King County employees join in effort to aid hurricane victims

Sept 1 , 2005

King County employees join in effort to aid hurricane victims

Proposed ordinance allows county employees to convert vacation time to cash for donations to relief effort

King County employees will be able to turn up to a week’s worth of vacation time into cash to help buy food, medicine and shelter for the victims of Hurricane Katrina that destroyed and flooded vast areas of coastal Mississippi and Louisiana. County Executive Ron Sims today proposed an emergency ordinance that would allow employees to convert up to 40 hours of vacation time into a cash donation to the Red Cross.

"It is hard to fathom the magnitude of this tragedy, but County employees have reacted with their hearts by wanting to help the people suffering in the wake of the storm,” said King County Executive Ron Sims. “We passed a similar ordinance for the Indonesian tsunami victims last winter, and now many King County employees have asked that we do the same for the people of Mississippi and Louisiana.”

A similar ordinance proposed by Sims and approved by the Metropolitan King County Council in January 2005 raised more than $100,000 for organizations providing relief to the Dec.26, 2004, tsunami that hit Indonesia, India and Africa.

“The dramatic pictures from Louisiana and Mississippi illustrate the need for each of us to take action to support Americans in desperate need,” said Larry Phillips, Chair of the Metropolitan King County Council. “Extending our support to the victims of Hurricane Katrina will help the thousands of displaced people as they begin to rebuild their homes and cities. King County employees have generously given to victims of disasters in the past, and this gives them the opportunity to do so again at a critical time.”

“King County employees would volunteer to help in person if they could,” said Metropolitan King County Council Budget Chair Larry Gossett. “Since most can’t go in person, I cannot think of anything more worthwhile for our employees than to contribute some of their wages to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. This will give people an opportunity to show solidarity with their fellow citizens who are suffering.”

Once the ordinance is approved by the County Council, employees would have 45 days to convert up to 40 hours of accrued vacation hours to cash. Through payroll deduction the cash would then be donated to the relief effort. Contributions from King County employees will be transmitted to the American Red Cross.