Aid Project Targets Gulf Coast Schools

As Roman Catholic schools and parishes across the Gulf Coast region struggle to recover from Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, the National Catholic Educational Association has launched a fundraising campaign to help out.

The Washington-based organization said it is asking the estimated 6.3 million students enrolled in Catholic schools and parish religious education programs around the country to donate $1 each to help their counterparts in the Gulf region.

“Some of these folks are suffering for the second or third time around” from recent hurricanes, said Karen M. Ristau, the president of the NCEA. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, her group launched a similar campaign, which ultimately...