Finally an outlet for all this energy! :)

Yesterday I donated items and time to the Hurricane Katrina victims from N'Awlins and I must say that it was the most rewarding experience of my life.

I had planned to go help at Reunion Arena yesterday morning with a girl from work but fate decided to change those plans. B and I spent Friday night in the ER because one of his teeth abcessed and I didn't finally get to bed until almost 3:30 yesterday morning. I got myself up yesterday morning but had to cancel on my friend because I needed to be home taking care of my sweetie. I purged the pantry and the bathroom cabinets while I was home yesterday and managed to come up with two boxes and two bags of stuff. Not bad for a small apartment, eh? My sister, niece, and nephew had a trip to Dallas planned so I was going to meet up with them while they were in town. I finally got B comfy enough yesterday afternoon that I was able to meet up with them. We went to the dollar store and loaded up on a bunch of toys for the displaced kids and some basic hygiene stuff like toothbrushes and shampoo. We went and dropped it at American Airlines Center and then I headed back toward the house.

After talking to my friend about her experiences volunteering yesterday, I was determined to head down there last night. All the stress energy in my body had to have an outlet and helping was the only thing I could think to do. I once again got B situated and headed downtown to try to help out. I got down to Reunion Arena only to be told that they "closed" at 9. Um, okay, whatever that means. I later found out that they actually locked up the arena at night so the volunteers were heading home. I was referred to the convention center because it has the overflow housing. So I headed that way and found a completely disorganized and chaotic volunteer operation. I quickly made friends with another stong person and we jumped in with both feet and started trying to help out. It was getting to be bedtime, so we helped carry the smelliest stankiest stuff I've ever smelled back with the people to the cot area. (I tell you right now with all sincerity that is the absolute worst smell I've ever smelled in my life. Take a street wino and mutiply it by 20, no kidding.) Then we found out that they were out of blankets and bedding so we asked if some couldn't be brought over from Reunion Arena. People had been dropping stuff off all day long and there were literally mounds of things like clothes, shoes, baby stuff, bottled water, food. Anyway, no one had the number to the people over there and blah blah blah so my new friend Chris and I went over there to see if there was bedding. After we figured out where the bedding lived, we saw there was quite a bit there and we should get it back over to the convention center. We started loading up a cart with stuff but quickly realized that would be a long and tedious process. As we were trying to riddle out the best strategy, a truck pulled up to donate stuff. Chris ran over to the truck and asked the guy if he and his girl would mind helping us get a load of blankets over to the people at the convention center. This guy was amazing and helped us get three loads over there. I noticed that he was limping while we were loading and unloading and I mentioned it to him. I asked him about it again after we were finished with the third load and we were standing around talking and he told me an amazing story. The week before, his condo had been broken into and he had sustained a gun shot wound to the chest. He showed me the surgery scar and bandage. And this man went out of his way to help with three loads of heavy bedding to help the citizens of New Orleans. Amazing, truly amazing.

As Chris and I were heading back into the building we met a man from NOLA who was there looking for his 13-year-old son. He had been on a contstruction job in Mississippi but had called home and told his wife to get his son into the car and head his way. His son had decided that he was going to hitch a ride with his buddy's family who were coming to Mississippi also, so the wife came on without him. Somehow the kid ended up on one of the buses to TX. This man had driven straight through from Mississippi and wasn't going to be able to find out which shelter his son was in until this morning. I pray that he found the boy and didn't beat him senseless for not obeying his directive to get in the car with his mother. The guy was pretty mad as you can probably imagine...

Once we got back inside the center we saw that our efforts had been most worthwhile and that most people were sleeping comfortably under blankets and sheets. Whew, crisis averted! :) We started looking for another task and did a bit of this and that to help people get situated for the night. It was about 1:30 am and I was starting to feel physcially tired so I started planning to wrap it up for the night. I had promised Barry that I wouldn't be out all night and meant to keep that promise, although I was totally adrenaline-filled and ready to help more. Just at that moment another volunteer came up and asked if anyone was available to give a man a ride to Baylor downtown to see his 70-year-old mother who was in the hospital there. I took the opportunity to wrap it up and get the guy to his mother's side on my way home. This man had a story of hope that made me happy to hear.

His name was Charlie (good name, that's my dad's name) and he and his family had been at the Superdome most of last week. He described himself as a "hurricane nut" so he had gone to the Superdome with his own personal stock of food and water. He also related to me how he had gone by to visit his brother on his way to the arena, but his brother was one of the stubborn ones who was determined to ride out the storm. He grabbed his brother's children and took them with him to the arena. It's a good thing too because his brother's house is currently under water and none of that family knows how to swim. Odds are high that his brother is gone but thankfully the children are alive and well in Dallas. He told me that no news media could properly describe the horror that was the Superdome. I didn't press for details because the energy coming off this guy told me that I was better off not knowing. His bedraggled family had been on a bus to Dallas but when they got to the processing center at the former Old Town Mall they were informed that they'd be moved on to Kansas because Dallas was full. (Side note here: Does that mean that Oklahoma is doing nothing for the displaced citizens of Louisiana? Why would they be heading to Kansas? Inquiring minds want to know.) He had the bus pull over on the highway so that they could get off...his elderly and sick mother would not have made it to Kansas, he was quite convinced about it. They were picked up by a good samaritan in an SUV who brought them back to downtown, gave them some money, and dropped them off there. They already had arrangements made here in town with a friend who they were going to connect with today. This friend already had a house and a car lined up for them. As it turns out, he had been wanting to move to Dallas for about two years now. Welcome to Dallas, Charlie, I hope you like it better here than you did in Louisiana.

The recurring theme last night was gratitude although some of the people were still defensive and wounded and looked at us with mistrust in their eyes. The stories were amazing and horrifying. I look forward to heading back down there today to help out some more, and so far it's looking like B may be able to join me because he is not in pain (*hope hope hope* that continues). Stay tuned for more stories from the front...

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