Katrina

The following is an excerpt from an email I received from my Dad down in Florida. Makes me glad to know that if something unexpected and terrible happens there are people willing to step out of their comfort zones to help.

Nadia and I spent a week in Bay St. Louis Mississippi in early November. We volunteered to help with the Katrina cleanup. Two months after the hurricane, people were still living in tents. There were some hippies and fundamentalist Xians serving free meals and handing out free groceries in Waveland, MS (just up the road from Bay St.Louis). We spent our time there clearing away debris so FEMA ("Brownie, you're doin' a heck of a job") trailers could be brought in before the weather there turned cold. We mucked out a home flooded over the first floor ceilings. The family was living in a campground. The home hadn't been touched since August. Black mold. Fallen ceilings on top of beds with closets full of soggy clothes, wet cds, dvds.

We have some pix from our digital camera -- I'll send a few. We plan to take another crew back in February. The Mormon church is putting together some dorms for volunteers to bunk in. The 7th Day Adventists are cooking food for everyone. They are taking over a state park and turning it into a volunteer center. When we were there we stayed at a Methodist Church. We had breakfast and dinners there.