part of the country since Katrina struck.

In May, Qatar sent $61.1 million to help in the recovery from Katrina, including $12.5 million for Xavier University, $10 million for Tulane University and $3.3 million for Louisiana State University.

Nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina submerged Xavier University under eight feet of water, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama said Saturday he couldn't follow the lead of most commencement speakers and talk to graduates about what to expect when they enter "the real world."

Obama recalled his visit to New Orleans last month to see battered homes and empty streets and pictures of the Xavier campus after the storm with its submerged classrooms and dorm rooms where books remained open as left by students.

He said he could give advice about overcoming challenges or obstacles or about courage and perseverance, but the graduates could teach him and others about those things.

"Yours has been quite an education, an education in humanity brought by a force of nature," Obama told the nearly 500 graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School seated at the New Orleans Arena.

Dr. Norman C. Francis, Xavier's president, said he never doubted the university would hold graduation ceremonies this year.

"I had no doubts," he said. "I said shortly after the storm that people would either call me stupid and crazy or an aggressive visionary. I guess it's the latter. I have faith."

The university reopened in January. More than 120 students graduated from the College of Pharmacy in May and the nation's only historically black and Roman Catholic college will begin the fall semester on Sept. 8 with about 2,800 students.

"Thanks for allowing me to share in your miracle," Obama said. "I'm humbled to be here."

Obama said the graduates would throughout their lives be forced to choose a path one of detachment and indifference or one of involvement.

"The easiest thing is to do nothing at all. Turn off the TV, put down the newspaper and go about your busy lives. Remain detached and indifferent," he said. "But, if you choose to remember what happens when responsibilities are ignored and the buck is passed. ... That asks more of you. Not only to pursue your own individual dreams but also to perfect our collective dream as a nation."

And, although there was much bad left in Katrina's wake, Obama reminded the graduates about the good that came after the storm.

"Every corner of this country, dropped what it was doing to come to New Orleans," he said.

He noted the generosity of countries like Qatar and Sri Lanka, both of which donated funds to help the school's recovery.

"While many in Washington and all levels of government failed, there were many who displayed an extraordinary generosity of spirit," he said.

Obama encouraged the graduates to make the U.S. a nation that isn't unprepared to meet the challenges of time.

XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA has received a $17.5 MILLION donation from the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar. The country has pledged a total of $100 million in Hurricane Katrina relief to be split among six organizations. Xavier will use its portion to fund scholarships and expand the College of Pharmacy.

BEHIND the NEWS

WHEN WINSTON BROWN, DIRECTOR of Admissions at Xavier University (La.), makes cellular calls these days, the line often cuts out unexpectedly--that's just life in New Orleans. But Brown pushes on, and so do admissions at colleges in the Crescent City.

Applicant pools have shrunk in NOLA (except for Tulane's, which grew by 11 percent); administrators are hoping yield figures for the fall will be higher than usual since applicants have a clear idea of what they're getting into. Xavier will enroll a freshmen class about half the size of last year's group of 1,104.

Yet Xavier, Tulane, and Louisiana State University all received a boost this spring when the Middle Eastern country of Qatar (pronounced "cutter") announced several donations: $5 million to Xavier for scholarships and $12.5 million to expand the university's pharmacy school; $3.3 million to LSU for its Hurricane Student Relief fund; and $10million to Tulane for scholarships. The donations show students who were affected by Katrina that they can afford to go to college, says Brown. "We are going to get the funds in their hands."--C.M.F.

Nasser Bin Hamad M. Al-Khalifa, Qatar's ambassador to the United States, will donate $1 million on behalf of his country to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation in a ceremony today at the presidential library.

Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, emir of Qatar, stopped to visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum last May, when he was on his way to Chicago.

Officials took the emir and his delegation on a museum tour and held a dinner for him that evening in the museum's central plaza.

But apart from expressing his thanks for the hospitality, the emir said little publicly about the museum.

Still, something must have appealed to him in Springfield. On the Qatar Embassy's Web site about the visit, more than a third of the 35 photos documenting the trip were taken inside the new museum.

The emir is known for his donations to cultural and charitable organizations. He recently visited areas damaged by Hurricane Katrina and has pledged about $60 million to help recovery efforts.

Qatar, a tiny country just west of Saudi Arabia and surrounded by the Persian Gulf, is about the size of Connecticut with a population of 885,359. It also has the third-largest natural gas reserves on the planet.

WASHINGTON, May 12 -- The U.S. Department of State issued the following press release:

On September 14, 2005, the Amir of the State of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, graciously announced a gift of $100 million for those stricken by Hurricane Katrina. On Saturday, May 13, 2006, at a ceremony in New Orleans, representatives of the State of Qatar will announce the disbursement of $60 million of this sum to institutions and non-governmental organizations providing healthcare and educational services to those affected by this natural disaster. This event is open to the public. Journalists wishing to attend this event should contact Mr. Ali Al Thani, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Qatar Embassy in Washington, at tel. (202) 274-3124.

The United States would like to extend its deepest appreciation to the government and people of the State of Qatar for their generous contributions in support of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The U.S. and Qatar have enjoyed an enduring friendship, working together as partners to bring peace and stability to the Near East region, and Qatar's generosity in the Hurricane Katrina Relief efforts will be felt for many years to come.

The first phase of $100-million donation from Qatar to Hurricane Katrina victims will be detailed today at Children's Hospital of New Orleans.H.E. Nasser Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, Qatar's U.S. ambassador, is meeting with six representatives from the Children's Hospital of New Orleans, March of Dimes, Xavier University, Habitat for Humanity, Tulane University and Louisiana State University. The Qatar Katrina Fund, announced in September, is a direct aid effort by a key U.S. ally in the Arabian Gulf to assist Katrina victims by supporting projects in need of funding. Qatar is working to advance education, health care, and housing for communities affected by Hurricane Katrina. The Qatar Katrina Fund is working with established local partners who will be responsible for execution of the projects supported by Qatar's gifts. Approximately $60 million has been allocated to date.

The projects and recipients include: * Habitat For Humanity New Homes, $22 million for Operation Home Delivery to build 293 homes, includes: $11.5 million for 153 Louisiana homes; $8 million for 107 Mississippi homes; and $2.5 million for 33 Alabama homes. * Xavier University College of Pharmacy, $12.5 million to increase the number of students and to enhance the staffing of eight clinics operated by the College of Pharmacy in low-income neighborhoods affected by Katrina. New clinics will be built, too. Xavier University Qatar Scholarship Fund, $5 million for full scholarships to Katrina victims over the next four years.* Tulane University Qatar Tulane Scholarship Fund, $10 million to provide full tuition and fee scholarships during the next four years to Katrina victims. * Children's Hospital Qatar Cares Fund, $5 million to pay for medical care not covered by insurance or other funding for children who are victims of Katrina; and Children's Hospital Kids First Clinic: $351,651 for repair, renovation, expansion and equipment for two Kids First Clinics. * Louisiana State University Student Financial Aid, $3.3 million for the LSU Hurricane Student Relief Fund to provide more than 1,249 students with a financial award for university tuition and fees. * March of Dimes Health Care Vans, $3 million to equip, staff and operate three vans to provide medical services to pregnant women and mothers and children.

PAULA WASLEY

Last week the oil-rich emirate of Qatar announced the allocation of $60-million to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. More than half of the money will go to three universities in Louisiana.

Xavier University of Louisiana, the country's only historically black Roman Catholic university, will receive $12.5-million to expand its College of Pharmacy in order to increase enrollment, and to hire staff members for clinics in low-income neighborhoods of New Orleans. An additional $5-million will go to a Qatar Scholarship Fund, to provide full scholarships to Xavier students affected by the hurricane.

Tulane University was promised $10-million for scholarships for both new and returning students from Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi who were affected by Katrina. Qatar also pledged $3.3- million to Louisiana State University for a fund to provide help with tuition, room, and board for 1,249 students.

The announcement detailed the distribution of a portion of $100- million in hurricane-relief funds pledged in September by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, emir of Qatar. The country's embassy plans to allocate the remaining $40-million in pledged contributions in the next several weeks.

In a written statement, Scott S. Cowen, Tulane's president, called the donation "an extremely generous gift."

The beneficiaries were chosen by Qatar's ambassador to the United States, Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa, with assistance from an advisory committee comprising James A. Baker III, a former U.S. secretary of state; Laura D'Andrea Tyson, dean of the business school at the University of California at Berkeley; John J. DeGioia, president of Georgetown University; and Lee R. Raymond, recently retired chief executive of the Exxon Mobil Corporation.

"Hurricane Katrina was very devastating," said the ambassador, "and the world is becoming a village. In today's world, we are one world. ... People wanted to help."

The three universities were chosen, he said, because each one had a large population of students coming from the areas most affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Qatar chose to donate money directly to the institutions rather than to intermediary organizations, such as the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund or the American Red Cross, so as to ensure transparency and accountability, he said.

Last week the oil-rich emirate of Qatar announced the allocation of $60-million to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. More than half of the money will go to three universities in Louisiana.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Former presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton said Friday they are releasing $9.7 million in grants stemming from a fundraising effort the pair began last fall to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The grants are targeted for projects that include the building of new homes in lower-income neighborhoods; mental health and health care services; the repairing of water, sewer and gas utilities in Waveland, Miss.; shoreline improvement; services for children; and financial counseling.

Part of the money also will be used to pay for the removal of 23 fishing boats deposited by Katrina in the city of Bayou La Batre, Ala. Mayor Stan Wright said he was thankful for the help.

"One good thing about this is there's no bureaucracy, no red tape. It moves very quick and we are very grateful," Wright said.

Bush said the latest round of grants is aimed at helping "the people and problems who had fallen through the cracks and were not getting the help they needed."

On their initial visit to New Orleans in December, the former presidents announced $90 million worth of grants, including $30 million for damaged higher education institutions along the Gulf Coast. Another $40 million was to be divided among the three states hardest hit by Katrina -- Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama -- and $20 million went to faith-based organizations.

Clinton said the fund had raised $130 million so far and was in the process of dispersing almost $100 million.

"We've been deeply touched by the generosity of the American people, who once again proved they know how to be good neighbors," Bush said, speaking at Kingsley House, a campus of red brick and white-columned plantation style buildings that provides community outreach services and shared in the grants.

"As long as they keep giving it, we'll keep handing it out," Clinton said.

So far, 33 colleges or universities have received grants, while the grants process for religious organizations has begun and the funding for the states is nearly complete.

"We are determined, through our fund, to help the good people of the Gulf Region rebuild their lives and livelihoods, by continuing to provide the grants and funding that people need to move forward," Clinton said.

Meanwhile, Qatar's ambassador to the United States also was in New Orleans for a charitable presentation. Nasser Bin Hamad al-Khalifa participated in a ceremony at Children's Hospital, which is getting $5 million from his nation -- part of $60 million in hurricane relief grants announced earlier this month. Habitat for Humanity will get $22 million from the oil-rich Persian Gulf nation, which plans another $40 million in grants to be announced later.

Louisiana cuts funding to higher education; New Orleans-area colleges and universities struggle

The $74.5 million in state cuts to higher education in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina forced New Orleans-area colleges and universities to eliminate faculty, staff and academic programs.The cuts represent a nearly 6 percent dent in the state's pre-Katrina higher education budget of $1.24 billion.National education experts are not surprised by the reduction.Higher education is a fair- weather expense, said Travis Reindl, director of state policy analysis for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. When there's money, higher ed gets plenty of it from the state. When things go south, higher education gets kicked in the shins.Since Katrina, all public and private universities in the New Orleans area have restructured following student enrollment decreases.

In some cases, education officials say the cuts have been minor - like at Xavier University where 324 faculty and staff positions were cut but no academic programs were eliminated.In other instances, especially in public colleges - the cuts were more severe.The University of New Orleans was recently granted financial exigency by the Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors. According to state law, financial exigency exists when an institution's financial resources cannot support existing programs and personnel costs. UNO also plans to eliminate 12 academic degree programs, including economics and human performance and self- promotion to save $16.5 million.We're faced with massive financial problems, said UNO Chancellor Tim Ryan. When you lose almost 13 percent of your revenue boost in one fell swoop, you can't just cut around the edges.

Enrollment slippageSouthern University at New Orleans reduced 19 academic granting degrees, including accounting, math, English, physics and chemistry. This doesn't mean students cannot take these courses but incoming freshmen will not have the option of graduating with a degree in the programs.We'll still offer those programs as a concentration. The challenge we have now is to get the student body back to what it was prior to Katrina, said SUNO Chancellor Victor Ukpolo. But it's not easy, education officials say. Colleges depend on student enrollment for revenue and when that funding is decreased, public and private institutions must make up the difference.On a per-student basis, Louisiana has not been as generous as some of its colleague states around the country, but you have to take that and put it into context, said Reindl. Louisiana is a poor state. When you look at Louisiana compared to its peer states, you can make the argument that Louisiana holds its own.Louisiana appropriated $5,000 per full-time student in 2005 for higher education, according to the AASCU, ranking No. 33 in the nation and 17 percent under the national average of $5,825 per student.By comparison, Texas allocates $5,384, Arkansas distributes $4,691 and Mississippi allots $4,849 per full-time student.Wyoming ranked No. 1 in the nation with $12,354 per student.

Gaining groundState higher education officials are optimistic higher education is moving up in the Legislature's pecking order.While we could obviously use more money, the fact is Louisiana has prioritized higher education and continues to do so, said Commissioner of Higher Education Joseph Savoie. These storms have sharply focused colleges and universities on their priorities.Since August, every university chancellor and college president in the greater New Orleans area has had to refocus university goals and implement layoffs and academic cuts.In December, Tulane University President Scott Cowen defended cutting the college of engineering and other programs to reorganize the university.In April, the Rev. Kevin Wildes, president of Loyola University New Orleans, revealed a restructuring plan to realign five colleges, drop several degree programs and eliminate 17 faculty positions.Other colleges, like SUNO, eliminated academic programs and also added courses like public administration to increase the economic demand in response to Katrina.

Bright spotsThere have been a few silver linings for higher education.The U.S. Department of Education allocated $95 million to colleges and universities affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. New Orleans-area institutions received about 93 percent of the funding, and chancellors and presidents should begin to see that money in the next couple of weeks.Last Tuesday, the nation of Qatar donated $60 million to Louisiana education, including $10 million to Tulane and $17.5 million to Xavier. Reindl said recovery can't be accomplished without students, teachers and administrators in key leadership roles. In the public sector, New Orleans is blessed with some very good leadership, said Reindl. That leadership has to stay very focused on what must be done in the short term but not take their eyes off the ball of the long-term objective.

The $74.5 million in state cuts to higher education in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina forced New Orleans-area colleges and universities to eliminate faculty, staff and academic programs.The cuts represent a nearly 6 percent dent in the state's pre-Katrina higher education budget of $1.24 billion.National education experts are not surprised by the reduction.Higher education is a fair- weather expense, said Travis Reindl, director of state policy analysis for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. When there's money, higher ed gets plenty of it from the state. When things go south, higher education gets kicked in the shins.Since Katrina, all public and private universities in the New Orleans area have restructured following student enrollment decreases. In some cases, education officials say the cuts have been minor - like at Xavier University where 324 faculty and staff positions were cut but no academic programs were eliminated.In other instances, especially in public colleges - the cuts were more severe.The University of New Orleans was recently granted financial exigency by the Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors. According to state law, financial exigency exists when an institution's financial resources cannot support existing programs and personnel costs. UNO also plans to eliminate 12 academic degree programs, including economics and human performance and self- promotion to save $16.5 million.We're faced with massive financial problems, said UNO Chancellor Tim Ryan.

The government of Qatar donated nearly $60 million to two universities and three nonprofits in New Orleans, and government officials say more money is coming.

Tulane University received $10 million from the Qatar Foundation, a nonprofit founded by the Emir of Qatar, making it the largest post-Katrina gift to Tulane and the fifth-largest in the university's history.

Xavier University received $17.5 million and the remainder of the money will be distributed between Children's Hospital, Habitat for Humanity and the March of Dimes.

Tulane will use the money to provide scholarships for about 300 students in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi who suffered losses from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, said university President Scott Cowen.

Nasir bin Hamad M. al-Khalifa, Qatar's ambassador to the United States, said the country pledged $100 million for hurricane relief. The remainder of that money — roughly $40 million — will be disbursed in the coming months.

Tulane officials say Qatar is a strong supporter of higher education and is home to branch campuses of Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon, Texas A&M and Virginia Commonwealth universities.

This week, New Orleans plays host to the ambassador from the small Persian Gulf nation of Qatar. After hurricane Katrina, Qatar offered the city $100 million--one of the largest foreign grants for hurricane relief. Qatar is now starting to dole out the cash, and the ambassador will be scouting around to see how else his nation can help. NPR's Michelle Kelleman reports.

MICHELLE KELLEMAN reporting:

Nasser Al-Khalifa took up the job as Qatar's ambassador to the United States shortly after hurricane Katrina struck. Qatar joined more than 100 nations around the world to make pledges of relief. But rather than just giving aid through organizations on the ground, the US educated Ambassador Al-Khalifa decided to get a high profile advisory board together to choose projects he felt were being overlooked.

Ambassador NASSER BIN HAMAD AL-KHALIFA (Qatar's Ambassador to the Untied States): My mood was every penny will go to this project. I want the money to help those who most need it. And people came with a lot of ideas, but I had to choose. I said, 'These areas, I am going to do.'

KELLEMAN: He chose education, health, and housing. Qatar has announced the first $60 million in grants; more than $17 million of that will go to the historically black Catholic school, Xavier University. University President Norman Francis plans to have $5 million for scholarships and the rest to build what will likely be called the Qatar Wing of the pharmaceutical school.

Mr. NORMAN FRANCIS (Xavier University, President): We have just come through an unprecedented catastrophe. And this particular grant--for which we are eternally grateful—from the government of Qatar, comes at a very opportune time for us.

KELLEMAN: He says it will help the school train much needed professionals to work in low-income areas of Louisiana. Francis expects that the Qatar ambassador will be met with lots of questions and praise for his country's benevolence when he goes to the region.

Mr. FRANCIS: The stock for these countries rises for all of us because it showed such a human response to a tragedy.

KELLEMAN: Ambassador Al-Khalifa said this wasn't about improving Qatar's image in the US, but talking about the aide package is clearly a good break for the ambassador, whose country has often been lectured by the Bush administration every time something controversial airs on Al-Jazeera, the Arab language satellite television based in Qatar.

Ambassador AL-KHALIFA: You know, we really didn't do it for public diplomacy. We did it because we thought that's the right things to do (sic). And we saw what happened. It was on our national TV and people were a little bit shocked.

KELLEMAN: Asked whether his Persian Gulf country can provide some other relief for Americans this summer, in the form of cheaper gas, Qatar's ambassador just chuckled.

Ambassador AL-KHALIFA: You should ask your American companies who are invested in the oil and gas business in my country.

KELLEMAN: Michelle Kelleman, NPR NEWS, Washington.

As one of the world's great energy producers, the state of Louisiana has long had ties with other states and regions in the oil and gas business. Those ties, though, have only been strengthened by the generosity of many states and nations in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The nation of Qatar, in the Persian Gulf, is among those helping us in our hour of need. As part of a $60 million gift to help with hurricane relief and recovery, most of it going for housing relief, Qatar also will make large donations to student aid at LSU, Xavier and Tulane universities. The LSU gift alone is $3.3 million to the Hurricane Student Relief Fund. To date, financial awards from the LSU Hurricane Student Relief Fund have been given to 2,440 students, totaling $1.3 million. With the new donation, LSU officials estimate that more than 1,200 students will be served during the coming academic year. It is a gift that we hope will keep on giving, as a new generation of students can continue its education and contribute to our state's long-term recovery. We commend the people of Qatar, another nation concerned enough to help.

A generous $61 million gift from Qatar will provide homes, health care and education for Katrina victims and give the city's recovery efforts a significant boost.

Qatar acted "out of friendship and out of sympathy and feeling for the people who have suffered," said Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa, Qatar's ambassador to the United States. The Persian Gulf country zeroed in on education, health and housing.

The largest amount, $22 million, will go to Habitat for Humanity to build more than 290 homes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Xavier, Tulane and Louisiana State universities are receiving multimillion-dollar grants for scholarships that will help students from storm-affected areas. Xavier also will receive $12.5 million to pay for an addition to its College of Pharmacy.

Children's Hospital is getting a $5 million grant that will pay for uninsured medical costs for needy children and money to repair two clinics. A gift to the March of Dimes will enable it to buy three medical vans to treat women and children on the Gulf Coast.

Mr. al-Khalifa said that Qatar is giving the money directly in order to make sure that it goes to those who need it, and that's a laudable goal. "This is a tremendous gift, a major commitment to Louisiana and New Orleans in particular," said Xavier President Norman Francis.

Qatar's generosity is heartwarming and practical, and it will make a real difference in our recovery.

Three local universities, Children's Hospital, the March of Dimes and Habitat for Humanity will receive grants totaling $61.1 million from Qatar, a Persian Gulf country slightly smaller than Connecticut, to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The gifts, announced Tuesday, will help Xavier University expand its College of Pharmacy and let other recipients provide homes, scholarships and medical care for people in the region Katrina struck. "We have done this out of friendship and out of sympathy and feeling for the people who have suffered," said Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa, Qatar's ambassador to the United States, in a telephone interview from Washington.

Besides underwriting scholarships at Xavier, Tulane and Louisiana State universities, the money will pay for 293 homes that Habitat for Humanity will build, repair two of Children's Hospital's clinics and let the March of Dimes buy three vans, which will be deployed to the Gulf Coast region to provide medical care for pregnant women and their children.

These programs deal with education, health and housing, the areas for which al-Khalifa and his colleagues wanted to provide help. The biggest local grant -- $12.5 million -- was awarded to Xavier, which will use it to pay for a 60,000-square-foot addition to the College of Pharmacy so it can admit more students to meet the demand for its graduates.

"This is a tremendous gift, a major commitment to Louisiana and New Orleans in particular," Xavier President Norman Francis said. "It is, like Katrina, unprecedented."

Lengthy process

Like Francis, the other beneficiaries welcomed the grants warmly, but they weren't surprised. The announcement marked the end of a six-month process in which institutions applied for the aid and went through painstaking reviews by al-Khalifa and his staff, because, he said, he wanted to be sure the money would go to the people who needed it most.

The program "will be transparent, and there will be accountability," said al-Khalifa, who has hired a team from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the financial consulting firm, to assist in distributing the money and work with recipients as their projects advance.

"It was a very rigorous process," Tulane President Scott Cowen said. "We had to submit proposals to a blue-ribbon panel of advisers, who evaluated our proposals to make sure they were clear and, most of all, would help people in the areas most affected by the storm."

Tulane is to get $10 million for full scholarships during the next four years for about 300 students hard-hit by the storm. "I'm absolutely delighted by the incredible generosity of Qatar," Cowen said, "and I'm pleased about why the gift was given."

LSU is to receive $3.3 million, which is expected to provide more than 1,200 full scholarships for students from areas where the storm hit. "This is a magnificent humanitarian gesture for which LSU is very, very grateful," LSU System President William Jenkins said. "This will go a long way toward helping to relieve the suffering our students and faculty endured and are still enduring as a result of Katrina."

Xavier will be given $5 million for scholarships.

Medical grants A $5 million grant to Children's Hospital will set up the Qatar Cares Fund to pay for all medical treatment not covered by insurance or other funds for needy children whose families were devastated by Katrina. Another grant, for $351,651, will let the hospital repair two of its Kids First primary-care clinics -- one near Touro Infirmary and another at Canal Street and North Claiborne Avenue -- that it operates with LSU Health Sciences Center.

Grateful for the grant, hospital spokeswoman Cathleen Randon said the hospital was lucky to learn of the program, which colleagues heard about from a patient's relative who works in Washington and knows people who work at the Qatar embassy.

When Children's was told it had received the money, "we thanked her profusely," Randon said. Another medical grant, for $3 million, will let the March of Dimes buy and staff three medical vans, each of which can cost as much as $600,000, to send to hurricane-affected areas. The vans, which should hit the road in six months, will let March of Dimes personnel schedule as many as 20,000 medical visits for women and children during the first three years they are in operation, said Doug Staples, a spokesman for the organization.

The biggest grant overall -- $22 million -- went to Habitat for Humanity, which will use it to build 153 homes in Louisiana, 107 in Mississippi and 33 in Alabama, said Mark Crozet, its senior vice president in resource development.

"We're pretty excited about that," he said in a telephone interview from Americus, Ga. "I was down there a couple of weeks ago, and it just makes your heart cry to see the devastation," he said. "It's very hard to look at that and know that we don't have all the money we need to make the difference, but people come through like this, and it's one step toward making the community whole again." City editor David Meeks contributed to this report.

AMERICUS, Georgia, May 3 /PRNewswire/ --

Habitat for Humanity International has been named a recipient of a $22US million grant -- part of a $100US million gift from the People of Qatar -- to help in the long-term recovery of the Gulf Coast region. The grant to Habitat's Operation Home Delivery hurricane response program will help to build simple, decent homes in partnership with low-income families affected by Hurricane Katrina. The gift was announced today by His Excellency Nasir Bin Hamad M. al-Khalifa, ambassador of Qatar to the United States.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050501/NYSU020LOGO)

Habitat for Humanity will use the funds to build 153 homes in Louisiana, 107 homes in Mississippi and 33 in Alabama. The gift from Qatar brings Habitat's fund-raising efforts up to nearly $123US million for its Operation Home Delivery program.

"This generous donation, the single largest gift in support of Habitat for Humanity's hurricane recovery efforts, will help us serve more families more quickly," said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. "We are committed to building at least 1,000 houses with hurricane-affected families by summer 2007 and then continuing to build as long as resources permit. Gifts such as this allow us to accelerate our acquisition of land and materials necessary to build both houses and hope with families who desperately need both.

"We are particularly pleased to be one recipient of a gift that is being shared with other worthy organizations," said Reckford. "While Habitat for Humanity focuses on housing, we recognize that needs are broad and the helpers many. We are delighted that the people and government of Qatar recognize the need for a holistic response to the great array of needs in this devastated area. We are deeply grateful for their generosity and we know that the families who receive homes as a result of this gift will be positively impacted for generations," said Reckford. "The people of Qatar are truly offering a gift of lasting change."

Today's $60US million grant announcements also named educational institutions, Tulane, Xavier and Louisiana State universities; Children's hospital in New Orleans; and the March of Dimes as partial recipients of the $100US million grant. An additional $40US million in grants will be awarded at a later date.

"We are immensely gratified that people outside the United States are helping with Katrina recovery, just as Americans reached out to assist those devastated by the December 2004 tsunami that raked coastlines of countries bordering the Indian Ocean," said Mark Crozet, senior vice president of Development for Habitat for Humanity International. "There is but one sun that shines over all humanity, and natural disasters observe no geographic borders. In times of grave tragedy, it is wonderful to see people of all countries unite in reaching out to those in need."

Habitat for Humanity's Operation Home Delivery program, developed in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and working through local Habitat affiliates, includes the construction of more than 1,000 new homes by mid-2007 to help affected families in the Gulf Coast region. Through this hurricane response, Habitat also is working to serve as a catalyst that brings together organizations to address low-income housing and recovery on a scale that Habitat alone would not be able to accomplish.

About Habitat for Humanity International

Habitat for Humanity International is an ecumenical Christian ministry that welcomes to its work all people dedicated to the cause of eliminating poverty housing. Since its founding in Americus, Ga., in 1976, Habitat has built more than 200,000 houses in nearly 100 countries, providing simple, decent and affordable shelter for more than one million people. For more information, visit www.habitat.org.

The nation of Qatar announced Tuesday its decision to distribute $60 million in Hurricane Katrina relief funding, allocating $3.3 million to the University.

The Persian Gulf country, whose income is driven by oil production, made a $100 million gift to the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in September 2005 after Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast the month earlier.

"It is our duty to help people who were hurt," said Nasser Bin Hamad al-Khalifa, Qatar's ambassador to the United States, to the Associated Press. "Today's globalization is making this one world, and if any tragedy takes place, we are all aware of it."

LSU System spokesman Charles Zewe said the donation was a "tremendous gesture."

"This will go a long way in relieving the suffering of faculty, students and staff — thousands of people in the LSU System family. We're very grateful to Qatar."

Kristine Calongne, director of public affairs, said the donation will go to the Hurricane Katrina Student Relief Fund. She said more statistical information will be available in a news release that she thinks will be sent out today.

The Katrina Student Relief Fund was created by the LSU Foundation and Student Government to aid students effected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Daily Reveille reported Dec. 8, 2005, that the LSU Foundation raised about $1.3 million for the relief fund before distributing the money in early December. About 2,900 students applied, and about 2,500 received financial awards from $300 to $1,000.

Qatar was to announce Tuesday roughly $60 million in grants to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina, including $17.5 million to Xavier University of Louisiana, the only historically black Catholic university in the United States.

Other beneficiaries are Tulane University, Children's Hospital in New Orleans, Habitat for Humanity, Louisiana State University and the March of Dimes.

Nasser Bin Hamad al-Khalifa, the Qatar ambassador to the United States, said his country has pledged a total of $100 million to help Hurricane Katrina victims. The remaining $40 million will be assigned in coming months. "Hurricane Katrina was so devastating that everyone in Qatar and the rest of the world felt a responsibility to really act," Khalifa said. More than 50 countries donated money, expertise and materials, according to a tally by Foreign Policy, a magazine published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Qatar was one of several Gulf countries to donate tens of millions of dollars. Saudi Arabia, for instance, gave more than $100 million, and the United Arab Emirates pledged $100 million

Poor countries also donated. Less than a year after the Indian Ocean tsunami engulfed it, Sri Lanka gave $25,000 to the American Red Cross

Bangladesh gave $1 million, Cyprus $50,000, Ghana $15,000 and the Dominican Republic $50,000

European countries tended to offer expertise, supplies and equipment instead of money. Denmark, for example, donated blankets, water purification units and first aid kits.

Many donor countries funneled their gifts through the U.S. State Department or other American government agencies. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, for instance, used $66 million of foreign assistance to underwrite Katrina Aid Today, a consortium of nine religion-based and secular relief organizations led by the United Methodist Committee on Relief that is using the money to help 100,000 families for two years.

The U.S. Department of Education now controls $60 million donated by foreign governments that it said it would disburse to organizations to rebuild classrooms and libraries, buy books and maybe even pay teachers' salaries.

"We want to give the money where it will have the greatest impact so the foreign governments can see how their funds are being used," said Valerie Smith, an Education Department spokeswoman.

Countries also gave money to the American Red Cross and to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, the charity set up by former presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton.

Qatar elected to distribute its money directly, rather than rely on an intermediary. Khalifa said the country wanted to ensure transparency and accountability.

"Our past experience is that while you can give to any organization or to a government," he said, "you have no control over the money and then you discover the people most affected have not benefited."

To identify projects Qatar might want to support, Khalifa and his representatives talked to relief organizations, educators, members of Congress and other experts, and some embassy staff members traveled to the region.

Qatar is giving Xavier, which is in New Orleans, $12.5 million to add 60,000 square feet, or 5,575 square meters, to its College of Pharmacy so it can increase enrollment. The gift has additional benefits, the ambassador said. It will provide construction jobs and students from the university work in community clinics.

Xavier will also get $5 million for scholarships for students affected by the disaster.

"It's going to allow us to help those students to finish their educations," said Norman Francis, president of Xavier. "That's important because Xavier is the No. 1 producer of African-American graduates in the natural sciences, and those students then go on to get admitted to medical school."

Tulane will receive $10 million to help undergraduate students from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama who were affected by Hurricane Katrina, as well as students from those states entering the university next fall.

Qatar's $5.3 million gift was the biggest Children's Hospital has ever received, said Steve Worley, its president.

The hospital will use $5 million to establish the Qatar Cares Fund to help pay for medical care for needy children whose families were affected by the hurricane.

American university, hospital among Qatar grant beneficiaries

QATAR has announced roughly $60mn in grants to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina, including $17.5mn to Xavier University of Louisiana, the only historically black Catholic university in the US, the New York Times reported yesterday.

"The remaining $40mn, of Qatar's earlier announced aid package of $100mn, will be assigned in the coming months," the daily quoted Qatar's Ambassador Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa as saying.

Other beneficiaries of Qatar's grants are Tulane University, Children's Hospital in New Orleans, Habitat for Humanity, Louisiana State University and the March of Dimes.

"Hurricane Katrina was so devastating that everyone in Qatar and the rest of the world felt a responsibility to really act," al-Khalifa said.

More than 50 countries donated money, expertise and materials, according to a tally by Foreign Policy, a magazine published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Qatar elected to distribute its money directly, rather than rely on an intermediary. The envoy said the country wanted to ensure transparency and accountability.

"Our past experience is that while you can give to any organisation or to a government," he said, "you have no control over the money and then you discover the people most affected have not benefited."

To identify projects Qatar might want to support, al-Khalifa and his representatives talked to relief organisations, educators, members of Congress and other experts, and some embassy staff members travelled to the region.

Qatar is giving Xavier, which is in New Orleans, $12.5mn to add 60,000 sq ft to its College of Pharmacy so it can increase enrolment.

The gift has additional benefits, the ambassador said. It will provide construction jobs and students from the university work in community clinics.

Xavier will also get $5mn for scholarships for students affected by the disaster.

"It's going to allow us to help those students to finish their education," said Norman Francis, president of Xavier. "That's important because Xavier is the No. 1 producer of African-American graduates in the natural sciences, and those students then go on to get admitted to medical school."

Tulane will receive $10mn to help undergraduate students from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama who were affected by Hurricane Katrina, as well as students from those states entering the university next fall.

Qatar's $5.3mn gift was the biggest Children's Hospital has ever received, said Steve Worley, its president.

The hospital will use $5mn to establish the Qatar Cares Fund to help pay for medical care for needy children whose families were affected by the hurricane.

NEW ORLEANS — The Persian Gulf nation of Qatar announced the final installment of its $100 million fund to assist Gulf Coast victims of Hurricane Katrina, awarding a total of $5.6 million to a New Orleans university, an area housing agency and a worldwide disaster relief and human development organization.

Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans received nearly $3.1 million from the Qatar Katrina Fund to provide subsidies of up to $25,000 each for the purchase of affordable housing in the New Orleans area for low- and moderate-income Katrina victims.

Another $1.4 million went to Loyola University of New Orleans to fund 140 scholarships of $10,000 each over the next three years for financially disadvantaged students from the Gulf Coast who were among those most affected by the hurricane.

Humanity First USA received more than $1.1 million to repair two schools and five mosques serving the Muslim community in New Orleans. Humanity First, working closely with the Jefferson Muslim Association of the Greater New Orleans area, intends to have those hurricane-damaged facilities repaired and operating within the next year.

"While this represent the final phase of the Qatar Katrina Fund's donations, we hope that the impact will be felt for many years," H.E. Nasser Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, Qatar's ambassador to the United States, said Friday.

The fund was established in September 2005, the month after Katrina hit, to provide direct cash assistance to people and institutions in most dire need in the wake of the storm. Gifts were committed to health care, education, housing and places of worship.

The fund's first phase of donations, totaling more than $61 million, was announced in May and included grants to rebuild homes, financial assistance to provide medical care and university scholarships — all reserved for victims of Katrina.

The second phase, representing $33 million, was unveiled in September and targeted the hardest-hit areas of Louisiana and Mississippi.

"Our intention was to meet emergency needs first and foremost, but also to support individuals and local institutions who are building for the future," the ambassador said.

WASHINGTON -- The oil-rich Persian Gulf nation of Qatar has decided on the distribution of about $60 million of a $100 million gift announced last September for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Beneficiaries include $22 million for Habitat for Humanity to build 293 homes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama; $12.5 million to expand Xavier University's college of pharmacy; $10 million for scholarships for Katrina victims at Tulane University; $5 million for Katrina scholarships at Xavier University; and $3.3 million for a student relief fund at Louisiana State University.

Also, according to a spokesman for the Qatar embassy, $5 million will be used to establish a Qatar Cares fund at Children's hospital in New Orleans.

The oil-rich Middle East nation of Qatar announced that it is giving Xavier University of Louisiana $17.5 million to help the nation's only historically black Catholic university boost its enrollment and recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

The gift is part of a $100 million pledge for victims of Hurricane Katrina by Qatar's monarchy that was initially announced last September by its amir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

Monday, Qatar committed $60 million for projects and programs in the devastated Gulf Coast, including the $17.5 million for Xavier. The rest of the $60 million went to Tulane University, Children's Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana State University, the March of Dimes, and Habitat for Humanity, which has been tapped to build 293 homes for hurricane victims in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Xavier will use $12.5 million of its gift to expand its College of Pharmacy, making a nationally recognized program bigger. Xavier ranks first among U.S. colleges and universities in awarding pharmacy degrees to blacks students. The Pharmacy College has produced 25 percent of America's black pharmacists. The university also ranks first in placing black students into medical schools.

"It's going to allow us to help those students to finish their educations," Xavier President Norman C. Francis told The New York Times of the gift. "That's important because Xavier is the No. 1 producer of African-American graduates in the natural sciences, and those students then go on to get admitted to medical school."

In its college guide published last August, U.S. News & World Report ranked Xavier 21st in the South for Master's degrees. Newsweek magazine last year called Xavier's pharmacy college one of the hottest colleges for pre-med students.

In addition to expanding the college of pharmacy, Xavier officials say they will use a portion of the Qatar gift to provide scholarships to students impacted by Katrina.

Located in New Orleans, Xavier is a private, coed liberal arts school that had about 3,200 undergraduate, 589 pharmacy and 242 graduate students before Katrina hit last summer, according to Wikipedia, an Internet encyclopedia. University officials say the total enrollment is currently 3,098 -- about 75 of its pre-hurricane level.

The university has spent $40 million on post-hurricane campus repairs and expects to spend $10 million more before all the work is finished. Xavier officials say they were forced to borrow money for the repairs because the university didn't get substantial financial assistance from FEMA and received only a partial settlement from the university's insurance company.

Nasser Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, Qatar's ambassador to the United States and manager of the hurricane funds, said the university was selected because of its local and national reputation.

"We always think it's important to help people get an education," Khalifa told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "We looked around, we spoke to everybody in Louisiana, and everybody spoke about Xavier University. I spoke to the congressmen of the state, the senators of the state. Everybody was commanding us to do this."

The ambassador said he hopes the $17.5 million gift will have a multiple affect: Improve Xavier facilities and help rebuild a section of New Orleans that was hardest hit by the hurricane.

"It will create a lot of jobs for a lot of people," the ambassador said. "There's going to be a lot of money going around, which will create a lot of jobs."

The goal of the fund is to identify those most in need and provide financial aid as directly as possible with as little administrative overhead costs as possible, according to Qatar officials.

Khalifa and his staff played a role in identifying which programs and institutions should receive gifts. He also relied on input from a team of advisers that included former Secretary of State James A. Baker; Laura D'Andrea Tyson, dean of the University of California at Berkeley's business school; John J. DeGioia, president of Georgetown University, and Lee Raymond, former chief executive of the Exxon Mobil Corp.

Qatar is small in population, with about 885,359 people. But it is an economic powerhouse in the Middle East. Oil and gas account for more than 60 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, making up about 85 percent of export earnings and about 70 percent of the government's revenues, according to Central Intelligence Agency reports. The country has one of the highest per-capita incomes in the world.

Over the years, Qatar has been a reliable ally of the United States. The United States Armed Forces Unified Combatant Command unit and U.S. Central Command, CENTCOM, has its headquarters in Qatar. While some Middle East countries sometimes balk at letting U.S. military planes to fly in their air space, Qatar is host to a large U.S. Air Force base.

The nation of Qatar announced Tuesday its decision to distribute $60 million in Hurricane Katrina relief funding, allocating $3.3 million to Louisiana State University.

The Persian Gulf country, whose income is driven by oil production, made a $100 million gift to the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in September 2005 after Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast the month earlier.

"It is our duty to help people who were hurt," said Nasser Bin Hamad al-Khalifa, Qatar's ambassador to the United States, to the Associated Press. "Today's globalization is making this one world, and if any tragedy takes place, we are all aware of it."

LSU System spokesman Charles Zewe said the donation was a "tremendous gesture."

"This will go a long way in relieving the suffering of faculty, students and staff -- thousands of people in the LSU System family. We're very grateful to Qatar."

Kristine Calongne, director of public affairs, said the donation will go to the Hurricane Katrina Student Relief Fund. She said more statistical information will be available in a news release that she thinks will be sent out today.

The Katrina Student Relief Fund was created by the LSU Foundation and Student Government to aid students effected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Daily Reveille reported Dec. 8, 2005, that the LSU Foundation raised about $1.3 million for the relief fund before distributing the money in early December. About 2,900 students applied, and about 2,500 received financial awards from $300 to $1,000.

MICHAEL STRECKER

NEW ORLEANS, May 2 -- Tulane University issued the following news release:

Tulane University has received a $10 million grant from the Qatar Foundation, a private, non-profit organization founded by His Highness the Emir of Qatar. Tulane will use the money to provide scholarships for students in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi who suffered losses from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Tulane draws more than 3,000 students from these states each year.

"We anticipate the gift will benefit roughly 300 students," Tulane University President Scott Cowen said. "This is an incredibly generous gift. We are deeply grateful to Qatar and the Emir for their friendship and support."

The Qatar Scholars Fund at Tulane, a scholarship program created as a result of the gift, will provide immediate relief to qualified students, awarding scholarships both to students who will enter Tulane for the first time this fall as well as to returning undergraduates.

"The scholarships are critical in rebuilding our enrollment and thereby rebuilding the city," says Richard Whiteside, vice president for enrollment management. "They are equally significant in helping our students rebuild their lives."

Tulane was one of several Louisiana institutions to receive the recent Qatar Foundation funding, which totaled approximately $60 million. Other recipients include Children's Hospital in New Orleans, Habitat for Humanity, Xavier University and the March of Dimes.

Nasir bin Hamad M. al-Khalifa, Qatar's Ambassador to the United States, said the remainder of $100 million his country pledged for hurricane relief would be disbursed in coming months.

"Hurricane Katrina was so devastating that everyone in Qatar and the rest of the world felt a responsibility to really act," Khalifa said.

The gift is the largest post-Katrina donation to Tulane and is tied, with two others, as the fifth largest in the university's history.

DOHA, Qatar - May 2, 2006 (UPI) -- Qatar's $100 million aid package to victims of Hurricane Katrina will include $17.5 million to New Orleans' Xavier University of Louisiana.

The grant is part of the initial $60 million that the Persian Gulf state has planned to give out of its $100 million pledge. Xavier University is the only historically black Catholic university in the United States, reports The New York Times.

Grants also will go to Tulane University, Children's Hospital in New Orleans, Habitat for Humanity, Louisiana State University and the March of Dimes, the report said.

Qatar Ambassador to the United States Nasser Bin Hamad M. al-Khalifa told the newspaper the remainder of the pledge would be assigned in the coming months.

"Hurricane Katrina was so devastating that everyone in Qatar and the rest of the world felt a responsibility to really act," Khalifa said.

Hurricane aid commitments have been offered from more than 50 other countries.

WASHINGTON - The oil-rich Persian Gulf nation Qatar has decided on the distribution of about $60 million of a $100 million gift announced last September for victims of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

The beneficiaries include $22 million for Habitat for Humanity to build 293 homes in the three states; $12.5 million to expand the facilities of Xavier University's college of pharmacy; $10 million for scholarships at Tulane University for students who are Katrina victims; $5 million for scholarships for Katrina victims at Xavier University; and $3.3 million for a student relief fund at Louisiana State University.

Also, according to Mike Holtzman, a spokesman for the Qatar embassy, $5 million will be used to establish a Qatar Cares fund at Chidren's hospital in New Orleans; another $351,651 for repair and renovation of clinics at the hospital; and $3 million for the March of Dimes to purchase and equip vans.

Of the Habitat homes, 153 are to be built in Louisiana, 107 in Mississippi and 33 in Alabama.

Brian Landry, vice president for marketing at Children's Hospital, the only full-service pediatric hospital in Louisiana, said the $5 million contribution was the larget gift ever received by the hospital.

"It is our duty to help people who were hurt," said Nasser Bin Hamad al-Khalifa, Qatar's ambassador to the United States. "Today's globalization is making this one world and if any tragedy takes place we are all aware of it."

"The key objective was to identify those most in need and to provide assistance as directly as possible with minimal administrative expenses," the embassy said through its spokesman in New York.

The remaining $40 million in pledged contributions from Qatar will be committed in the next several weeks in consultation with an advisory committee, that includes former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, the statement said.

In all, about $126 million in contributions were received by the U.S. government. A little more than $700 million was pledged. Some of the pledges, including $400 million from Kuwait, are awaiting parliamentary approval.

Also, Saudi Arabia, which pledged $100 million, intends to contribute its donations directly to the area without going through the U.S. government, said a U.S. official who could not be identified because she was not assigned to make such announcements.

Among the major donations received were nearly $100 million from the United Arab Emirates; $5 million from Bahrain, $5 million from China; $3.8 million from South Korea; $2 million from Taiwan; $1 million from Brunei; and $1 million from Nigeria.

STEPHANIE STROM
Correction Appended

The nation of Qatar plans to announce today roughly $60 million in grants to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina, including $17.5 million to Xavier University of Louisiana, the only historically black Catholic university in the United States.

Other beneficiaries are Tulane University, Children's Hospital in New Orleans, Habitat for Humanity, Louisiana State University and the March of Dimes.

Nasser Bin Hamad M. al-Khalifa, Qatar's ambassador to the United States, said the remainder of the $100 million his country had pledged would be assigned in the coming months.

"Hurricane Katrina was so devastating that everyone in Qatar and the rest of the world felt a responsibility to really act," Mr. Khalifa said. More than 50 countries donated money, expertise and materials, according to a tally by Foreign Policy, a magazine published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Qatar was one of several Persian Gulf nations to donate tens of millions of dollars. Saudi Arabia, for instance, gave more than $100 million, and the United Arab Emirates pledged $100 million.

Poor nations also donated. Less than a year after the Indian Ocean tsunami engulfed it, Sri Lanka gave $25,000 to the American Red Cross. Bangladesh gave $1 million, Cyprus $50,000, Ghana $15,000 and the Dominican Republic $50,000.

European countries tended to offer expertise, supplies and equipment instead of money. Denmark, for example, donated blankets, water purification units and first aid kits.

Many donor countries funneled their gifts through the State Department or other government agencies. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, for instance, used $66 million of foreign assistance to underwrite Katrina Aid Today, a consortium of nine religion-based and secular relief organizations led by the United Methodist Committee on Relief that is using the money to offer case management services to 100,000 families for two years.

The Department of Education now controls $60 million donated by foreign governments that it said it would disburse to organizations to rebuild classrooms and libraries, buy books and maybe even pay teachers' salaries.

"We want to give the money where it will have the greatest impact so the foreign governments can see how their funds are being used," said Valerie Smith, an Education Department spokeswoman.

Countries also gave money to the American Red Cross and to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, the charity set up by former Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton.

Qatar elected to distribute its money directly, rather than rely on an intermediary.

Ambassador Khalifa said the country wanted to insure transparency and accountability.

"Our past experience is that while you can give to any organization or to a government," he said, "you have no control over the money and then you discover the people most affected have not benefited."

To identify projects Qatar might want to support, the ambassador and his representatives talked to relief organizations, educators, members of Congress and other experts, and some embassy staff members traveled to the region.

Mr. Khalifa also drafted former Secretary of State James A. Baker; Laura D'Andrea Tyson, dean of the business school at the University of California, Berkeley, and a former economic adviser to President Clinton; Lee Raymond, former chief executive of the Exxon Mobil Corporation; and John J. DeGioia, the president of Georgetown University, to serve as an advisory board.

Qatar is giving Xavier, which is in New Orleans, $12.5 million to add 60,000 square feet to its College of Pharmacy so it can increase enrollment. The gift has additional benefits, the ambassador said, because it will provide construction jobs and because students from the university work in community clinics.

Xavier will also get $5 million for scholarships for students affected by the disaster.

"It's going to allow us to help those students to finish their educations," said Norman C. Francis, Xavier's president. "That's important because Xavier is the No. 1 producer of African-American graduates in the natural sciences, and those students then go on to get admitted to medical school."

Tulane will receive $10 million to help undergraduate students from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama who were affected by Hurricane Katrina, as well as students from those states entering the university next fall.

"The money will follow those students all the way through to graduation," said Scott S. Cowen, the university's president. "We anticipate over four years it will support roughly 300 students."

Qatar's $5.3 million gift was the biggest Children's Hospital has ever received, said Steve Worley, its president. The hospital will use $5 million to establish the Qatar Cares Fund, which it will use to underwrite medical care for needy children whose families were affected by the hurricane. The remaining $351,000 will go toward restoring the two of the hospital's five primary care clinics that were left standing after the storm.

"It's hard to know how to express our gratitude," Mr. Worley said.

Correction: May 3, 2006

An article yesterday about grants by Qatar for the victims of Hurricane Katrina included an outdated affiliation for Laura D'Andrea Tyson, a member of a board that is advising that country on relief projects. She is dean of the London Business School. (She left the business school at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2002.)