• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

News from a Hurricane Katrina relief volunteer in Miss.

Help Support Ranchers.net:

nr

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
3,136
Reaction score
0
Location
DE
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.
 
My nephew is down there. He called the other day and was telling about all the snakes. Said that he would scrape debris from off of a levy and 20 to 25 water moccisins would come out, on the fight. He was afoot the other day and kicked at a piece of plastic and a water moccisin came out and almost struck him in the heel.
He said that anything, and I mean anything, that can float is laying against the levy's and you can't believe the devestation. But it is a cluster_ _ _ _! Takes all day to do 15 minutes of errands. Sounds like a lot of the people who went to work there originally, have left and they are all waiting for someone to get it all orginized. Sure glad I ain't down there.

The slept in sheds and warehouses for the first month and had a hard time finding food. Just now are finding several good places to sleep at night. Lots of law enforcement types now tho', so the danger from people isn't as bad as at first. They all used to carry a shotgun in their equipment and a 9mm in their boot tops.

He said that several of the locals have been just great and helped all them ol' boys out a lot, so there are decent folks wherever you go, evidently. :)
 
Wow, it's good that people will do it, will keep them all in our prayers. Jinglebob - is your nephew there on his own or in the Forces?
 
JingleBob, which area is your nephew in?
You mentioned the organizational piece which I should have explained:
A couple folks from our area Presby. churches went down and coordinated with a local church in Gulfport MS concerning which houses they'd attempt to renovate, what skills would be needed, where the base camp would be set up with tents, who needed transportation down and back...It has all been pre-organized which seems the only way to cut some of the confusion. That said, however, some folks like the university kids, just show up so they take them in and feed them also.
The money to do the transportation and feeding has come from our denomination churches across the USA- a very concerted effort.
Of course the media never mentions all this going on :roll:
 
He's on his own and as far as I know he is in the New Orleans area.

If they get to where they atearing down the houses and working full time, I may go down and help him for a month or so this winter.

There are quite a few from this state and area down there and they are all hanging out together. Don't sound like they are having much fun! :lol:
 

Latest posts

Top