Long - but interesting

Southgrim
on 9/18/05 12:47 pm - Madison, MS
Hey, This is a letter I received from a long time friend (since high school) who is trying to get help to the coastal areas. I am NOT putting this up for solicitation -- just thought it was interesting since we had so many of our own affected (or is it effected? ) Of course, if you do want to help, you can email me. HUGS!!! Kimberly We went down to the coast yesterday to feed people with Darrell's Shrine club. They had pulled pork sandwiches and BBQ chicken with beans, bread, potatos, chips, cakes and cookies, etc. We weren't doing much good at MDOT on Hwy 49 in Lymon, mostly feeding law enforcement, MDOT and a few people who drove there (if you have a car to get to Hwy 49, you can get everything you need, mostly for free). One very tired and worn-looking older woman declined the food, asking only for two cases of bottled water, which we loaded into her backseat. We decided to ride out and see if there were places we could take the food to distribute to people who needed it. First we went through Gulfport as far south as we could get, seeing several small "tent cities" where people were camped in yards. There were also piles and piles of clothes in nearly every parking lot we saw where people could go through them and take what they need. We then turned west to go to Long Beach, one of several of the worst hit areas (this is where Darrell's sister lived, south of the RR tracks). Everything south of the RR in Long Beach is blocked off with concertina wire, with military checkpoints (guns and everything) at selected streets. You had to have a pass to get through (residents only). A soldier we talked to said that had the RR tracks not been there to break the surge and wind a bit, the damage north of the tracks would have been much worse, and it was pretty damn bad already. Looking south past the razor wire, streets were not cleared, trees lay on power lines and a few hardy souls were gathering what was left of their belongings. We saw hand-painted signs like "We're all OK, 131 accounted for" and "Valerie, call Mom and tell her we're alive." I'm told a great deal of the area will be bulldozed Monday. The damage was horrifying, but I found out later, I had really not seen anything yet. These people seemed fairly middle class, with cars and resources, and there was help in any shopping center parking lot, never very far away. Stores were open, running on generators (some had cut holes in the walls to plug into campers and the like). We did give away some cold drinks and a few baby supplies there. So we drove back up to MDOT and filled the Tahoe and Kenny's truck with boxed meals, chips, cereal bars and drinks, along with the baby stuff we already had. We drove back to Long Beach and found a school where the military had set up camp, with Humvees and other heavy vehicles. We gave away some cold Cokes (they said something like they were only allowed to have water??). Then we found a high school football field where two Virginia firefighters were giving away free water and ice. We pulled in right behind them and gave out all the boxed meals (about 170 or so) and chips and cereal bars. There was a FEMA phone bank set up there (basically just a crude shelter with 5 or 6 telephones). A man with a broken arm (storm) was there, calling his father. Vicki brought him a cold drink and he put her on the phone with his dad so she could tell him how bad it was. A woman was there and told Vicki how her husband, an electrician, was out of state when the storm hit and heard on the news that her street, 38th Ave, was completely leveled and everyone was dead. It was 5 days before she could reach him and he had been grieving her death. I know there are thousands of stories like that. She asked where we were staying (we weren't) and invited us to stay at her home. She said, "We don't have much, but..." Went back to MDOT and filled up with even more boxed meals, probably 300-400. And since the cold drinks were so popular, we loaded up with cases of drinks and ice. This time we drove down into Biloxi. About the media coverage of this storm: All I seem to hear anything about is New Orleans. Yes, it's terrible there. Unspeakable things happened to those people. It's a tragic loss to a city with unbeatable character and charm. But what I saw on the Mississippi Gulf Coast yesterday was more devastating than I could have imagined, even seeing it on TV. Most of what's on TV is shot from helicopters, or shot in more isolated areas or is focused solely on the casinos. I had not seen the destruction in these close-in neighborhoods and would never have imagined that people were still living there, just existing day to day, cut off from the media, not knowing about New Orleans, not knowing the full extent of the devastation. On the "assistance:" There were large white tents set up on 49 in Lymon, just south of MDOT where the Shriners were set up. None of us can remember (or could tell) if it was FEMA, Red Cross (Mom said, "Oh, they'd make sure you knew it if it was them.") or even a utility company camp. We saw Red Cross trucks, only on Hwy 49 (see above for how lucky you are if you can get to 49) and one in Long Beach. And they helpfully loaded up 1,000 of the Shriner's boxed meals to distribute - we'll never know if it goes to their workers or to people who are actually hungry. No matter, everybody needs to eat, but after the hunger I saw later that day, it bothered me to think that somebody who'd had both breakfast and lunch was having dinner when we could have distributed at least a thousand more to the people in the destroyed neighborhoods. We saw lots of blue roof tarps printed with FEMA name. There was some confusion about whether the VA firefighters giving away ice and water were working on their own or through FEMA. We also saw PLENTY of buildings spray painted "FEMA please help," along with "Looters will be shot," "It's not worth your life." (Also saw lots and lots and lots of the search and rescue "X" with the date of inspection, the number of occupants, and the number of bodies.) Bottom line for me: the relief agencies are great for the big stuff, coordinating clearing of debris in the roads, setting up places for people to come get assistance, etc., but are useless to those individuals who are cut off - no power or newspapers to see where to go, don't speak English, are too proud to ask for help, have no car whether because they never had one or because it's sitting on top of their fence in their back yard, the elderly, etc. Those are the ones who can't get to the hundreds of pallets of bottled water we saw sitting in parking lots (on Hwy 49), guarded by federal marshals. Going down Pass Road, we saw a lot of places giving away meals on the road, so we kept driving. Vicki had been wondering about an area called The Point (Point Cadet), roughly behind the Imperial Palace Casino, Hard Rock Casino, Beau Rivage, etc. It's mostly filled with poor African Americans, Vietnamese, and Croations, many of them casino workers, shrimpers, and canners who, of course, have lost their jobs, their boats and their livelihood. There seem to be lots of red tape barriers to their getting assistance, from FEMA, Red Cross, anything, between the banks not being open and the usual bureaucracy. We (I swear to God) saw a Salvation Army truck when we were stopped to give food to a family in their home, who drove right on by, not even slowing down. So there we were, basically just a family, stopping at every house where we saw people, asking if they wanted a hot meal, if they had babies that needed milk or diapers, or needed anything for themselves. One of the first people we stopped for was an elderly man, who had set up in his driveway. He was very thankful for the food and asked for a couple more meals to take to his neighbors. We gave him all he asked for and more. He had cleared some things from his house and put them at the curb - his computer, caked with sludge from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, sat there along with lots of furniture, lamps, etc. He hugged my sister and told her we were angels sent from God. It wasn't the last time we'd hear that. Walking back down his street, I looked down at a broken CD lying on the street: Crosby, Stills & Nash's "After the Storm." Wow. We stopped on another street and gave food and drinks to a couple of households there. Driving away, they asked where we were from. As we drove off, waving, we turned to wave goodbye to an old man on his porch across the street. He had his hand over his eyes, tears streaming down his face. That was the first time I almost lost it. I don't know what he was thinking, but I was so touched by the strength of these exhausted people who are just doing the best they can, praying for help and basic day to day survival. We had a lot of baby supplies, so we were really looking for people with babies. We saw an older lady with a baby girl, maybe a year old. We stopped to talk to her and give her stuff. She said the baby was her granddaughter from New Orleans. The baby and her mother had been at the Superdome. All their stuff was stolen and the mother AND THE BABY were threatened with rape. A white lady there had given her some of her own baby's bottles and clothes to get by. The mother had gone onto a shelter somewhere in Mississippi, she wasn't sure where, but had sent the baby to be safe with her grandmother. She wanted baby wash and a tub to wash the baby and soap for herself. We had the baby wash. She (and many others) invited us back to visit after they got cleaned up. We stopped in front of a liquor store where some folks had congregated. As I got out of the truck, I heard a lady greet someone with, "Hey! So glad to see you're alive!" I imagine that's a common greeting. We approached a skinny, dirty lady with about 4 teeth, asking what she needed. She backed away, very suspicious. Vicki asked, "What do you need?" She barked, "A mansion!" She was obviously very strung out and the other Vicki said she would need lots of sugar. We loaded her up with meals, cereal bars and soda. Gave some to the rest of the folks there. As we were about to leave, a young guy walked up to Kenny's truck and helped himself to a 12-pack and a box of 50 bags of chips. Kenny jumped out and took the chips out of his arms. He put together a smaller box and poured half the chips into it. I don't know what he said to the guy, but he gave him plenty. He seemed to follow us for a little while and I was worried that he might be up to no good. Nothing happened, but it showed me how the people who are still staying in the neighborhood must be so afraid, especially after dark. Lots more of stopping to give out meals and supplies to anyone we saw. One house where we stopped, a lady told how she and her family rode out the storm on their pontoon boat in the yard. Their car was in the yard nearby. She said that when the water rose, they were afraid the car would drift into their boat and capsize it. It finally sank next to them. For the next four and a half hours, they rode the surge, with her brother holding onto the eaves of the house to keep the boat from flipping over. So many people just needed to tell their story, to have someone hear what they went through. Food and supplies don't even begin to cover their needs. We had eleven dinners left. The next people we saw were a Vietnamese family in front of what looked like it might have been a store. Only a young girl spoke more than a few words of English and the only thing we heard her say was, "He farted," when one of her relatives slid off the hood of a car to come see us. We gave them the rest of the food. We gave a lady a bag of rice cakes. She tore into them, and with her mouth still full, indicated, "More." We gave her the rest of the box. With not much left but baby stuff, we saw a group of Hispanic teenagers going through some clothes in the parking lot. We stopped and asked in our best broken Spanish if they needed baby milk. They didn't, but when we handed one a cold soft drink, they all came running. We gave them all cold drinks and the rest of the cereal bars. They tore into them and crammed them into their mouths. This was real honest hunger, true desperation. So having nothing left but a few baby supplies, we headed back to go home. It was almost dark and the curfew would kick in soon. We decided we needed to come back, as a family, and do this again without all the pomp and cir****tance of clubs and large groups of egos. All the people wanted was "real food." They needed so much more. I called my mom to ask her to say something in church to try to collect some money to buy stuff to take down there and just broke down sobbing. It was heartbreaking and tragic and more horrifying than anything I could have conceived. To the question "Why are they still there?" I answer, I don't know. Certainly, these are their homes and they don't want to abandon them. Maybe, being cut off from media, they don't know that shelters are available (though fewer and fewer every day). Maybe they feel safer at home than in shelters. Maybe they don't understand that this hurricane is different than other hurricanes they have ridden out - that the restoration of basic services and rebuilding will measured in months, maybe years, rather than weeks. Maybe they are too proud to ask for help. Maybe they don't speak English or are here illegally and fear the attention of authorities. I honestly don't know. But they are there. And they are not leaving anytime soon. All this is to share with you the individual human suffering that CNN and Fox News are not showing. They need our help, and I need your help. If you've wanted to do something, but didn't know what specific thing you could do, here is something. Send me some money, any amount you can spare, or supplies if you have them. We want to reach more people in Point Cadet and also see about going into Waveland, Pass Christian and Bay St. Louis, if possible. We need to get: Women's Underwear (New, unwrapped) Men's Underwear (New, unwrapped) Girls' Underwear (New, unwrapped) Boys' Underwear (New, unwrapped) Diapers (size 3 to 5) Pull-Ups Bar Soap Baby Wash Baby Wipes Diaper Rash Ointment Baby Bottles Sippy Cups Baby Formula Baby Cereal Pedialyte Bottled Water Soft Drinks Batteries Cereal Bars Granola Bars Chips Bleach Spray Cleaner Sponges Mops Brooms Garbage Bags Paper Towels Food to cook into "real" meals Anything you can do will be deeply appreciated. We want to go back this Saturday, so time is important, although it's conceivable that we will go back every Saturday for quite some time depending on how this goes.
Arlies Q
on 9/19/05 1:16 pm - Brandon, MS
Please forward this to "The Meridian Star", "The Clarion Ledger", "The Sun Herald", FEMA, American Red Cross, and any other newspapers or organizations you can think of....CNN would be good too. Thanks for the info.....I am so sorry..... Love, Arlies
Southgrim
on 9/19/05 1:46 pm - Madison, MS
Good idea - I'll pass it along. Thanks! HUGS Kimberly
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