Sunday night we had a call from a friend Louise who went to Mississippi 2 weeks ago as a volunteer to help with Hurricane Katrina relief. She is the cook in charge of feeding the volunteer workers coming from out-of-state churches who are rebuilding some MS homes. She had interesting descriptions of the work there:
For one thing every building job is very slow because of material shortages. Home Depot and other stores run out of everything so special runs have to be made to far off cities for truck loads of shingles etc.
Also roads are shut down over night so they can't get easily to the same place they'd worked the day before. She is still shocked by the amount of devastation.
The work teams are living in 6-man tents donated by the Lions Club. Some RVs have been lent to house people also.
She and 3 other cooks are doing all the cooking in a tent with earth floor using small propane burners, crockpots and roaster pans. She took "a microwave but it doesn't do well when the coffee pot is turned on."
Last week she cooked meals for 26 people. This week for 46. But extra people show up like 9 extra Univ of Kentucky college students who'd spent the day pulling down ruined ceilings and needed to be fed. They have one reg. size refrigerator and freezer so make many trips to the food store. She said whenever a new group arrives her heart drops because there are so many big, tall, burly men, and she does a mini-panic that there might not be enough food.
However, the teams have been working well together. She asked for prayer for the safety of folks amongst so much debris. She'll return after her 3-week stint on Saturday.
For one thing every building job is very slow because of material shortages. Home Depot and other stores run out of everything so special runs have to be made to far off cities for truck loads of shingles etc.
Also roads are shut down over night so they can't get easily to the same place they'd worked the day before. She is still shocked by the amount of devastation.
The work teams are living in 6-man tents donated by the Lions Club. Some RVs have been lent to house people also.
She and 3 other cooks are doing all the cooking in a tent with earth floor using small propane burners, crockpots and roaster pans. She took "a microwave but it doesn't do well when the coffee pot is turned on."
Last week she cooked meals for 26 people. This week for 46. But extra people show up like 9 extra Univ of Kentucky college students who'd spent the day pulling down ruined ceilings and needed to be fed. They have one reg. size refrigerator and freezer so make many trips to the food store. She said whenever a new group arrives her heart drops because there are so many big, tall, burly men, and she does a mini-panic that there might not be enough food.
However, the teams have been working well together. She asked for prayer for the safety of folks amongst so much debris. She'll return after her 3-week stint on Saturday.