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Post by Techguy on Sept 18, 2005 20:40:32 GMT -5
I admit I sat on my hands, reluctant to give after reading and hearing all the stories of bureaucracy, red tape, blaming, finger pointing, and spin doctoring. Then I heard from a friend who was going with his church group to personally deliver truckloads of food, clothing, toys, personal items, and other goods directly to the affected Gulf Coast area. That's when I opened my wallet and gave because I knew my donation would go directly and specifically to those most in need.
P.S. to Observer: I asked my friend to include some bags of dog food with the shipment to help out the homeless pets. He said they have half a truck already loaded with pet supplies to help out the shelters housing animals displaced by the hurricane.
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Post by BegToDiffer on Sept 19, 2005 9:02:02 GMT -5
Thanks to all who remembered the pets during this disaster. The 3 main national organizations are all on site. However, our funds are going to the small groups who will carry the brunt of the "animal load" after the large organizations go home. We have 5 dog survivors here. We were expecting many more, but they only sent one plane to Ohio and it went to Columbus.
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MelTex
Detective
"I want a Jonny 7 all-in-one gun..."
Posts: 336
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Post by MelTex on Sept 19, 2005 14:15:11 GMT -5
Now we have Rita to worry about in the Tropics! Good gravy!! Looks like Rita is eyeballing my area of the Gulf Coast too... ...great... ...right here 2 weeks before my wedding. Ain't that a kick in the ass!? ***On a better note, we have succeeded in adopting out most of all the evacuee pets that came in to the shelters in the last few weeks. They all have homes now. ;D But we'll see what Rita does, otherwise all of us here in SE TX may end up becoming the evacuees ourselves!
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Post by janetcatbird on Sept 23, 2005 13:48:53 GMT -5
Well, my school did a neat fundraiser. From noon yesterday til noon today they had a mini-festival where you could donate by throwing eggs into the fountain, or just knock it off your meal plan. Music playing, coffee shop open late, stuff like that.
But the Caf went along with it and did a Mardi Gras for supper last night--complete with decorations, fancy carnavale masks for the staff (I want one!) and jazz playing on loudspeakers. But the food: they had crawfish etoufee, Oh My God, and fried okra. This was, to quote the vernacular, so good it'd make you slap your mama. (Especially astonishing when you realize what institutional meals normally are, but I digress.) No word on the final count, but it was a very well-organized, well-publicized event and I think a good number of people stopped by.
I'm just worried that people are all given out, and now with Rita coming, yikes.
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deb
Rookie
Posts: 41
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Post by deb on Apr 2, 2006 22:13:15 GMT -5
I know this is a VERY late comment, but since I just joined... I'm a database manager and work for a subsidiary of Bechtel, the company that provided the temporary housing for Missippi. I spent two months in Missippi after Katrina. One in Jackson and one in Kiln. I didn't get to Missippi until about a month after Katrina.
I was amazed right from the beginning at how serious the effort was taken to get these people housed as quickly and effortlessly as possible. This was VERY apparent not only in the hours that we worked (at least 12 hours a day, 7 days a week), but in how terrible the paperwork was!! The people doing the site assessments and other activities were more concerned with getting these people into the temporary trailers than making sure the paperwork was filled out. Some people didn't even have any paperwork, except the original FEMA documents. This may sound like a small thing, but it could sometimes take weeks to get all the procedural steps taken and the paperwork filled out. And remember, this is a government contract, so the amount of paperwork involved is amazing. And trying to clean it up and get everyone who was requesting relief documented was a monstrous job!!!
I was able to tour the hardest hit areas of Missippi three months after Katrina, and there was still debris in the tops of the trees a boat on top of a house, and houses that had been moved into the streets. Along the coast, the houses are built on pillars in case of flooding. All that was left were the pillars!!! I took the tour with a couple of guys that were involved in getting the people into the housing. One was a native and told me how he had spent 12 hours in the attic of his mothers house. That's how far the water rose (15 feet) and this was 5 miles in from the coast!!! The water got so high they thought they might have to put a hole in the roof and climb out
I know this is a long post and quite out of date, but I just am so proud of all the people that have been and still are working in the relief effort for ALL the states that were affected. And I'm SO glad I was given the opportunity to be there and help!!!
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Post by Metella on Apr 3, 2006 12:17:58 GMT -5
I'm glad for the input - it is good to hear that some realize that in a despirate situation; paperwork can wait - put them in shelter & then go back and make the paperwork.
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deb
Rookie
Posts: 41
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Post by deb on Apr 3, 2006 17:40:39 GMT -5
...paperwork can wait - put them in shelter & then go back and make the paperwork. Yes it can. You don't KNOW what a headache it was to clean it all up. But, again, all of us that were working on it knew the reasons... We might b***h and gripe about it, but we knew the extra work was worth it. One other thing I don't think is realized is that all these people that worked/are working the relief effort, except for a four day trip home in the middle of the two months (two days are for travel), are away from their families for the two months they were on the Katrina effort. I was lucky. My son had just started college so I was all alone at home. And even HE didn't like me being so far away!!! The two months were the slotted time for most of us that went down there. We were all pulled from other projects and were needed back where we came from. They tried to keep us longer, but I know all the people from my project were told no, they had to come home. We work the Accelerated Cleanup Program for the DOE Environmental Management Program and we're on a pretty tight schedule to get all the waste cleaned up in our area. I'm blah, blah, blahing again. It's just that I STILL get excited about what I saw going on down in Mississippi and that I, me, not someone else for once, was involved in it!!!
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Post by Cassie on Apr 10, 2006 19:35:23 GMT -5
I saw on the news this morning that a group of students from the University of Delaware went down to Mississippi and helped put roofs on some of the homes. During their Spring Break!! That’s pretty neat don’t ya think? Cancun or Mississippi? Deb, I got to tell you, how awesome I think it is that you where down there for 2 months. Whether or not its part of your employment. Being away from ones own bed, home, furry loved ones, plus the rest of your family. That has got to be very hard on a person! Thanks!
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deb
Rookie
Posts: 41
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Post by deb on Apr 10, 2006 19:45:05 GMT -5
Thank you, Cassie!!!
I know it sounds trite, but I don't feel like any thanks are due. This is something I really wanted to do and it was a good opportunity for me to help in something like this when I never had been able to do so before.
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