Salem Katrina Team Update - from Gautier at last! November 5

We finally have Oregon "boots on the ground" as Morella put it. Joan delivered blankets to northwestern Arkansas. Seven adults from an assisted living facility in Pass Christian, Mississippi, had been relocated there. Joan delivered the beautiful lap quilts made by the Salem Quilt-a-Thon folks and the residents loved them as Anne, shown on the left, will testify!

Morella arrived yesterday and set to work helping the new tent city mayor get things taken care of, including questions regarding kitchen work in Gautier Presbyterian Church and installation of a washer/dryer delivered by the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance folks. Some questions came up regarding a shed to position the washer/dryer and we offered our help...more details tomorrow. We'd like to help but still be sensitive to the wishes of our hosts in every way!

Rick flies in at about 9AM tomorrow (we never knew there is a red eye to the Gulf until Rick found it!), and David gets here just before 3PM. The Swansons are waiting an extra day to collect their mail before pulling into Gautier, but that gives us a good work crew of 7 hardy souls by tomorrow evening. Either Sunday evening or Monday morning, before leaving for our first work assignment, we'll be attending an orientation to the projects.

This evening Joan and I got into Keesler AFB, driving past moderate damage in downtown Biloxi. We started seeing the affects of Katrina about 50 miles north, mostly damaged billboards and torn up signs. We didn't see roofs off, etc., until just before pulling onto I10.

First impression...this place is dark! Many commercial signs are missing or their lighting is damaged, so its sometimes hard for strangers to navigate. Another observation...signs reading "Relief Workers and Residents ONLY". Buildings collapsed, trash piled by the street. Refrigerator's by the curb. Litter, especially siding and installation, on the roadside. Lights in residential areas are usually out. Exit signs on freeways damaged, some showing only half of the words. Cement barricades closing roads. Stores and businesses missing their names on the buildings. Many older homes with collapsed porches. And this is after two months of recovery!