Presbyterian Churches of Oregon - Disaster Assistance

First Presbyterian of Salem - Heading Back to Katrina in '08?

2008-02-18T22:13:00.000-08:00

Here we are in February 2008, and despite our best intentions to keep returning to the Gulf Coast we have yet to do so. Thank goodness many other churches in Oregon, including our sister Presbyterian churches, have kept the faith and continued to launch missions into the area. But perhaps we can get back on track and form up another team. Wes Carter and others from First Pres are "chatting" up the idea...give him a call or see one of our first team's members, or contact Morella Larson who is now with the Presebyterian Disaster Association. Morella serves with PDA as a designated missionary from First Pres.

Salem Katrina Team Report - February 1

2006-02-01T14:52:00.000-08:00

We are still sad, of course, with the news of Morella Larson having lost her sister. The announcement was made during services at Salem's First Presbyterian, and I wish we were in Palm Springs to be with her at this time. On happier news, the folks donating the used travel trailer for me to tow to Mississippi have made it a somewhat nicer gift than first thought, upgrading their donation to a 1998 model of a Shasta 26' unit.

Salem Katrina Team Report - January 29

2006-01-30T05:45:00.000-08:00

Terrible news today, when Joan emailed me the news that Morella Larson's sister died in a car crash. My last blog entry mentioned Morella, and she was so happy with her work in Palm Springs when she phoned me on Friday. You and your sister are in our prayers, Morella. God Bless.

Salem Katrina Team Report - January 28

2006-01-28T17:54:00.000-08:00

Last night I heard from Morella Larson, our well-traveled team member from Salem who is continuing her winter in Palm Springs. She is also continuing her work for Katrina relief, mentioning that she's making a presentation on our work in Gautier. Her friends in Palm Springs should be very proud of sending Morella to the Gulf with such generous gifts! I will always have a picture in my mind of Morella standing in the fellowship hall, wearing her work apron with the MORELLA name tag.

Various paperwork delays have kept me in Tampa, so today I worked with the RV dealership in preparing their donation of a travel trailer for me to tow to Ocean Springs. There, Christus Victor Lutheran Church has a couple older motorhomes parked behind the church for volunteer housing, and this very wonderful donation will allow up to four volunteers to have a bit more privacy and comfort after a hard day. Judy, an insurance manager here at the dealership told me earlier in the week that God must have a reason for slowing things down a bit and keeping me in Tampa longer than I'd like. She was right.

I phoned Bob Montgomery (a retired Navy commander and church member) at Christus Victor to give them a heads-up on this unit coming in, and he was eleated! A couple more such vehicles and it will look like we're having an RV rally! Bob and his wife Brenda have set new standards for Joan and me to consider in their tireless rededication of their entire lives - home, income, time, prayers, everything they have - to help their church meet the needs of Katrina victims. And we see folks like them in Gautier as well, and I'm thinking of Pam Martin, Fred, and so many other wonderful folks like them. Also...ever notice how so many of them are retired military?

Bob and Christus Victor remind us that money is still needed. Lots of money. Besides their free medical clinic and labor crews, Christus Victor continues to operate a huge distribution point where storm victims get food, clothing and other necessities. Although some food is donated, most has to be bought and they need money to meet the need. I wish we could do more than we have!

Salem Katrina Team Report - January 27

2006-01-27T12:40:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling pretty useless, sitting here in Tampa while completing arrangements to replace our burned motorhome. The insurance folks considered it a total loss following the fire in the Norcold refrigerator, but have their channels to follow...and they take time, of course.

Anyway, today made up for all that, and in spades! I asked various managers of the dealership we're working with about their donating a travel trailer for Christus Victor Lutheran Church in Ocean Springs, and a few minutes ago they agreed! Amazing and wonderfully kind on their part. Their donation trailer sleeps four, is a modern, 1996 unit complete with a nice bedroom, a kitchen and a front "living room", and will be ideal for church volunteers to use back in Gautier or Ocean Springs. The dealership, Lazy Days RV in Seffner, Florida, is even providing RV supplies to get folks into it promptly.

Thus, whenever I finally can drive our replacement motorhome back to Mississippi, the mission of old Salem First Pres continues by bringing this useful donation, thanks to great people in business who care about helping Katrina victims.

Thanks, Lazy Days! Glad we came here to do business. And I can't wait to tell the folks in Mississippi!

Salem Katrina Team Report - January 20

2006-01-20T20:33:00.000-08:00

I wanted to comment on the strange feeling as I arrived in Tampa and looked around.

Something is wrong! These streets are clean. The fences are upright. The homes don't have blue plastic covering the roofs. The trees aren't broken off and crashed all over the place. It smells clean. No little signs stuck in the ground at each intersection hawking roof repairs or discount electrical work.

It looks normal. It looks like what this entire country looked like the day before Katrina. Suddenly seeing "normal" really hits you after a few months in the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

I've been working here in Tampa on insurance papers, bank stuff and details about replacing our burned motorhome. It is necessary, and we have to do it to replace our loss and not suffer the loss of our investment, but boy, do I feel I'm wasting time! Here I am in Tampa, playing with my "toys" instead of working. I learned that our RV sales rep's aunt lives in Gulfport and lost her home. The sales rep's company sent her a motorhome and it pulled a travel trailer which was donated elsewhere.

I certainly missed the crowd at evening and morning devotions back at Christus Victor.

Salem Katrina Team Report - January 19

2006-01-19T18:45:00.000-08:00

Today is quite an adventure, building on yesterday’s events. Last night I got an email from our motorhome insurance carrier that they decided our burned coach is a total loss. This means we’re able to get a replacement for the same price we’d paid for the first vehicle, but it will be quite a bit newer and thus very much to our advantage, and is everything we could have hoped for as a solution. So, this morning as I type I’m sitting in an AirTrans plane flying to Tampa to visit a couple dealerships, select a coach and complete the paperwork. I’ll then return to Ocean Springs to reload our salvaged personal items, partly cleaned of soot and smoke damage, into the replacement coach and complete the donation of our son Ben’s Dodge van to our host Lutheran church. I want to say that this week's “life lesson” has been that insurance folks can’t fix things instantly, but they can be very, very fast when they’re needed, and we are grateful both to them (Mike McGuinness of National Interstate) and our selling agent (Lazy Days RV).

We were at first afraid we’d have to ask to be excused from our promise to donate Ben’s van because we'd need it to pull the UHaul trailer with our belongings back to Oregon, so this solution of a replacement RV might be totally perfect. The old Dodge van is needed here to provide crew transportation and to haul large loads for the volunteers. I am also so grateful for the folks at Christus Victor who’d kept asking how things were going regarding our personal needs and the insurance issues, and I appreciate their happiness when I told them last night how things were resolved. I must say that these two pastors have been a blessing here in Mississippi, but they would be the “dynamic duo” anywhere they chose to serve. I have been blessed with meeting saints everywhere during these four months. And Lutheran saints are pretty good!

We heard from Wayne and Mary Swanson, members of our original team, that they’re to visit in Dallas soon, so I hope we can somehow connect. They were also a couple saints who walked into my life, and into the lives of those folks in Gautier they came to serve.

Work crews were busy here in Ocean Springs all week. They have restarted repairs in the sanctuary, which Joan was worried about, as well as finishing roof repairs in the back. Other teams worked at the distribution center, joined by 30 or so Air Force volunteers from Keesler Air Force base who came to help. As a retired Air Force man, I am proud of these young folks giving up their time off to help the community.

We’ve started getting more job requests. For awhile, we had more volunteers than work for them because bad weather forced cleanup crews to suspend outdoor work. We have had several folks who need help sent over to us by the local FEMA officials, who themselves have requested assistance on their personal homes. Glad to help!

Joan is at home in Oregon, busy scheming how we can continue to help both the Lutheran and the Presbyterian missions in Gautier and Ocean Springs. She’s designing some sort of a matching gift proposal to run by other members of our Salem First Pres. She’s also organically unable to keep from volunteering for her other interests, mostly trail maintenance for the Park Service so she’s already got new trips scheduled. Her months here in the Gulf will be the highlight of her volunteer work, I’m sure.

Late note: I made it to Tampa just fine, looked at vehicles and have some papers to complete, then I hope to head back to Ocean Springs early next week.

Salem Katrina Team Report - January 17

2006-01-17T10:43:00.000-08:00

Except for my missing Joan so much, yesterday was about as perfect as a day can get! Although celebrating Martin Luther King Day, the FEMA disaster center was open and managers there okay’d our church group putting up a wheelchair ramp for an elderly lady who has been waiting for one for nine weeks! I went back to Christus Victor and their folks scheduled it for completion by Wednesday! Plus…the FEMA lady I was working with needs help with her house so we will be sending crews to help her also, and she’ll spread the word so others can seek help. Thus, we were spared wondering what dramatic action would be necessary to have somebody in FEMA’s food chain meet their obligation to our elderly friend, with the paralyzed veteran son.

I visited the lady's bank and the manager there put a hold on her checking account so all large checks will be carefully examined to make sure the lady isn't being victimized in any way. The manager also had a church friend doing family law who might help us arrange a financial guardian for her.

Last night, I expected to sleep in our Dodge van and had put an air mattress and sleeping bag in it. All local hotels are either damaged or are filled with displaced families and construction workers. Joan, ever caring about my needs, was on the phone with the housing coordinator, who located a church member with a spare room. Warm digs, nice folks, a hot bath--life is good! The air mattress is still in the van, however.

The word from National Interstate, the insurers of our motorhome, was that the the coach might not be totaled, but it remains a possibility. That would be good news for us as we could more easily slide into another motorhome than to wait a year for this one to be repaired, paying on it all the while but unable to use it, and then be stuck with a vehicle with unknown water and electrical complications. Already, there is a suggestion of mold, only ten days after the fire, because it has been a very warm winter thus far.

Read King’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail, won’t you? You can find it online very easily.

Salem Katrina Team Report - January 15

2006-01-15T22:01:00.000-08:00

As Joan and I drove to church, she was concerned about a young family whose house she had worked on still had a day's worth of mudding to do. She hoped a team would finish it because she was flying home. As we went through the breakfast line at the church, a guy who had worked with her said he and three team members would go there and tackle it! Isn’t that perfect? Also I got to hold the baby of a couple whose house Joan had mudded last week... it made this grandpa wannabe happy!

We enjoyed another great service and appreciated the skillful weaving of the letter from the Birmingham jail by Dr. Martin Luther King into the message. I thought about that letter all day, and how Dr. King’s protest meant so much, and how his defense at being an “out of town” visitor applied to me.

The sad part for me was Joan's departure, combined with the damage to the motorhome and impatience about how the insurance will cover it. So, I’ll wait here a few days longer. On the way to the airport, we drove through the devastation of Biloxi and Gulfport. On my prior trip two months ago, most access roads were blocked. The damage is profound, reminding me of riding the school bus in Stuttgart (where my dad was stationed) past piles of rubble--not yet removed, seven years past the war's end.

Returning to Ocean Springs after Joan’s flight departed, I took a power nap, and then headed for the church around 7:00 p.m. for dinner (a great stew, followed by a chocolate chip cake Joan reminded me not to miss!) By 8:00, with no sign of a pastor at hand to lead evening devotions, I led them. About thirty were there, patiently attending to the message and prayers, but things certainly did fall apart as I tried to lead in singing “Now the Day is Over”. I can’t carry a tune to save my life, and it turns out no one there could either. (Joan's piano accompaniment had guided us for two weeks--the gap is certainly noticeable now!) We painfully limped through to the amusement of a couple of students (and I know who they are!), but at least we kept going! I enjoy the time spent sharing about projects they had gone to and homeowners they had helped. It was also nice to hear a compliment about Joan's singing that morning.

I met Mark, a marketing manager with UPS who is volunteering with his church from Atlanta. We discussed writing journals, and I went on about how this blog is my first attempt to keep a record of events as they unfold in my life. I hope I’ll keep it up.

I picked up trash around the parking lot of the church-- a small gesture of thanks for their warm hospitality in allowing me leave the RV for some time after the fire.

Salem Katrina Team Report - January 13

2006-01-14T07:10:00.000-08:00

Our work at the Lutheran relief center here in Ocean Springs is about to wrap up. We have especially enjoyed the time spent at Christus Victor because of the great size of the organization. At times, over 280 volunteers and a handful of paid staff have been laboring at the distribution center, free clinic, client intake office, pastoral counseling office and the on-site work crews! And it was made so much nicer because of an immense church building dedicated to Katrina relief, yet still focused on its traditional mission. Yesterday, we watched the rehearsal for a wedding and teased the bride a little. I gestured to her dad during the rehearsal to step aside, and when the bride reached for his arm to march down the aisle, I had moved into his place --she went several steps before she realized something was wrong!

I was able to visit an elderly lady I met while helping her disabled veteran son. Ever since early November, we have been trying to get FEMA to put in handicapped access to the woman's trailer so she could move in. I've been promised by several FEMA leaders that the work would be done "within a couple days"...for over two months now. When Joan and I visited her on Wednesday to see if the wheelchair ramp had been put in (and it haden't), we learned to our great surprise that the local television station had discovered her and done a brief news story on her which focused on her age, surviving Katrina, and difficulties living in a damaged house...but they didn't know about the problems with her trailer! What luck...it seems nobody in government or business is immune from a 60 Minutes- type exposé! I was able to track down the reporter who did the story and briefed her on what we'd learned...the station promised to keep following up. The reporter, Julie Gold of WLOX Channel 13, also didn't know about the lady's paralyzed son and the station has had a special interest in disabled veterans.

While we were with this elderly client, we learned that she'd been trying to submit an application for a home repair grant. She was required, among other things, to provide a photo identification. She had never had a driver's license or any other kind of identification. I phoned the driver's license bureau and they said a birth certificate was required for a non-driver's identification card, and we then learned our friend's papers had all been washed away in the storm. Our goal for Monday is to try to find how to get a copy of her birth certificate from Mississippi's Department of Health so the identification card can be issued so the repair papers can be submitted so the house can be repairs...so that this elderly, frail lady trying to take care of her paralyzed son can try to keep her life together. So many victims...so little time. I'm not writing that as a joke, but a true feeling which overwhelms us all the time.

Yesterday we continued cleaning up the back parking lot at the church, helping church member Bob Montgomery move pallets of food and relief supplies, picking up trash, taking out garbage, giving first aid to a couple injured volunteers, and other fun stuff. Bob wasn't pleased when we were picking up canned food from a collapsed pallet, and as I handed him cartons of canned spigetti sause one burst all over his shirt!

Our RV insurance folks, National Interstate, had their accident inspector visit us yesterday and examine our burned coach in the middle of a thunderstorm. He apparently didn't need to look into the damaged lower storage areas but he did photograph several areas inside, got the four corners of the vehicle, and a photo of the top. Nice guy and I guess we now wait for his report to go in, and the company to advise what their next course is. We are worried that repairs may take over a year from what we've seen on the Internet of similar fires, with the motorhome having to return to the factory to have the roof and right side replaced and the inside gutted or cleaned. In any case, here we are 2500 miles from home, and we've decided that Joan will fly back to Oregon tomorrow, and I've rented a UHaul vehicle for our belongings and will start driving on Tuesday unless the insurance company suggests otherwise. At least, there is no suggestion thus far that we won't be covered and we hope whatever news eventually is good.

Joan has had a special project of helping a couple with three young kids, now living in their FEMA trailer alongside their ruined house. The husband and Joan, sometimes with other volunteers when they're available, have been putting up wallboard. Yesterday she tried to help but the man was unable, because he has ruptured cervical disks and is in great pain. He can only help his family and work on his home after work and when he isn't in such pain. Another "so many victims, so little time."

I played with three great kids last night just after dinner..they were all under six and spoke both English and Spanish, helping their folks who only spoke Spanish. They have been living in a car for quite some time with their parents, and the family had approached the church for help finding a place to sleep. The husband has a job but it will be some time before he's earned money for his first month's rent and deposit on an apartment - which don't seem to exist anyway, given this area's damages, dislocated families and contractors seeking their own lodging. Henry, our professional social worker, tried to talk them into returning to their family in Atlanta and said he could find a room for the husband, but the wife vetoed that...won't tolerate her young family being separated. Christus Victor provided a motel room for last night but this certainly won't solve anything. I scrounged toiletries for them and found a box of children's books, some neat little cars and off they went. Another of the volunteers boxed up some food but the family's car is small, and five people in it don't leave much room for supplies.

See you in church tomorrow!

Salem Katrina Team Report - January 11

2006-01-11T20:13:00.000-08:00

Joan had another great day mudding a house with a team from Christus Victor Lutheran Church here in Ocean Springs. She draws great satisfaction, as she should, from this hands-on work so important in helping Katrina victims. A neat thing...a question on technique came up while we were driving her to one work site, and Joan called our wonderful old handyman Bill and sought his advice. The old sage came through and Joan got the tips she needed for a good job. If only Bill were fifteen years younger and here with us in the Gulf...he'd have this mess squared away in a week or two.

We also spent the day finishing the removal and cleaning of our belongings following the small fire (caused when a line leaked ammonia which the pilot flame ignited). Trying to get that soot off is a lesson, a paradigm for the post-Katrina clean-up...soot is easier to clean than mold, which the folks here have had such trouble with since the storm. Soon we'll pack up a UHaul rental with belongings for the long drive back home...it's 2500 miles by myself, but at least I get to pick the music!! We also heard from our RV dealer back in McMinnville that there is little they do to help clients, even when their customer's coach is destroyed far from home because of a component they'd just serviced. This is miserable...certainly it is not the vacation trip to conclude four months of hard work in Mississippi that we'd been looking forward to. Instead, just so many wasted days and wasted money, on top of our loss.

Tonight's devotions were very meaningful and Joan accompanied on the piano, which I very much enjoy every time. We sang "Now the Day is Over", which I first learned in junior high school nearly 50 years ago.

I've started King's Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling now that Joan has finished with it -- at least I'm not reading by the new "fireplace" in the side of the RV where our refrigerator used to be!

Salem Katrina Team Report - January 10

2006-01-10T17:25:00.001-08:00

We drove our son Ben to the Gulfport airport for his return to Vermont, concluding his 20 days here in the Katrina area. We are so pleased with the frequent comments from other teams about how hard he worked at the Christus Victor Lutheran distribution center...this will be something he'll remember all his life, and which has had significant impact on the victims of this historic disaster. Here's his crew, with Ben third from the left. A great crew!

Joan continued doing wallboarding work in D'Iberville, and I helped Bob Montgomery of the Christus Victor church sort clothing, looking for winter-weight items which will be needed here in the cold weather already upon us. Bob and his wife Brenda are only a couple houses away from their church, and they've been among the mainstays in the area's recovery. They're at the church working by 8:00 AM every day, and typically not back home until 9:00 PM or even later. Last night, I walked over to the church to help some folks in an older RV, and passed Bob walking back home at 10:00. How long can folks like this, strong as they are, carry such a burden?

Sorting the piles of donated clothes for our distribution center, I discovered a couple of chef's shirts and delivered them to our kitchen crew so they could look more spiffy...now the four without are jealous of the two who have them! Fun ladies-- Gladys has one of the shirts! We have a great food staff --all volunteers-- who arrive at 5:00 AM and work until long past dinner, usually wrapping up just before evening devotions.

The Ocean Springs Fire Department came back this morning to photograph the damage from our motorhome fire. There aren't many such fires (aren't we special??)and they mentioned doing some training with their photos. We are insured with National Interstate, and while their company's contract fire inspector has been here to do a careful inspection of the fire, we still have yet to hear from their adjustor five days after. The inside of the coach has the expected smoke and soot damage, but I'm surprised about the intensity of it. We heard from one dealer that such fires can result in a year of refurbishment. Our fire began in the Norcold refrigerator, which uses propane or AC power, and uses ammonia. The entire back of the refrigerator and a part of the areas left and right of it have burned, plus the flames destroyed the large awning and some inside areas. The firefighters had to chop through the roof to suppress the flames...that's a nasty looking hole. What a terrible stink.

Thank goodness for the couple who invited us into their beautiful home (where they put up eight volunteers a night). They need the room soon, however, for others arriving, and maybe we'll be able to start back to Oregon soon. Oh, the mysteries of life!

We have spent so many hours emptying the coach, to wipe off items using a Pine-Sol mixture to get off some of the soot. We've run pretty much every stitch of clothing through a washer, using Pine-Sol, color-safe bleach and Tide, as the internet suggested this combination to remove the soot and smell...seems to work. But hard to do, fitting in the hours around our chores at the church. We're supposed to be volunteers, not victims!! It is not hard to see how hopeless one can become after such a loss. But unlike the people of Mississippi, we have our regular home to return to. Their turmoil will continue for years to come.

The lesson from all this: life is good. We have a beautiful home to return to, unlike so many of the Katrina survivors. And we were washed with kindnesses and blessings from the folks we work with here at Christus Victor Lutheran. Thank you all. In a special way, this might be the best part of our four month mission to the Gulf Coast.

We heard the police were looking for us!! Turns out that when we were parked at the D'Iberville PDA camp around Christmas Day, while we were off and resting in Jacksonville for the holiday, the city folks sent their sheriff to check out the ownership of our vehicle. They wanted to know who the heck owned the RV (that's us) parked alongside the unused tennis court about 100 yards away from the main PDA camp which has been built in the town's baseball field. We understand they were worried it might be an unauthorized repair contractor or "squatter" even though we had our mission signs on the sides..but that location was where George, our first PDA camp manager, assigned us, and the current volunteer manager, Dr. Bill Caldewalder, set things straight...he explained the situation to the officials, but also explained to us that the RV would have to be moved. Which we did, of course...over to the Gautier Presbyterian Church and then, after a night, to Christus Victor Lutheran.

Visiting with other folks volunteering for the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, we learned again how important PDA feels it to be that volunteers not represent themselves, or misunderstand in their own minds, that volunteers are with PDA. We volunteers are coordinated and in some ways also supported by PDA, but we are certainly not part of their organization. This is all confusing but it must be important to them. For our part, I'm glad we were able to provide some financial support, especially the money given to Julie in Gautier before she left, and the support sent before we arrived to help set up their Internet access and other items. It seems our donated equipment (copier/printer, generators, multifold ladders, drills, first aid gear, food and food preparation equipment, tarps, cleaning supplies, etc. have been useful as well. I understand that Gautier Presbyterian is no longer accepting donations, but other churches in the Gulf area certainly are, and I recommend contacting Christus Victor in Ocean Springs if you can donate items.

This last Sunday we attended my first Lutheran service. I enjoyed it very much, and the pastor was focused so perfectly on the Katrina situation, yet still lighthearted. The service seemed more structured than ours with more hymns (Joan loved that, of course!), and communion was quite formal, like an Episcopal service. Joan felt very much at home, having begun her musical career as minister of music at a Lutheran church after completing her Master's at Northwestern. During devotions this morning, we were asked to shout out the states represented by today's volunteers: Oregon, Washington, Virginia, Minnesotta, Mississippi, Iowa, Idaho, Colorado, New York, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Georgia. All together, over 260 youth and adults here at this camp, and there are volunteer centers just like this all along the Gulf Coast.

Keep coming to volunteer, folks. And send money or gift cards along with your teams. Clothes are not needed any longer, and neither is water, but pretty much everthing else that life requires should be brought here. Sewing machines, washer-dryers, used computers, good furniture, tools...send these things to help the people of Mississippi and Louisiana.

Salem Katrina Team Report - January 7

2006-01-07T19:10:00.000-08:00

We have just a few days left here in the Gulf, and I know we will want to return. Please, if you are coming to volunteer, hurry! If you have already been here, when is your next trip? There will be satisfying and worthwhile work to do for years.

We handed out the last of the beautiful Salem Quilt-a-Thon quilts yesterday, giving them to members of Christus Victor Lutheran Church in Ocean Springs. These folks have been both victims and relief workers, suspending their lives and turning everything they have over to helping their church and the entire community recover.

Ben continues his work at the distribution warehouse, and I have been simply astounded at the constant flow of praise from various adults that he supervises (that's right..supervises) as they distribute relief supplies to victims. Ben really wants to stay but has to get back to Vermont to help Landmark College get ready for their next batch of RAs. He'll work a bit after than and then continue his studies at Rochester Institute of Technology.

We had a tad bit of excitement last night during devotions. Prayers had just started when we smelled a burning insulation odor, when my phone rang. It was Ben saying to get outside...the motor home was on fire. One of his friends had seen it, called him and he called us. The fire department had already been called and the 15-foot flames coming from the center of the coach were quickly knocked down...the refrigerator had caught fire. We winced as the firefighters had to axe through the roof to suppress the fire. Great folks at Christus Victor invited us to stay in their home until we leave...what a blessing! They even put mints on our pillows and folded our laundry after washing to remove the soot.

Now, we are hoping to learn more from our insurance company on Monday about what our situation is. This morning, we were joined by four great youth volunteers helping us empty the coach, wipe everything free of soot and box it for whatever is next...a replacement RV or shipment back home. In the daylight, things didn't look a bunch better, but we are blessed that we weren't hurt, and neither were the kids who ran to the coach and tried to fight the fire with our fire extinguishers, or the firefighters.

We are certainly lucky in one way. We frequently enjoy camping in remote areas, where a fire department response could have been far too late to be of any help. So, now we have suddenly become Katrina victims ourselves!

See you in church tomorrow!

Salem Katrina Team Report - January 4

2006-01-04T18:09:00.000-08:00

Today began with a trip to take Phyllis Wright (from the Hillsboro Pres) to Gulfport for her flight home. We took a few minutes to drive through the housing area of Keesler AFB which was so devastated. Block after block of empty houses.

I then went to present one of our Salem Quilt-a-Thon quilts to Mrs. Register, mother of a paralyzed veteran who's issues I've been helping on. I arrived to find her just haven fallen in her kitchen. The center of the floors of each room in her house have collapsed following Katrina, and she fell trying to fix a meal for herself. I gave her first aid, and then gave her the blanket which thrilled her!

Less thrilling, however, was the news that FEMA still hadn't put in the handicapped access for the FEMA trailer delivered six weeks ago, something which should have been done within three days of delivery. I then visited the FEMA operations center where a supervisor assured me she'd resolve the problem today! I hope so, and will follow up with Mrs. Register on Monday. She'll also need our help getting her household goods moved into the trailer.

While at the FEMA operations center, they asked me to help a lady Gulf War veteran who'd had a domestic violence situation and had been sleeping in the local woods for two nights. A wonderful angel found her and gave her shelter for one night, then brought her to FEMA. We were working on various questions when she was suddenly taken ill and we had to rush her to the hospital across the street. After three hours in the ER, we took her to the local pharmacy for various medications, and tomorrow we'll take her to the Biloxi VA hospital to see what they can do...the lady is 100% disabled and the VA has responsibility, although they suggested over the phone that we try to take her somewhere else.

I have been amazed at the time working on one person's problems can take. It was virtually the entire day, but it was certainly satisfying.

Joan continued to work on an Ocean Springs house with a young fellow from Kansas. Together, they have just about finished with the wallboard and are looking forward to getting some tape and mud up. Ben is still at the warehouse, and I was so proud when another team come looking for me to say how hard he has been working! It is wonderful having him here and I know it is an experience he'll remember all his life.

Salem Katrina Team Report for January 2

2006-01-02T18:08:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, folks! We are excited about a new year of service and of happy family developments.

We enjoyed Christmas with our old friend Clara Webster and we were invited to worship on Christmas Eve at St. John's Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville. Those great folks loaded a UHaul trailer for us to take back to Gautier, bringing new microwaves, television, beds, stoves and a washer-dryer. These goods were distributed to needy storm victims, thanks to Pam Martin, Gautier's Disaster Assistance Coordinator.

Pastor Chris Bullock emailed us that his church was filling up with volunteers, so we have relocated our little group, joining Christus Victor Lutheran Church in nearby Ocean Springs.

Ben, our youngest son, has volunteered at this church's distribution warehouse, where families affected by Katrina can get clothing, food, appliances...the "stuff" of life necessary for existance after the storm. Ben loves the hard work and great crowd of adults and youth he's working with. I'll continue doing case work with area veterans, which I've found very rewarding.

Joan continues to do her wallboarding and other hard work, but today was a change as she offered to drive other volunteers to their flight departing from New Orleans airport, about 100 miles away. Our local Gulfport airport had terrible fog which forced nearly every flight to be cancelled.

Dan Grimes, the area supervisor for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, came over to recover the PDA name badges we'd been given by Julie when we first registered at Gautier Pres. Seems we aren't allowed to put our photos on the cards we were given...only PDA officials can do that. He explained further the differences between the Presbyterian Church and the PDA, and why their logo, etc. cannot be used by churches. I gather, as he explained it, that the name badges we were first given should not have been pre-printed with their PDA logo on them as that would have implied that the volunteers were working as part of the PDA. These badges had the PDA logo at the top with the volunteer's name and city below, and were on a string which included a luggage tag from PDA also. These are identical to the cards distributed at the D'Ibverville camp, so I'm still confused.

Good news: Dan is having his stitches removed today and is obviously feeling better following treatment.

Salem Katrina Team Report for December 24

2005-12-24T14:05:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, all. Our smaller Salem team, consisting of Joan and Wes Carter (me) plus our youngest son Ben, wish you the very warmest greetings. We are so grateful for the support of old Salem First Pres on this mission, and we certainly long to return to Oregon after so many weeks. I think we will turn West to begin the journey home around the 10th to the 15th of January.

Tonight we celebrated Christmas Eve with Joan's dear friend Clara Webster, and we were invited to Saint John's Presbyterian Church here in Jacksonville for services at seven. We met John, Pamela's husband and all the members of their team at the services.

To our three older children in California and North Carolina, God Bless you every day of your lives. You have brought us such happiness, and we have learned so much from each of you, especially Audrey who was the first of the family to do Habitat work, and we follow in her boot steps.

To all the soldiers, sailors and airmen defending our country, thank you for your sacrifice and we pray for your safety and for your families.

Merry Christmas to all those who have felt the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. We are amazed at your courage, your strength and your faith. Thank you for letting our church join you these months. God Bless.

Salem Katrina Team Report for December 22

2005-12-23T14:19:00.000-08:00

Joan and I were proud of Ben as he jumped right into the swing of things, joining the crew managing our base camp at D’Iberville. Ben worked on emptying a kerosene fuel tank for repair, repairing the pallet walkways and other tasks. Our evening in D’Iberville ended, as usual, with a great campfire and a Christmas carol. There were, as usual, a group playing cards in the meeting tent, ignoring the cold and the generator's noise.

The next morning we were up and packed, heading for Jacksonville to spend Christmas Day with our old friend Clara Webster. Her great news was that son Chris has been accepted for Navy flight training, his goal since age three. He should be commissioned in August and then start earning his wings. Of course, they aren’t quite as good as Air Force wings, but they’re okay!

We wish all our dear friends and loved ones a joyous Christmas. We haven’t been able to do our usual cards and gifts, having chosen a demanding mission here in Mississippi instead. We’re tired but rewarded after five weeks, and we will be in the Gautier or D’Iberville PDA camps for about two more. After that, we’ll reconsider how long we can continue working, based on budget and fatigue factors.

Friends, please remember that everywhere along the Gulf Coast there is terrible damage, not just in the New Orleans area. Here in Mississippi, 65,000 homes were totally destroyed, and many more damaged. Those damaged ones are what we’re working on because they can be reused, made ready again for their owners.

I have mostly been working veterans issues, and am amazed at the number of elderly war veterans (those over 65) who are living on Social Security alone, and who are not aware of VA pensions for low income veterans. Other vets have injuries they’ve not even tried to get VA compensation for, and we’re getting great help from the Disabled American Veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Paralyzed Veterans of America in bringing their claims to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The local VA hospital was not badly damaged by Katrina, but many, many staffers lost their homes and are now living in trailers on the VA campus. Problems also are worsened by the nearby Keesler AFB hospital being totally closed down from damage, and not able to care for their retired population.

Please remember that we need money, and gift cards for Wal-Mart, Lowes and Home Depot where we get supplies. We also need sewing machines and two travel trailers for office space for the local PDA camp managers, who otherwise have to work out of plastic tents. We have also been specifically requested by the Gautier Presbyterian Church to bring household items to replace the damaged or lost furniture, area rugs, washers, dryers, etc., which their members need. Pam Martin is coordinating this program. Please, if you're driving to the disaster area, consider renting a UHaul and filling it with the extra stuff your church members all have around their homes.

Salem Katrina Team Report December 21

2005-12-21T10:55:00.000-08:00

We raised $11 at our last Katrina information table for which we are grateful, but our financial needs continue on a greater scale. Today, we spent $67 on propane, a heater device, and hot cocco to heat for our camp fire devotions with the adults and about 40 college kids still working this Christmas season. Tomorrow we need to buy 100 gallons of kerosene for the tent heaters...that fuel is $3.27 delivered in less than 500 gallon orgers. Send some money, folks. The Red Cross handles lunch and the city's Katrina Disaster Center feeds us breakfast and dinner, but all our supplies and gifts to storm victims have to be paid for.

Joan and Ben have arrived finally, and it feels wonderful to have family again. The weather has been quite cold at night...around freezing! Pity the poor folks still in unheated tents.

Most of our camp volunteers here in D'Iberville have been helping set up the new PDA camp in Gautier. Using a leased cattle pasture, PDA is setting up a fairly permanent camp for that area. They've finished assembling the tents, and yesterday were digging in the water lines. As you can see from our long-horned neighbor, we truly are in a cattle pasture, plus the occasional horse!

I've been able to help Phyllis Wright from Hillsboro run her blog, and also help Steve, the manager of the Gautier camp. All three of us have been bringing food and other supplies to Sonny, manager of Rose's Deli who has become famous for helping the area's poor with her free meals, food supplies and anything else she can do. She arrived late to meet us because she was out buying one neighbor a hard-to-find 4X winter coat...with her own money because the gentleman is unemployed! She has simply stopped earning money and is serving as her area's only soup kitchen, feeding up to 120 storm victims each day.

Salem Katrina Team Report - December 19

2005-12-19T07:31:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention the great campfires we've been having each night. Here are the kids from Monmouth Methodist-Presbyterian a couple nights back. Last night we had devotions around the campfire with about 30 folks. Tonight - same thing plus I'll try to have hot cocca!

We had a wonderful service yesterday at Gautier Presbyterian. Their little church is all decorated for Christmas and they're certainly ready for the celebrations. Chris Bullock is pretty much over the flu, thank goodness.

We were given a small tree from a church which sent many to Gautier Pres, and I set it up in the D'Iberville PDA camp where we're staying for these weeks. Phyllis Wright from Hillsboro, who has volunteered to be Steve's secretary, helped set it up, and now we feel much more seasonable, even in tents. Thank goodness the mud is drying out a bit, and the pallets have helped keep the tents much cleaner.

We have volunteers here from Athens (Georgia) Charlotte, Monmouth (Oregon) and Tampa. The camp should be up to about 75 volunteers by tonight, and hopefully the camp at Gautier will be up and running either tonight or tomorrow, depending on the mighty efforts of the crews putting things up.

Remember romance? Here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, a little mold mask certainly won't bother two lovebirds trying to kiss!

We should continue to stress that teams coming to this are need not buy and carry drinking water with them. We have supplies here and it is much more practical to buy what you need at local stores. We would much rather your precious cargo space be used for tools for us to use, or for household items needed by local families.

Pam Martin from Gautier Presbyterian Church has prepared a list of what each church family has lost in Katrina. She coordinates replacement area rugs, microwaves, end tables, sofas, armchairs and all the other things typically found on a family's first floor. Please...get in touch with her to bring these vital items to Gautier. In particular, she needs a good sewing machine. Also, both the PDA camp in Gautier (www.gautierpdacamp.blogspot.com) and the Gautier Pres (www.gautierpresby.com) need camper trailers for the camp managers' use. One was donated by a very generous Presbyterian for the D'Iberville camp and now we need two more.

Salem Katrina Team Report for December 16

2005-12-16T15:18:00.000-08:00

Several of our old hands (Steve, Brian, Phyllis) worked putting up wallboard at a Gautier trailer today, helping a gentleman who'd done much of the work himself before running out of steam and getting too cold to finish. Steve's dad Larry is here to visit him until Sunday, and we've tried to let him know how proud we are of his son.

Gee, only nine shopping days until Christmas! Only in the Carter family, we've all decided to exchange only cards and love this year...this is our Katrina Christmas, like so many folks down here.

Yesterday was spent with an elderly gentleman who was brought to us by the food contractor for the FEMA tent city next to us. He was confused, had bladder problems, and was out of various medicine. It took half a day, but we found wonderful help from the local D'Iberville Free Clinic and their volunteer physician. One of the nurses from our PDA camp was working there and we got to talking, and I learned with great joy that she's from Andover, Massachusetts where Joan and I lived for so many years.

We were blessed with our two college groups each using their contract buses to pick up loads of pallets from the WalMart about one mile away. We need them for building sidewalks, otherwise we're swimming in mud.

Our area PDA manager, Mr Dan Grimes, has insisted that no pallets or gravel be used at the new Gautier tent city that's going up. We have several of us volunteers with decades each of military field service and between us we cannot grasp the need to avoid using pallets to keep the tents up off the mud, or for not using gravel or other filler to somehow level the area. There must be a very wise reason to avoid such otherwise obviously necessary steps in camp living. I'm here to learn and I'm eager to discover the reason...so are the many other Army and Air Force professionals with field experience who are shaking their heads, wondering about it. This is something we learned to handle in our military field sanitation training. Something I want to draw from my Christian and my military training is how to be a good follower, especially here in Mississippi, so I want to support Mr. Grimes on this and other issues. It will all work out.

I phoned our son Ben who graduated yesterday. One of his contributions to Katrina was to tell Joan and me to work in Mississippi...to not travel to Vermont for his ceremony. We are very proud of him and eager to see him at the Gulfport airport on Tuesday when he comes to volunteer.

Lunch today was from the Red Cross which tries to deliver to places where there are victims or volunteers. Like us, they are volunteers doing their bit to help out. What else can one ask?

Salem Katrina Team Report for December 15

2005-12-15T06:02:00.000-08:00

Wow, it rained buckets last night! Rain started just as we were returning from the town soup kitchen where we eat, and it became severe, with thunder and lightning, around eleven. The plastic tents were drenched in most cases, with at least small puddles inside.

Thank goodness we got the pallet sidwalk built yesterday so there is less traffic through mud, but the powers that be might consider putting the tents onto some sort of platform, perhaps four pallets, to get them above the mud and rain, and to also strengthen the floors which otherwise will be damaged as folks walk on them over the uneven ground. Just my suggestion....

Salem Katrina Team Report for December 14

2005-12-14T08:26:00.000-08:00

I got back to Mississippi last Friday, and am now waiting for Joan and our son Ben to arrive next week.

“Oh, my God. Oh, my God!” exclaimed the woman behind me on the flight into Gulfport. She was seeing the wreckage of Katrina for the first time, and it made a terrible impression on her....on all of us! We landed and while taxiing to the gate, the man in front of me was on his cell phone and then flagged a flight attendant…she waved back and indicated “when we’ve parked”. When we reached the gate, he said there’d been a death in his family and he needed to turn around and fly immediately back to Houston, which the crew arranged for him. I spoke with him in the terminal, and there learned that it was his wife who had died in an automobile accident after dropping him off for his flight. What could I say? I felt so inadequate, and after holding his shoulder and offering to run whatever chores in Gulfport he needed done, I left. Since then, I’ve wondered what was wrong with me - why the heck didn’t I offer to stay, to get him a cup of coffee, to offer something more. Fine Christian I am!

That evening I drove to Jackson to pick up part of the team from a church in Monmouth (near Salem), and enjoyed the drive back with them. Great group, headed by Gale and Denvy Saxowski who’ve led many such mission trips before. Our Dodge van has proven useful to them. Despite their 3AM arrival at camp, they were up and working first thing – good for them! We’re all staying in the D’Iberville PDA camp while the new Gautier camp is set up over on Martin Bluff Road which is closer to our work sites. There is a displaced family camp next door set up by Navy SeaBees using Army tents...looks like the set from the TV series Mash.

We met our first hero of this week. While off to breakfast with the Monmouth folks, we ate with a family from Georgia here volunteering for awhile. Their 5-year old son, Nicholas, gave another child his Game Boy to help make up for that kid’s storm loss. Great kid who will be a good man, that Nicholas! And, he walked around and gave each of the cooks a big hug! Does life get any better?

Our camp manager Steve is doing great running things. Teams reporting to Gautier will find themselves well-taken care of by him. He has already got a Christmas dinner invitation for himself, and most of the camp will be shut down between December 23-26. It seems most relief activities of all area agencies are closing during the actual Christmas days.

Needs: I need some money, folks. I need to give money to a two meals a day “soup kitchen” that is run by “Sunny” in Gautier, called Rose’s Deli. Google her! She’s become quite famous and you’ll learn a lot. She runs a small deli next to a gas station and after Katrina simply started cooking for free and giving away food to the needy. She quickly went bankrupt but her rent has been taken care of for some months by physicians with the RICE organization who met her…but now she has run through those funds and needs $600 a month for her rent. She and her family pay for her soft drink syrups, meats, and breads, but the rest is usually donated. Steve and I drove around and collected over 150LB of food for her pantry, but she’ll go through that in handouts in a day or two for the 50 or more families which turn to her for help. I need money for victims’ glasses. I need money for wood planks to be placed under tents to raise them from the mud. I need money for propane for people who can’t buy it…FEMA only covers the initial two small tanks and its cold here now. You get the idea. Send money, please. If you don’t want to send it for Katrina (“Salem Katrina Relief” at this church or yours, please send it for relief of the earthquake victims in Pakistan.

This place is a terrible mess but it is much less of a mess than three months ago. The people are in pain living this way and it hurts a lot during Christmas to know your family is still in an Army tent, hoping to get a FEMA trailer someday, which you’ll in turn be forced out of by the middle of next summer. There are lots of good contractors but so many rip off artists you want to run them outta town! Everybody’s nerves are shot and you can tell from the aggressive driving. They’re nice folks who want their lives back so they can be nice folks again. Today I noticed many small backpacking-style tents for people camping between the local WalMart store and the interstate. What a terrible mess.

About the D’iberville PDA camp. This is a little plastic tent city set up in the town’s baseball field. Along side us are a contractor’s trailer village and rows upon rows of Army tents set up for displaced families. We’re between the two. Our little blue tents are manufactured in Canada and they are indeed plastic, and open up for assembly much like an accordion fold. They have plastic floors and I imagine they’ll last a season or so, longer if they get wood under them to get off the mud. I think there are two to a tent. Heat is provided by kerosene burners, with the warm air piped into the tents. Nearby generators make sleeping hard until you get used to wearing ear plugs. No electricity in the tents yet but maybe someday.

Our great PDA manager works out of a donated trailer some kind Presbyterian sent down and thank goodness for that! There are two small tents without sides which serve as a kind of storage area and gathering place, not very comfortable in the wind and cold, much less so when it rains. We’ve built a wooden walkway only part of the way through the camp using freight pallets to try getting off the mud, and there is a little snack bar originally used during the ball games where we heat coffee in the mornings. Not too comfy but it gets the job done. Meals are eaten over at the city’s food kitchen…very basic but the cost is right. Last month, we were able to cook for ourselves back in Gautier and this new arrangement saves food preparation time as well as clean-up...and its free.

I invited the Monmouth folks over for a campfire and we had our own devotionals last night. Got to know them a bit better. Sure is nice to visit after a day's work. Supposed to have pretty bad weather tonight and for the next few days.

Salem Katrina Team Report December 8

2005-12-09T04:53:00.000-08:00

We're having the usual travel delays, this time being stranded in Houston overnight because of icing troubles somewhere delaying flights. At least the hotels are close to the airport here, and prices are good.

I heard yesterday from the PDA Gautier camp that all teams are being moved over to another local PDA camp temporarily. Here's Steve's message:

NEW DIRECTIONS AND, ALSO THE LOCATION WHERE WE WILL BE STAYING.

With some complications with our new camp site, we will be staying in D'Iberville, till our new site is ready. We will still be working in the Gautier area. To get to the new camp you take exit 46B you take a right at the first signal which is -------- street, go straight through the plaza, make a right on Lamey Bridge you cross the bridge and it is going to be on the left hand side right after the bridge. The tents that we will be staying in are blue and white and are located on the baseball field. If you have any questions at all please contact me (Steve) at (228) 229-4547

I'm picking up the Monmouth team tonight in Jackson, and then tomorrow will drive around trying to find a bed-down location for 15 folks from a Hillsboro 4-Square church which has been at the Gulfport Naval Station and has to relocate. Anybody have an invitation?

Salem Katrina Team Report for December 5

2005-12-06T18:04:00.000-08:00

Joan and I had dinner (the salads at Olive Garden are great!!) last night with Phyllis Wright from Hillsboro Presbyterian who is an individual volunteer heading to Gautier. She's been requested to help camp manager Steve with the administration of the many folks reporting there to help...looks like about 150 workers by mid-January. We set up a blog for her at www.hillsborokatrina.blogspot if you'd like to visit and encourage her work.

First Pres Newberg called this afternoon with a great idea. Their pastor has two older but very reliable pickup trucks to donate, one of which he's having a new transmission put in, and these are much needed by the PDA camp for hauling crews and supplies. Now...how do we get the trucks from Newberg to Mississippi? Anybody got six days to enjoy a beautiful early Winter drive to the Gulf Coast?? Give me a call!

The trucks offer another great possibility. Gautier Presbyterian is surveying their members to determine who lost what...what each family needs to replace Katrina furniture losses. These trucks can be loaded with over 500 lb of furniture plus they can each tow the largest UHaul trailers. If you have or know where we can get items such as area rugs, televisions, sofas, end tables, coffee tables...all the stuff you'd find on a family's first floor, please give me a call. We'll try to get things arranged to get your surplus to a family which really needs help setting up house again!

Salem Katrina Team Report for December 4

2005-12-04T18:20:00.000-08:00

We had our last Sunday at old First Pres for many weeks. The sanctuary was decorated for Christmas so beautifully and the choir was great. I heard our Random Ringers bell group for the first time and certainly enjoyed them. Joan and I set up our Katrina information table and raised just $11 more (interest does seem to be dropping...is this "Katrina fatigue"?) towards the team's expenses and answered so many questions - folks do remain interested! We began to be aware of missing Christmas at home, and of missing so much of the season's happiness at First Pres...please don't forget us, Salem!! Ain't no snow in Gautier!

I fly back to Gulfport on December 8 and Joan arrives soon thereafter, then by Phyllis Wright on the 15th. and we're joined by son Ben on the 20th after he graduates in Vermont - sure wish I could be there, Ben! The day after I get in, I drive three hours north to Jackson to pick up two teams flying in from Monmouth. We're gettin' busy again! The Monmouth teams total thirteen college students and adults, with leaders Denvy & Gail Sikowsky. They'll be working out of the new PDA camp with Steve and his crew. I've also been trying to find the PDA camp a large Army tent for their field kitchen, but no luck so far.

Other volunteer teams: flights to the Gulf Coast go into Gulfport, but good prices can be found into the Jackson, MS airport. Check it out! Even New Orleans, 110 miles away, is a reasonable choice if you get a great price for a large group of people...makes the two hours driving worthwhile.

Salem Katrina Team Update for December 3

2005-12-03T08:01:00.000-08:00

Good morning, Team. A couple Gautier updates. Pam Martin has agreed that they'll survey the church membership to determine what items other teams can bring to them to replace lost and damaged household items. Many teams could simply load a UHaul, which rents for at most $260 coast-to-coast) before they head for Gautier and thus bring much-needed area rugs, lamps, sofas, washer-dryers and the like. We prepared a form letter to send to teams heading to either the PDA or the church camp to solicit such items to be brought to Gautier.

Salem is helping Gautier via the Internet. We now publish their church web at www.gautierpresby.com, Rev. Chris Bullock's blog at www.gautierpresby.blogspot.com and the PDA Camp 1 blog at www.gautierpdacamp.blogspot.com Cost is nothing because blogs can be published for free, and the work is welcome.

Our team provided the PDA funds to get Victor some pocket money plus a bus ride home for the holidays, but sadly, he lost his wallet somewhere on the lawn - they're still looking for it. The wonderful news is that the teams working in Gautier heard about it and immediately raised $800 to get him home plus a bit of holiday money. Victor heads to the hospital soon for a much-needed hernia repair, then off to Indianapolis for Christmas. Feliz Natividad, Jeffe!

Remember the RICE guys? Super news about them: Steve is replacing Julie as the PDA Camp Director. Imagine...Mayor Steve. His Honor Steve. Boggles the mind, right? Absolutely wonderful news and what a perfect reward for his very, very hard work for so many months. Steve isn't perfect, however. A week or so ago he was working at a home and walked right over a monstor nail. Right...it went clean through his boot and the foot inside, and Steve had the pleasant job of pulling it out. A couple stitches, a tetanus shot and a week or so on crutches hasn't slowed him down a bit! Question: is it proper for these college guys to shag a free meal off volunteer teams now that they run the place? Heck yes!

The PDA camp has a new address, moving one mile or so closer to I10, off exit 61. Steve will get us details on the facility soon, but obviously they'll have power, water, etc. for the work teams. They are slowing down now but will ramp up again by the end of next week. Steve really likes the new Canadian tents, now that winter is setting in. The PDA camp is now at 6300 Martin Bluff Road, Gautier.

Chris Bullock is organizing the Gautier Presbyterian Church work teams, with funds already in place to hire a site manager like Julie. He expects 20 to 30 volunteers working out of the church, sleeping in the two rooms at the east end, and using the fellowship hall as before.

Tomorrow I'll give Virginia our final accounting, or at least final without the last fuel bills, for the mission. If anybody has receipts I'd sure appreciate you faxing or emailing them to me today for our report.

Salem Katrina Team Report from Gautier - November 29 afternoon

2005-11-30T11:33:00.000-08:00

Now the hard part - I have to get our accounting done in time to meet with Virginia at the church on Thursday. I feel like a little boy with his pockets full of paper scraps - hope I can find most of our receipts from the past three weeks.

A word to teams heading to the Gulfport, Mississippi area between December 9 and January 31. We have a 40' motor home (which can transport about 20 folks) positioned there as well as a seven-passenger van. We offer these vehicles to pick up volunteers arriving at the Gulfport airport, and we can take you to any of the volunteer locations near Gulfport, Biloxi or over to Pascagola. Drop me an email at rustysilverwings@aol.com if we can be of service in this way.

I recently phoned PDA headquarters in Kentucky and was lucky enough to speak with Ms. Paula Burdine. She explained that the PDA Gautier camp hasn't been closed, but instead has been relocated to another Gautier facility which will be up and running again around the end of this week. Be sure, if your teams are available to serve, to coordinate through the folks at PDA by submitting your application as soon as possible to allow them to plan work flow and support requirements. Running such a large operation is a new deal for them, and like most folks from FEMA on down, I've come to appreciate their hard work, dedication - and results. Suggestion: go where they send you, bring what they suggest, give funds to support their organization as best you can!

Here at Salem's First Pres, we continue to solicit donations to cover previous expenses as well as future work in the Gulf. Please send whatever you're led to offer to Salem First Presbyterian Church, 770 Chemeketa NE, Salem OR 93701, marked "Katrina Relief" or to Gautier Presbyterian Church, 1009 Hwy 90, Gautier MS 39553, marked "Salem Katrina Team". The funds will go 100% to relief in the Gulfport, Mississippi area. I want to raise funds so as to continue addressing individual needs while we do case work in Ocean Springs, and of course, we will continue to be held fully accountable by our church's financial secretary, Virginia aka "Attila the Accountant". We're blessed with her work supporting this project!!

I learned something last week about Mississippi which I found astounding. USA Today reported in several articles about the economic situation of that state, and their difficulty meeting even the pre-Katrina funding needs of schools, transportation - everything. Well, last week USA Today gave us the really important fact. Mississippi, as poor as the state and her residents certainly are, leads our entire nation in charitable giving as a percentage of income! It must be something in the grits. Or more likely, in the grit of the people!!
---for our Team,
Wes

Salem Katrina Team Report from Gautier - November 29

2005-11-29T00:21:00.000-08:00

This message was left as a comment on one of our team's blog entries from last week, posted by another volunteer working at Gautier Presbyterian Church under the PDA relief organization. Here's what he wrote:

Wednesday Night: we have a Welcome Dinner for the folks helping out those in need in Gautier and surrounding area. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving was no exception, with the exception that six ladies from Big Bay, Michigan entertained us. The words were original; the tune was an old familiar one, “Show me the way to go home”.

Show me the way to Gautier
I want to muck and scrape and spray
I want to work without pay for the PDA
Show me the way to Gautier
Show me the way to Gautier
Where the snakes and the alligators play
I want freeze in a tent, take cold showers- Hurray
Show me the way to Gautier
We met some great folks in Gautier
Thank the Lord for paving our way
To where the people were strong
when the storm came along
Show me the way to Gautier
We’re fixing to leave Gautier
Gotta head up north to Big Bay
But the memories we have will forever stay
As we pray for those in Gautier

I am not sure who wrote the song but the following ladies performed beautifully. Laurie, Kim, Linda F., Linda G, Dorothy. A reliable source, (my wife Barbara) tells me they are all part of the choir in their church in Big Bay. We of the GPC were indeed double blessed with willing workers and entertainers too--Dick Poole

I met these ladies with their team from Big Bay, and noted that with them gone from their home church, so was most of the choir, most of the elders, most of the whole town! But thank goodness their crew included the famous pie cook!!!! I'll always remember them as the "blood lust" Scrabble players laughing at us as we stood in the hall asking what they were doing. Nice folks!

Salem Katrina Team Report November 28

2005-11-28T20:04:00.000-08:00

It was wonderful to be back in church Sunday. So many happy questions about the Team's work at Katrina. It sure was great to see Ed, David, Rick and Karen. Morella, Wayne and Mary are stilll traveling. As mentioned frequently, Joan and I head back to the Gulf - me on December 8 and she flies in on December 19 along with our son Ben who flies in from college in Vermont. We'll first be volunteering at Christus Victor, the Lutheran church in Ocean Springs and then returning to Gautier Presbyterian in early January.

I'd like to give a brief very preliminary detailing of where most of our funds were spent these past several weeks, both to account to our church members and to show other teams what kind of expenses we all run across, helping in Katrina. Many other teams managed their budgets by simply driving to Gautier and working, covering their own fuel in a casual manner, then returning home. This listing does not include out-of-pocket expenses of team members who refused repayment (and these special people in the RV in front of me know who they are!), the expense of vehicles being taken to Gautier (other than fuel), or team members' plane tickets which they themselves paid. Neither does it include the very significant value of gifts such as the quilts, copiers, wood working equipment, medical supplies, generators, televisions, cleanup kits, phone systems or other donations the team took to Gautier - over two tons!

U-Haul trailer rental, 1 way - $294
Fuel (gas, diesel, propane, oil) - 2650
Food (team) - 1040
Tools (respirators, equipment, etc) - 780
Professional mold inspections (10 ea) - 1000
Bus Ticket for volunteer (per PDA) - 150
Cash for casual labor (per PDA) - 45
Propane stoves, radios, lantern - 195
Cash to PDA representative - 500
Lowe's, Home Depot supplies - 650
Gift to host church for rebuilding - 1250
Camp setup for PDA - 250
Office supplies for PDA - 200
Pastor's travel - 650
Held in reserve - 1000
Kitchen equipment - 250
Eye glasses for victim - 180
Eye glasses for victim - 100
Dentures gift for victim - 600
Molding, paint for victim - 100
Major First Aid kit & supplies for PDA - 290
5-gal fuel jugs for PDA - 21
Multi-fold ladder, wallboard equipment - 125
Printing, signs - 85
Postage - 15
Airport parking - 21
Electrician's fees for PDA - $250
Air mattresses & pillows (for PDA camp) - $65
Value of donated plane ticket for one team member's travel - 500
(note: we still have one unused $500 gift card for fuel, already totaled in fuel expenses above, needed for team member's drive back to Salem in January or February as they may decide)

We averaged about $100 per day of labor of team members including transportation, tools, relief supplies and the several types of PDA organization financial support. We could have simply gotten ourselves there and worked, because it turned out there was a functional kitchen and the tents were adequate, and many expenses we faced were optional , such as the professional mold inspections for the homes before we put the wallboard up- we could have elected not to pay for such things, but the budget allowed the team to provide such vital help and the money amounted to cash bullets to shoot at problems as we discovered them! Consider: The cost of this project compared very well to other missions, such as this year's Mexico Mission, which cost over $20,000 for much less on-site labor.

With our budget we addressed many individual victim's needs such as dentures, and we improved the PDA camp as well as the host church. It turns out we could have as easily not bought the food preparation items and some of the tools, but as recently as a couple days after we'd already started driving the PDA web site was still telling teams to bring their own "chuck wagon", water, fuel and other such basic items. PDA could help all of us by keeping such team and individual checklists current, if possible, and to make them as specific as possible depending on the camp teams are supporting. The needs in a disaster are quite different the first week versus the tenth week!

As team leader the responsibility for the use of our budget was mine. The standard I used was to spend with caution, as though it was my own money, which some of it was. I wanted to spend only for things which, if challenged by a reasonable friend at church, I'd be willing to cover at my own expense because I felt they were appropriate disaster-related items. Our team established an initial budget goal of $8500 and eventually raised $13,100. Donations were received from sister churches, First Presbyterian Church of McMinnville and First Presbyterian Church of Newberg, by our own missions committee, and by anybody else not fast enough to get out of Rick Pollan's way - he is a fund-raising champ!

Our next trip back to the Gulf entails no expense now that our vehicles are there, other than food for participants @ $10/day each plus whatever relief supplies a budget might support, such as more medical supplies or individual relief such as eye glasses and dentures again. The team members returning are covering their own plane tickets and their vehicles are already there, and their return fuel to Oregon already covered. The Gautier Presbyterian Church intends to rebuild their Sanctuary, but we have limited our support to improvements in the fellowship hall kitchen because that served as the PDA's money-saving, team-comfort, service-delivery base camp - we purchased modular kitchen counters for them, and provided office equipment and wireless Internet. We will continue to support Gautier by managing their blog site (www.gautierpresby.blogspot.com) and their web site (www.gautierpresby.com) which entailed no expense. We assisted other teams in setting up their own project blogs.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank everyone who so generously supported our team in this long project, especially our volunteers who gave both money and lots of sweat bringing help to the Gulf.
...for the Team,
Wes

Salem Katrina Team Rogue's Gallery

2005-11-23T16:50:00.000-08:00

Our Team plus Victor "You're a better man than I, Gungda Din" , but missing friends Rick and Morella who had flown home earlier. From left: Ed, Victor, David, Mary, Wayne, Wes. In front, Joan and The Reverend Karen Pollan.

Mary on left, with PDA's Julie paying homage to Dixie The Dog and to Queen Mary "The Great Swanson", aka Good Morning Sunshine.

David "asleep again during devotions" Dyer

David on left and Rick on the right of a special resident and new friend

Karen "See, I wear glasses, too!" Pollan

Joan "Sound of Music" Carter on left, Kris the nurse on right

Wayne Swanson in action!

First Sergeant Morella "YOU'LL DO WHAT I TELL YOU, WHEN I TELL YOU. DROP AND GIVE ME 20" Lawsen, on left, with Julie up on her high horse as usual

Wes "Sweet Grits" Carter

Ed "Just get the work done and talk about it later. Speak up I can't hear you" Stahl on left.

FEMA Assessment of Salem's Katrina Team

2005-11-23T07:49:00.000-08:00

Government Assessment of Individual Team Members:

To the membership of Salem First Presbyterian Church, here is the "official" FEMA report card on your Hurricane Katrina team members

Wes - absolute worst sweet cheese grits in history, don't know sugar frum salt but the boy's learning. A real Bubba wanna-be.
Bubba-San David - best volunteer in recorded history, absolutely no improvement needed. A knight in flannel. Consider removing tobacco before sleeping.
Mary - most fun person to tease & cuts a ham into the smallest pieces possible!
Wayne - can skillfully fix anything but finds Mexican restaurants only with great difficulty and several snap no-notice u-turns. Cruises US90 for fun on way to Lowe's every morning, right at devotions time!
Rick - fastest electrical repairs in history and somehow snores even more than David. A knight with a tool belt instead of a sword.
Morella - best dang First Sergeant Gautier Pres ever saw! Being recruited by Navy's Blue Angels! Writes her name on work apron to remember who she is.
Karen - best smiles; lighted up the entire Gulf so much she could power Gautier with her smiles. We'll take two of her!
Ed - quietest & most skillful disaster repair expert on the Gulf Coast! Laughs at most jokes - providing his hearing aids are in!
Joan - world-famous organist, hangs wallboard pretty good, can park a 40,000 LB RV anywhere and best friend Wes ever had
Dixie - a good dog. The highest praise possible. The best friend a person can have in Washington. Ask FEMA's Michael Brown!

Send this or any other Salem team back. They're dang good!

Love and hugs,

FEMA

(you know our motto - "The trailer will be there in the morning. We promise!")

Salem Katrina Team Report November 23

2005-11-23T06:25:00.000-08:00

Paddy-San (from the other Salem), I have not forgotten you. Who could??

We're all home now. I got in yesterday afternoon and slept all day, right through the arrival of our kids home for Thanksgiving. Ed wrote that he was stranded a day enroute but also finally returned to Salem. That leaves everybody back in Oregon except Mary and Wayne, but they're off in their motorhome in Georgia so we can trust that these friends are safe and sound like the rest of us. Turkey or venison for Thanksgiving, Wayne?

It was a high-stress two weeks - actually three weeks for Joan and me with our 2800 mile drive down there, plus the month of the whole church's planning and preparation. We had no team injuries, no other problems to report, and we sure spent every penny we had and more! For me, I somehow came to admire my wife even more than before, and I am in awe of the strength and faith we saw in Salem's finest (Wayne, Ed, Mary, Morella, Rick, Joan, Bubba-San David, and Karen). I still have to complete arrangements for the dentures for one gentleman, but the hangup there is the dentist who is having reduced office hours because of damage to his home. And of course, Joan and I still have to drive the RV back to Oregon in January or February, whenever we decide to wrap up down there.

We're all home, but our Katrina mission is by no means complete. We are sending a couple folks back mid-December to work though February, but the Katrina situation and the desperate needs down there will continue for years. Churches across America continue sending teams, and checks, to give what help they can, and so will First Presbyterian of Salem. Joan and I, plus our son Ben and other friends and family (plus anyone from Salem who wants to join us), have been officially invited to join the volunteers at Christus Victor Lutheran Church in Ocean Springs to work over Christmas, a period Gautier Presbyterian will be suspending their volunteer work to allow families to focus on themselves and the holiday. Christus Victor focuses on delivery of relief supplies, running a shelter and feeding three hot meals a day, plus client case work which I'm looking forward to joining. Rev. Chris Bullock asked all available Salem volunteers to then return to work at Gautier with his teams.

What does the Gulf Coast need at this time? They need a continuing stream of volunteer teams coming in to support PDA and other relief agencies, or directly sistering with churches like Gautier Presbyterian for more focused help. Mississippi and Louisiana need money. A fist full of dollars means a set of dentures, a set of replacement glasses, or some other problem solved in a very focused manner. Money means food for the volunteer workers. Money means paint and wallboard for folks who can't buy it before the volunteers show up to rehab their house. Money means help in a most perfect way. Send money. Many times our teams joined for devotions and then in the discussion of the day's work which followed, we raised money between us to cover problems. $100 here, $200 there...problems were solved by using money as a recovery tool.

Send stuff. In Gautier, for instance, about 5,000 homes suffered some damage from Katrina, almost always on the first floor, sometimes the entire structure. These folks need the kinds of items you'd find on your own family's first floor, such as washers and dryers, televisions and other entertainment items, sofas, chairs, bed frames, chest of drawers, dining room tables and chairs, area rugs, microwave ovens and the like. They do not need clothes...too often, clothes are too difficult for volunteers to get to the folks who need them and the need now for clothes has pretty much been handled...except for coats as winter sets in. Please send lots of coats, but first bag them with labels like "Men's Coats - Large" to help with storage and delivery. Please be sure things are clean enough to wear before you shipment, of course. For your reference, the largest trailer from U-Haul cost us around $280. We hauled just over a ton of quilts, tools, stuffed animals, team gear, cooking equipment, household items, televisions, food, diesel, industrial woodworking equipment, computers and printers, copiers and much more. U-Haul trailers and trucks can be returned just a few miles from Gautier Pres, but consider that they can be also used locally as we did to haul wallboard and other items to our work sites. U-Haul gives volunteers a 10% discount - be sure to request it.

Send special stuff, special gifts: For instance, we delivered three hundred or more handmade quilts made by a community group which asked us to transport. Beautiful, warm quilts which warmed the hearts of the recipients. I handed quilts to teachers who'd lost their homes and everything else they'd owned. To kids who'd lost their homes. To social workers who'd lost their homes yet were working to help others just as troubled as they. If you can make beautiful quilts or other things of such wonder, consider sending these special gifts to the Gulf Coast. To Salem Quilt-a-Thon, want to do another shipment? I had no idea of the joy those quilts would bring. Thank each of you for all that hard work!

Send money. Send lots! Please know that money equals "stuff". Money solves many problems in minutes. So if you can, a check or an envelope of cash should go along with your team leader, or sent to volunteers on the ground in the area will quickly be used to resolve problems as they are discovered. Our team used the money we were entrusted with to pay for eye glasses, bus tickets, casual labor (pocket money for Victor), stoves, paint, molding, food, office supplies, signs, printing expenses, dentures, gas, diesel, propane, highway tolls, one team dinner together, tools, modular kitchen counters, plywood, electrical cables, and much more. I will never forget that "our" money, our precious ammunition for this mission, consisted of our own church's mission funds, donations received from our individual team members, plus generous gifts from First Presbyterian Church of McMinnville and First Presbyterian Church of Newberg. That's why we changed our team name into "Presbyterian Churches of Oregon".

I have been to war, and volunteers should be ready for an emotional impact on them very much like that. No bullets flying, no such sense of danger or fear, but this certainly is an event you'll remember all your life. In speaking with other veterans we were surprised at the similar emotions. Experts have been telling us of the post-traumatic stress disorder problems that the residents are experiencing.

Send work teams. A team volunteering for Katrina means a group of people large enough to grab a project, such as a living room or maybe even an entire house, and take care of what needs to be done. A team means a self-supporting group which doesn't need help already scarce in the area. A team means organization and focus. There are individuals going to help by themselves and while they are almost always good folks, some aren't. We need general labor, plumbers, electricians, social workers, cooks, secretaries/administrative assistants, drivers, and more.

Go back. This is a disaster which will need us to return time and time again. If you send a church team, trust me - they'll want to go back. Do your planning in a manner which provides a stream of help, perhaps a couple teams a year or more. Your volunteers are needed so badly.

Send Prayers. Prayers are working, believe me. Maybe I was a church version of Tom Paine's Sunshine Patriot, but no longer. People in my church prayed for me, for my safety and for those we went to help. As a result, I know I'm a better Christian for these past weeks, and determined to look at myself and my faith even harder from now on. The people we pray for, both our teams and our friends we go to serve along the Gulf Coast, are better for our prayers. So stay on your knees, please.

Salem Katrina Team - Last Report from Gautier, November 21

2005-11-21T21:33:00.000-08:00

Tonight was a wonderful end to a hard day which taxed our resources emotionally. We enjoyed a world-class dinner including--brace yourselves-- homemade bread and three types of homemade pies--from scratch including crust! The fellowship hall was wonderful all day long with the aroma of rising dough! Don’t think for a moment that Katrina relief has turned the Gulf Coast into some sort of Presbyterian resort, but we now have a group of neat volunteers from Big Bend, Michigan (they live north of a bridge where -if you are south of it- you’re considered some sort of “troll”... if there’s a joke here, we’ll have to ask somebody from the UP of Michigan to explain.) We are blessed by a woman who knocked our socks off with breakfast and dinner! Why did this have to happen on my last night here, and not our team’s first night? Anyway, she's a blessing for the teams here and those on their way. I really don’t want to make light of this, but we had expected to be eating MREs in a sort of primitive “field kitchen” and, instead, Gautier Presbyterian, by opening their restored fellowship hall, has given us warmth and good food. Disaster Lesson #1 - don't leave for a disaster without a great cook! Keep him/her happy!

After such terrific refreshment, we cleaned up quickly for a group using the fellowship hall this evening, so a handful of us gathered for another campfire together. I have enjoyed this fellowship so very much and wish it had been cool earlier so we could have had more such gatherings.

And now a special note: my towel became sour in the humidity, and I accepted a bag of personal hygiene items, one of many such kits shipped to the Gulf Coast. Somehow, a box ended up here at our camp. Inside was a note prepared with love by Ms. Joanne Campbell of First (Scots) Presbyterian Church of Charleston, South Carolina. And included with this heartfelt note was a gift of money, clearly meant for a Katrina victim rather than a church relief volunteer. But, Ms. Campbell, it fell to me to get your towel, soaps, toothbrush and note, and I thank you and will give the money to Christus Victor Lutheran Church which still shelters victims. I'll wash the towel and pass it along, of course.

Dear friend, thank you for caring so much, for casting your bottle on the ocean, for being so generous to strangers.

I fly home tomorrow, at least for a couple weeks until we again head back to Gautier in December. I already miss my team friends and look forward to being with them. Thank you, each of you wonderful people from many different walks of life, for the awesome gift of your time, your love, your strength, your friendship and your faith. I am coming home a better Christian for knowing you.

Salem Katrina Team Report November 21, afternoon

2005-11-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

I have asked each team member to offer their thoughts to include in our blog, and finally, Wayne and Mary had a quiet moment to email me the following note. It concerns the same lady we discovered to be tenting five feet away from a chicken coop with birds dead since Katrina struck, and full of rats and snakes.

Dear Friends and Family,

We are traveling today east to join friends for Thanksgiving at hunting camp in Georgia. And especially at this time we have so much to be thankful for. We have just spent two memorable and eye opening weeks on Mississippi's Gulf Coast where we helped those in Pascagoula, Gautier, Moss Point, Ocean Springs and Van Cleve recover from the disastrous effects of Katrina. It has been almost 3 months since they were impacted and you can add to their woes rain, cold and mold now. But the situation is as it is and the real story is of the people, their desire to regain the life style they had and their outreach to others.

Just one story to share today. There are so many but this one is burnt on our hearts right now.

About four days ago we were told of a lady who was living in a tent (not welcome at Red Cross shelter with animals) with her six dogs. Her husband had been sent north to recover from a bad head injury received two days after Katrina. Her power had been cut off by the power company.

Wayne was sent to assess the situation and try to get power to her. He immediately called for help as this job had issues beyond his capabilities. So we called the Singing River power company and got in touch with a clerk, Angela. It turns out this young lady is aptly named as she jumped right in to help us. She contacted a local crew and dispatched them ASAP. She made a personal contact with a retired electrical contractor and he went out to meet with Wayne. As he shared his expertise with Wayne, he added that he was glad that a Methodist could add to the Presbyterian Disaster Relief effort. Well, after several hours they had the power distribution problem fixed and a plan was in place to replace all the wall receptacles and switches where there had been 5+ feet of water in the home. The power company came back, said everything was as good as new and turned the power on. When Wayne asked the contractor how much we needed to pay him he answered – There are no debts here. All our debts were paid by Jesus on the cross!

Now that blows me away everytime I think of it but it is just one of many stories we can share. As it turns out this nice lady had been promised a trailer 4 weeks ago by FEMA. It turned really cold in Gautier mid week so we all moved generator to her site, gave her room heater, meals, etc. to get her and the dogs through the cold. She even came to camp and had her first hot shower in almost 3 months. Wayne went to Rotary and talked to a county commissioner, he called and talked to the Mayor and eventually the city manager trying to light a fire under FEMA. The next morning there were 3 FEMA men out at the site preparing for the trailer which is supposed to arrive this week!

And this story is just one of hundred we all were involved in during the two weeks. The works was labor intensive but also a lot of advocate/social work for those unable to do for themselves.
I tell you all of this not to be bragging or looking for any self applause, but to show you that anyone can help these people if you can just be there. A week to 10 days is about the right amount of time and the opportunities to help will continue for months, maybe years. Think about it!

So you see why we are so thankful, we have had a life changing experience and seen the work of the Lord up front and personal. WOW

Love to all, Happy Thanksgiving
Wayne, Mary & Dixie The Dog

What a blessing to this lovely lady to have had Wayne and Mary come into her life, all because her daughter's professor (a Presbyterian who called the PDA office in Gulfport) brought this faithful Catholic to our attention. Today I took a disabled vet to the VA. We met with a patient advocate from the Paralyzed Veterans of America and he used his influence for some quick help. The VA gave our "client" new crutches, and an appointment for next month to work on his leg braces and basic medical needs. The storm took his home, his mother's home, his wheelchair, his car, his wheelchair lift, his glasses, his hearing aides, braces with special shoes, dentures and all his clothes. Until we took him he had no ride available to the VA. It was sad to note that handicapped parking for this gentleman was over a quarter of a mile from his destination, something no civilian hospital would tolerate for disabled clients.

I was disappointed that Wal-Mart refused our gift card to replace his glasses because we were a few bucks off the total. After dropping our new friend off, I went to the Ocean Springs WalMart and added the necessary extra money. There, I met Joanne Vogel, RN, who is down from South Dakota volunteering at our local free clinic. She was at WalMart's optical shop doing exactly what I was doing for a woman she met, but didn't have enough to pay the bill. So, the nice folks of First Presbyterian of Salem have bought a lady a set of glasses...I don't know who she is, but Ms. Vogel is taking care of her for us...we split the bill for the glasses between us! And I have new respect for wonderful nurses!

Salem Katrina Team Report November 21

2005-11-21T06:21:00.000-08:00

I am still disappointed about sleeping through church services yesterday. I'd looked forward to Chris' message and visiting with the church members. Oh, well...next time.

This morning is sunny and very nice, following a light overnight rain. We had a fine, fine breakfast prepared by the Michigan folks, who, like me, learned "right quick" how to cook grits. Boy, was breakfast great!! Nice moment to tell you about: our new volunteer cook had her $400 or so of food money collections clipped to her keys. Last night it went missing and she worried the whole evening about it...but Bubba found it on top of one of the refrigerators this morning!

Following devotions, David and Victor headed across the street to help a lady they've been working with as they'd offered to help her load stuff into a friend's truck for removal. We were shocked to find out that the lady's few possessions, mostly Christmas decorations, had all been stolen overnight! She had so little left, and that was taken. How miserable does life have to be? How sad can it make us? How shameful do some of our fellow citizens become? What on earth is going on down here?

Another client we're helping has been robbed twice. Still, he lent his chainsaw to a stranger who asked to use it to remove some trees three days ago. And now it's been added to his list of losses as well.

Shown in the photo to the right below is a trash collection in a culvert next to the church. It is typical of the entire Gulf Coast, typical of the millions of cubic yards of junk that fouls the infrastructure and prevents any return to normal life.

Speaking of normal-- the city's trash truck is picking up a bit of the huge pile of waste from the corner of the church tent city...that's a real blessing. I'm tired of trash piled everywhere. I'm weary of folks tossing more trash onto trash. Littered roads seem to invite even more litter.

Wayne and Mary called. He is like a junkyard dog which won't let go of a good bone. Wayne wanted to make sure somebody was taking good care of a lady he was helping! They made it to Tallahassee in their motorhome and hit a good deal of rain. Thank God for their safe journey. UPDATE: Wayne just called again as I was typing...he had a suggestion about a lady's chicken coop. The guy just won't let go. If you're ever really, really, really in trouble, you'd better make sure to have Wayne, Mary, Morella, Rick, Joan, Ed, David, Karen and Victor on your side!!!

"Yankee Bubba-San" David Dyer leaves for home today at noon. Have a safe trip, David, and travel with the certain knowledge that you have set a new standard for being a good man and have been a blessing to those you meet. Thank you for being a blessing to me and to everyone you've helped down here. Thank you for being my new friend.

Salem Katrina Team Report November 20

2005-11-20T23:13:00.000-08:00

Today is cool and overcast, but dry. Last night around our campfire the guys generally agreed to do some extra work at a lady's home on Sunday afternoon if I'd prepare a hot breakfast. Works for me! I got breakfast ready and then cleaned up for services, but laid down and slept right through church and woke up in the afternoon.

What a sad day, even with the satisfaction of being able to reflect on a week's accomplishments. After church our volunteers, led by Victor and David Dyer, went over to help a lady we've been assisting this week...the one living in the tent with her six cute puppies. David was shocked as he and Victor, with the rest of our crews, went to clean a shed five feet from the lady's tent...and discovered the shed was full of chickens killed in the storm ten weeks ago! Rats and snakes were there and a rat ran into the lady's tent. Thankfully, our guys got it out, but we have to get the lady herself out somehow, and then get that shed bulldozed and removed. Wayne arranged for a Gautier Pres member to care for the puppies this next week. We have a lot of people and talent here, and we cannot bring enough "guns" to bear to solve even one problem among the millions here along the Gulf Coast, but we keep trying.

We've enjoyed two nice evenings after devotions just talking and enjoying being together. We welcomed new teams today, and the folks from Michigan joined us around our campfire to help share experiences.

I was asked for a photo which is to the left, of the two RICE guys, also called the Bobbsie Twins, the boys, etc...many names for two great young men who are a blessing to all they meet. As are Rick, Karen, Joan, Wayne, Victor, Julie, Morella, Ed (I won't forget to bring your quilt home, Ed), Mary and David! The guys are posed before a fundamental part of Camp Gautier!

These cars are speeding past the airport-area sign which two months ago said "Welcome to Beautiful Gulfport". There's nothing left of the sign and very left of Gulfport. But it will be beautiful again!

Team Leaders: Other teams mentioned this evening they still need more information about Gautier and the overall situation on the Gulf Coast. Certainly, contact Rev. Bullock here at Gautier Presby, or the PDA itself for the best possible information! You can also email other teams which have been here, or call the on-site PDA manager (until November 30, that's Julie) here in Gautier. You can expect greatly improved comforts and support facilities, including warm showers, larger and winter-ready tents, cots, port-a-potties, a kitchen ready to prepare your meals to eat as a group, no clothes washing other than local laundries, cooler temperatures during the days and cold evenings...you'll enjoy your warm sleeping bag!

We have enjoyed freezers full of pre-made dinners which have helped our volunteer cooks get that meal ready. For lunch we put together sandwiches to take to the job site, and we've organized five hot breakfasts per week. Our volunteer cooks start breakfast around 5:30 to be ready by 7:00 and to have coffee ready for the folks coming in from the tents to enjoy visiting. Local supermarkets price foods very reasonably. We pass the basket for about $7-10 a day towards the food budget, but teams and individuals can do as they wish.

The bugs of summer are gone but we have small gnats bothering us sometimes. Water is needed but can be purchased locally, so there's no need to transport long distances - don't load a trailer in Omaha and waste money driving it here! Buy it here instead! You can bring "field kitchen" sets of cooking equipment but there's stuff here and yours might be useful in other Gulf Coast settings. Try to bring money, not just for your own needs, but to work on projects or individual needs which catch your attention. In our case, we found helping a few specific folks very, very rewarding in addition to our assigned work load. This area can use experienced social workers -- with an MSW or not! Take it easy on yourself - bring a pillow.

Regardless of any restructuring of PDA camps or church-specific volunteer projects, there is much work to do here. There are miracles to deliver through your prayers and labors. There is a need for your financial strength and generosity towards PDA and area churches. Come serve in Mississippi and you'll remember it all your life. So will the people you help.

Mississippi thanks you!

Salem Katrina Team Report November 19

2005-11-19T23:31:00.000-08:00

We said goodbye to Karen and Joan this morning at 6:30 as they began their journey back to Salem. You'll see them both in church tomorrow, so thank them for their hard work. Tell the ladies that their team misses them!

Mea culpa. Our church team's blog (this one) has occasionally placed the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance logo for illustration purposes within our articles, just as we do the PC(USA) emblem. We've been asked to stop by the PDA's area supervisor, as the churches aren't to use it because it's against copyright laws. This writer and our church meant no trespass - we mistakenly thought it was our logo because the files were on the PC(USA) website for churches to download and use. We've since deleted it from our earlier postings and removed the PDA signs from our vehicles and from the contact cards we hand out. We appreciate the error being brought to our attention.

Good news. Yesterday a fine replacement organ was delivered and is ready for installation. The old unit was a victim of the storm and is now resting somewhere - in wherever landfill FEMA's trash removal contractor has trucked it. Next to be removed, the santuary organ and piano, also ruined.

Today is a beautiful Saturday, a bit warmer than yesterday and all the crews are out working. We have fewer folks here today...the Brevard crew began their long drive back to North Carolina yesterday. Tomorrow, services here at 10:30, more teams come in, more work in the afternoon. The mail arrived with Virginia's checks for Rev. Chris Bullock, part of our relief teams' fundraising. We collected a bit more than needed for the dentures we're buying for a man who lost his in the flood, so we gave Julie from the PDA money for Victor's needs. We will try to increase that amount before our last team member departs Gautier.

Friends back home will have to ask the team members about the two Rice boys. Please...do ask about Victor, Julie, the Rice boys and all the other neat people we've met...your team has got so much to share with you. Anyway, the Rice guys won their way into our hearts by their unending hard work and cheerful "We'll do it" volunteering. They have sometimes been accused of being the Presbyterian model of eager Mormon missionaries (except for being in grubby sweats!). Last night, they took us to ice cream, and we had a great time.

David took some good-humored offense at being called a "Yankee" today, for the first time in his life! A nice lady said the "Yankees are down here to help us, but we could do it ourselves". A minute later she asked where our free food pantry was. I guess everyone north of Vicksburg is a Yankee to our local friends. David said he very much wants to come back for another trip but only for a week, as two weeks was very hard on everyone.

We've been doing a blog for our host church because Rev. Chris Bullock is simply too busy. Their blog is www.gautierpresby.blogspot.com .Yesterday Chris wrote his friends a nice note about how happy is with the blog...makes us feel good to help in any possible way.

As for our team, Wayne and Mary wrap up their Katrina service and leave tomorrow, heading for Pensacola, and Ed leaves for Portland. Sunday David flies home, and Wes leaves Gautier on the 22nd. Still work to be done here, but things are winding down for the Salem team. This morning Mary spoke about how meaningful this experience has been for her...we all agree. Our challenge becomes in the next weeks one of continuing to support PDA and the local churches, and to not let America forget the millions of people along the Gulf Coast who will continue to need our prayers and support for years. Our challenge becomes supporting Katrina victims as well as responding to disasters such as the earthquakes in Pakistan. It was wonderful reading today on the PDA website that we've sent so much support!

Tonight, for the first time, we were able to gather our team and guests like Julie, Victor and the Rice guys to have dinner out (thanks, Wayne!) and then a quiet campfire together. Nice cool weather, a warm blanket and great people to talk, swap lies and joke with after a day of working.

Good night, Oregon. We sure miss everyone at First Pres!

Salem Katrina Team Report for November 17, evening

2005-11-17T18:58:00.000-08:00

I sent a blog entry around noon and much happened after that to report. We had a good day...crews working their heads off in so many places, doing great work and with great joy! Yesterday we thought we'd raised enough money to cover a gentleman's glasses and dentures...to replace ones lost in the flooding, but we were about $300 short in our estimate of what such things cost. No problem...a couple minutes of discussion and several teams solved the issue with their gifts. Tomorrow, Karen's off to take care of things on that issue.

We worked with the lady shown on the above right when we heard about her having waited 10 weeks so far for her FEMA trailer, first promised for delivery on October 10. Last weekend her electricity was cut off because the house is unsafe to live in, and she's developed some respiratory problems. It is cold here...frost on the ground in the mornings and this lovely lady is living in a tent! She loves her five pocket-sized dogs and won't leave them. We tried calling FEMA about her trailer, only to learn that in Mississippi FEMA isn't responsible for trailers...the state government is...and the FEMA lady had no idea what their number is! Amazing. It makes one think that these agencies are mostly trying to make sure people just don't bring problems to them! More on this woman below at the conclusion.

Our crew finally got together for a group photo before everyone left for work. We're missing Morella and Rick, but really they're still here with us in spirit! This has been a week to meet some folks from Salem First Presbyterian beyond their "church faces"...and to know the true character of some fine, fine people. They are a blessing to Salem and they have brought blessings to so many people of the Gulf Coast. Our thanks for the financial support of Salem First Presbyterian and our friends in other churches which got us here and let us help so many wonderful people!

Remember those beautiful quilts? We handed out many of them to the church folks yesterday, and today Joan and Karen visited a local school badly hit by Katrina. You can see the happiness of the visit - not just the kids - look at Karen! What a beautiful part of the day to be with these youngsters. I think we'd better check Karen's luggage beforep taking her to the airport Saturday to make sure she didn't swipe any of these kids.

Wayne and Ed were out doing their usual hard work, as was Bubba San David once he'd replaced the propane tanks for our tent city showers. Very important! Wayne headed off to Lowe's to buy sheetrock for a "customer" who couldn't pay for their own so that we could get a bathroom and bedroom walled up and livable until more could be done by teams following us.

Now back to the lady who's been living in her tent. We headed off to a Lutheran "one stop shopping" disaster center and learned they have social workers. Luckily, they were all ex-military and Wes "put the arm on them" to help our lady and they'll see her tomorrow. We got a hot Lutheran meal and delivered it to her. We then returned to the church to get a generator, electrical cord, lamp and small heater. We delivered them to the lady's home tonight (boy, was it ever cold!!) and with Victor's helping in Spanish, showed her how to use and refuel the generator. Tonight, this woman has lights and heat, a hot meal, boxes of food for later and hope for tomorrow.
Do you know how very nice our Karen Pollan is? We do! She volunteered to cook breakfast tomorrow so I could sleep in!!! Yeah!!!! That will help make up for our having to be up at 4:30AM Saturday to get her to the airport. If ever you don't want her, Salem, send her here!

Final thoughts. Why the heck doesn't the person answering the FEMA hotline for Katrina victims know the number to call for Mississippi trailers? Suggestion: all the volunteer agencies between Gulfport and Pascagola ought to have a town meeting and get everyone's services, phone numbers, etc., identified and typed up, and a data base established so if one volunteer group can't solve a probem we know who else to call.

If you come to Gautier to help the storm victims, watch out for the attack geese!

Appeal: What would I do with a few extra thousand bucks? I would buy a certain gentleman a replacement set of hearing aides. I would get the lady shown above linens and dishes for when her FEMA trailer arrives...she's lost everything. I would also use a thousand bucks to replace the kid's playground equipment here at Gautier Presbyterian with clean, safe items which happen to be made locally. I would get Victor a used car and a bank card with $200 on it. I would hire a plumber for a couple jobs we can't handle. I would, with FEMA, organize a town hall meeting of all services between Pascagola and Gulfport so every manager knows where to find services for folks they can't help in their own groups. I would pay for electrical work to the tent area of our PDA camp, or at least to the shower area. Believe me, I have a list. Wayne has a list. Mary has a list. Joan has a list. David has a list. Rick has a list. Ed has a list. Morella has a list. Karen has a list. You can't come to Gautier or anyplace on the Gulf Coast and not want to use the tool of money to help suffering people. I would also send what I could to those suffering in Pakistan...before it is too late for them!

Salem Katrina Team Report from Gautier, November 17

2005-11-17T07:43:00.000-08:00

First, we need a volunteer secretary for the camp manager and another for Rev. Chris Bullock at the Gautier Presbyterian Church. These two folks are burning out working without administrative support and we need two hardy take charge, boss-the-boss volunteers who can run small offices with vigor (picture Master Sergeant stripes in your mind's eye) to volunteer right now! Get down here now, please! The problems caused by not having good support are beginning to overwhelm the situation. Please - consider giving a couple weeks down here to be the glue holding this organization together and to let these two great people focus on delivery of the services so badly needed in Gautier. Call now. Book a couple weeks. Bring a friend to work with you or set them up to flow into the job when you leave. This is a serious need...right up there with getting more money! Remember Radar on MASH? Come be our Radar! Call now! Don't Wait A Minute! Continental Airlines flies into Gulfport...we'll pick you up. Give us a call! Great pay...nothing, just like the rest of us!

Our buddy Morella did a lot of of this during her two weeks in Gautier, but she's gone now and we have her boots to fill.

David Dyer has offered his thoughts for today's blog:

Good morning. November 17.

Time flies. On Veterans' Day about a week ago, a crew from Vienna Virginia and I went to a gentleman's home in Pascagoula to move some furniture. Flexibility is the key here. He has a full time job, his wife is ill, staying in the FEMA trailer with their daughter, and the inspectors said to save his home it must be gutted and raised or jacked up six feet (the amount of water in his home during Katrina). He wanted to move and save everything. He was robbed after the storm so he leaves his dogs in the house while at work to guard their belongings.

He apologized to us for the mess - with his problems so severe he still apologized to us! A humbling experience. We moved the entire contents to a shed, and again he apoligized for not having anything to give us as a thank-you. God Bless.
David

Thanks, David! This morning before devotions I raised yesterday's situation regarding the disabled veteran who has lost his glasses, hearing aids, dentures and leg braces. We were immediately given $100 by a team which had themselves been given the money to use. When I asked for more help, other teams immediately raised hundreds more, enough to cover the replacement dentures and glasses! Wonderful! We did have some disappointment when Karen called around to buy these things and couldn't even get a modest discount from local dentists!

Last night was the coldest yet, with frost on the ground this morning. Only days ago we were suffering in the high humidity. But last night there were people we can't exactly call "homeless" because they own homes, Gautier folks who suffered in the cold all night long. Here is one "homeowner" living in a tent among the support columns for his house which once was.

Hello, America. In case its not clear, there are still residents living in tents on their front lawns. There are still people waiting for water and electricity. There are still 62-year old widows waiting for FEMA to deliver trailers promised them to be delivered October 12. Still people waiting at home every day, as FEMA directed, in case their trailers are delivered...and they've been waiting weeks. There are still people with trailers waiting for FEMA to hook up utilities. There are still homeless folks suffering. There are still lines at the distribution centers before they open up. There are still volunteer teams coming in to help. There are still veterans who are not being served by the VA for want of professional staff. There are still military retirees not getting medical care at Keesler AFB because Keesler's doctors have been scattered. There are still people coming to this church to ask if they can camp with us. There are still volunteers living in unheated tents. You get the idea. Send help. Keep sending it.

Salem Katrina Team Report from Gautier November 16

2005-11-16T18:27:00.000-08:00

We hope our Karen doesn’t mind that her teammates had to laugh when she, obviously a rookie, blurted out the direction to the driver to “turn left at the blue roof”…. nearly every roof has the regulation bright blue tarp provided by the Corps of Engineers, to imit water damage. After just two days, one doesn’t see them anymore, just like you stop noticing the roadside trash.
We were joined by more folks from Salem today….Salem, Ohio, that is! Welcome, y’all!
Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Morella Larsen today. What a gem! She became invaluable as the assistant camp mayor, answering questions when Mayor/Chief-of-Staff Julie Putnam couldn’t be reached or was on other tasks. Morella, an experienced pilot, is another one of those marvelous people we seem to have so many of in First Pres who can do just about everything…and with a smile on their face! Morella, we hope the storms over Houston allowed you to continue your journey homeward safely.

Another day, another breakfast. Thankfully, Mary Swanson knows what she’s doing and that meal and lunch always turn out okay. Mary is up with the chickens to get breakfast ready, then helps clean up and even goes out after dinner to get the “fixin’s” for the next day. Around here, high praise is “Mmm-mm, them’s good eatin’!”

Today Karen and I went over to Keesler AFB hospital, then to the VA Hospital to try to get help for some local veterans. One fellow is totally disabled, lives with his mother because he’s lost his house, and has lost his glasses, hearing aids, leg braces and dentures in the flood. We came across some leads for getting an Army tent for our use…find out tomorrow. I was discussing the dentures situation during dinner and later, during Vespers, another team member came and gave us $100 towards the teeth! Somebody upstairs was listening!

Our drive took us along the Biloxi coast so terribly damaged by the storm. We saw the casino barges tossed onto land and across a four lane highway. We saw a Denny's diner with only the sign on a pole left. We saw whole neighborhoods...not single houses or even blocks...whole neighborhoods being leveled. We were stopped for checks at Army roadblocks. It is a strange feeling for an American to encounter an Army blockade. They're nice guys, trying to do their best to assist in the emergency, but still, we can't but help feeling like somebody crossing into a Checkpoint Charlie or a DMZ somewhere.

Regarding breakfast tomorrow, prepared by Wes and Mary. Some variety has been requested. Okay, we exchanged peaches for pears but they want more serious variety. So, tomorrow we'll put the onions into the egg mix, rather than putting the egg mix into the onions. We do what we can, right? Actually, our "customers" from our little tent city have been wonderful to be with each and every day. Today was so much nicer than recent days, with the temperature about 30 degrees lower. Heaven sent! Tomorrow, we'll work on our houses, we'll try to find dentures and glasses, we'll try to beg/borrow/or steal (naw...not actually steal, but maybe borrow with vigor!) an Army tent for better protection in the cold weather sure to come to Gautier.

And here we have it: proof that Mary and Karen don't pay attention during Vespers. Our meeting tonight included one team reporting on a local homeowner they're helping and his problems, summed up with his statement that he could put all he owned into a small plastic box! Amazing, but the gentleman had come to services to thank the very team mentioning him...a surprise to all and what an emotional outpouring! We are doing good work. We are doing the Lord's work here.

Good night, Oregon. We miss you so much.

Salem Katrina Team Report...November 15 evening

2005-11-15T15:44:00.000-08:00

Team Leader Responsibilities.

I haven't seen anything from PDA so until you see something more official, you might consider this list.

First, the leader will have to recruit the team, building it around their availability to be offered to PDA. This work should also lead to the creation of your own church’s Disaster Response Organization if you haven’t already formed it for the possibility someday of a local emergency. It is handy if the team leader has the hands-on skills to also serve as a foreman, but in our case...I was the cook. More power!! More fun. Air conditioned!

2. Establish, then raise your budget. Try to get some from your own church's mission committee, but also consider approaching neighbor churches who aren't sending a team. Try to keep team members' costs low. We received $1150 from other churches and their members. The budget should cover travel at the disaster site, purchase of work materials unless provided by PDA (never enough!), extra money to help the PDA representative in his/her duties, a nice gift for your host church if it has had damage, food (our guideline was to try to spend less than $15 per person per day) and significant things you will purchase for your use. In our case we bought power water washers, respirators, kitchen equipment, microwaves, we donated a car, food, paper goods, televisions, LCD projector, etc. Our budget goal was $8500 but our wonderful church family and friends raised $13,100! More money equals more work at Gautier! Our goal was higher than some churches because we had a heavy fuel bill, driving down from Oregon.

3. Report your team as available to PDA, describing their talents. Fax them also...calls and messages get lost. We had to fax them a couple times...they're really busy.

4. Gather necessary equipment per the PDA team and individual checklists.

5. If you are driving to the disaster ask your destination PDA representative and host church what else is needed locally. We brought a U-Haul trailer and stuffed it with beautiful quilts a community group prepared and we also got some stuffed animals for kids...we had the space and they were great gifts for folks in Gautier.

6. Get to the assigned destination as cheaply as possible. Consider air travel as it saves, in many cases, days and days on the road which cost your members either vacation time or time at the disaster.

7. Try to bring or rent a vehicle for the team's use at the disaster site.

8. Try to raise enough money to give some to the PDA manager at the site for his/her discretionary use...they're not getting enough from PDA.

9. Make certain your team members have their tetanus and flu shots. Make certain they're healthy enough for the rigors of work and tenting in the fall and winter.

10. Represent your team and church to the PDA representative and the local church, so they only have one contact to work with, not everyone.

11. Watch your team's health while working. If they're having a hard time with the work or the weather, don't wait for them to ask for relief! Get them a lighter work load or consider letting them rest or return.

12. Once you've returned from your mission trip, try to keep raising funds for the PDA representatives you've met.

13. Its great to come with a morning devotional planned. At our camp we took volunteers each morning and evening, but in my own case that's something I'd have to prepare for.

14. Keep the folks we've come to help in your prayers, and tell them of your affections over the years. Don't lose these new friends.

15. Set up a blog. They are free at outfits such as www.blogger.com from Google and many, many other providers. Easy to use, they let you have a journal your whole church can follow as their team works the disaster. Here at our camp, we even have wireless Internet, so bring a laptop if you wish and your digital cameras.

Salem Katrina Team Report from Gautier, Mississippi - November 15

2005-11-15T09:02:00.000-08:00

Today’s blog entry is offered by Joan Carter, the lady with whom I share a marriage and four great kids. I’m always amazed at her day here, with kitchen chores, straightening out bathrooms, running errands for Morella, playing the piano for Sunday services, mucking out homes, doing estimates for work to be done, and then worrying about how I’m doing.

Joan’s note. Working in Gautier ~~

Volunteer teams at Gautier Presbyterian’s Tent City last week rotated out last weekend— it amazed me how quickly we became ‘family’ as we tackled job after job of getting residents’ homes back into livable condition. New teams are here from Pittsburgh and Brevard County, North Carolina. We have especially enjoyed working in the homes with air conditioning, as the muggy weather has lingered on a month later and temps 25° higher than normal.

I am in awe of the resiliency of this congregation and the residents of this region. They put into perspective the most important needs, one’s inner spirit chief among them. As a musician, I want the keyboard to be in tune and worry when its not; the organist here awaits a piano after hers sat in a flooded room for three hours…. I lose patience when I can’t find my keys; here, they’ve lost not just the keys but the car as well; At home, I enjoy an orderly room, but here, disorder and disarray are the norm because floodwaters or a storm surge tore everything apart in less than one hour. The picture is of the church's organ, useless, left for FEMA's trucks to remove. Numerous tales abound of boats that floated within reach of a stranded family, allowing them to escape certain tragedy. Residents are patiently piecing together the scattered remnants of their formerly serene lives on a formerly lovely stretch of coastline, now littered with shattered skeletons of homes.

Our volunteers fan out across a large grid each and every day. Everyone returns with a story to tell, of a homeowner who is not only deeply grateful of the assistance but also of the energy that has a momentum of its own. We know we are just a few of what will be many volunteers appearing over the next many months, and that our combined effort will help these fine people to get back on their feet. We hand out cards with the church’s contact person’s number. They are eager to pass the word along so that their neighbors can be assisted by the church teams that are heading here weekly.

We’ve been most fortunate to be part of the rebuilding of this small part of the country. So much more work is needed. So many willing hands are essential. Our perspective has changed markedly since arriving –we’re glad to be part of this process!

Thanks, Joan, for this insight to your day.

A word to other teams heading here. Don’t bring clothes to donate or heavy tools...already here. There is plenty of bottled water to purchase locally and we need it, but don't waste money hauling it all the way down here. Instead, buy it here on the Gulf Coast for your use or for donation...if you're bringing one, use your U-Haul for more vital items like furniture, your work tools, wallboard and the like. Don’t bring kitchen items…already here but if you’ve packed them they can help out elsewhere in the area. The tents we live in are being replaced next week with ones better able to handle the weather, and tall enough to stand up in. There are cots provided but the next few crews should bring and leave their pillows and pillowcases for the next guy. You can hand-wash clothes but they’ll take a long time to dry.

We need a military GP Medium or GP Large tent, and the troops to put it up. We cannot get by with the flimsy summer-weight unit we're using now. If you have such a military or large civilian tent, get it here, please.

If you’re sick don’t come…you won’t get better down here!!! There is usually room for two or three RVs and there are three on site now. The tents have no electricity in them so plan on reading by battery lamps. Too many crews are showing up to work without sturdy work boots…bring ‘em! Get your tetanus and flu shots if possible. If you can handle it on your budget, plan on slipping the camp mayor a few hundred…she needs the discretionary spending power to meet hundreds of needs. Gift cards to Lowes or Home Depot work super! Bring some cash for meals…we’ve been running a camp hot breakfast every day buy cooking in the fellowship hall and also putting out fixings for lunch, and we ask teams to toss about $2 or $3 a meal per member into the basket to cover costs. We ask the teams to take turns slapping dinner together, and you can always take the easy road by using one of the many, many casseroles which have been stored in the three freezers. There are many places to eat in the area but service is slow with the herds of relief workers seeking meals at the same time. Hospital and clinics are up and running as are the usual stores you will need. The post office is a mile or so away.

This is important. The big coffee machine takes three half-cup scoops of coffee and use bottled water, please. The tap stuff is a little brown…safe but why chance it? Another important thing…do not get the sugar and the salt mixed up when your team makes grits. Gets everybody nuts! They want to kill the cook! We've been fixing scrambed eggs, grits, frozen biscuits which take 20 minutes to bake, sliced ham, juice, coffee and cold cereals. Cooks start breakfast about 5:30AM each morning and serve at 7AM.

We are helping all comers. The church has put forward its membership needing help with their homes and we are also eager to respond to anyone seeking assistance from our teams. In fact, we love requests from outside the church.

We usually have a nurse here, somehow, and now and then a doc. There is a camp first aid kit but it is only that…first aid. Consider stress when you plan your trip. We planned two weeks given the distance we had to come, but stress does add up. Maybe a couple one-week trips every other month works better. Fuel here is down to $2.26 for regular self-serve, higher at the freeway exit stations. Plenty of diesel and propane available. Plenty of building supplies at Lowes or Home Depot, but we’ve had difficulty getting the right vehicles to pick up and deliver to our homes. If you have a large truck or trailer able to move sheetrock, bring it if you can.

Church members have lost stuff that you’d expect to be on the first floor of most homes. Kitchen items, living room and dining room, washers and dryers, radios, televisions and the like. If you have household items and can bring them, please coordinate with Rev. Chris Bullock at Gautier Pres so they can have residents here to unload your vehicle or guide your vehicle to their homes for delivery.

Salem Katrina Team Report for November 14

2005-11-14T18:51:00.000-08:00

Breakfast was on the table today and the workers got off to a great start, with 10 teams dispatched following devotions. It was extremely muggy last night and through mid-day, but tonight we're enjoying pleasantly lower temperatures and more reasonable humidity.

Wayne figured out a way to deliver fresh water to the RV's and we have another Class A coach parked behind us by the tent canteen. Folks from Brevard County in North Carolina did a great job with a 16-bean soup thick enough to be called stew...great stew!

I mentioned to Ed that I hadn't said much about him on the blog. He says there isn't much to say. So he's no help to me writing this evening, but I can tell our readers that he is kind, a hard worker with so many skills and the world's best listener. Like me, he can't make out much conversation in groups with his hearing aids. I said goodnight to him as he and Dave watched the game...Dallas ahead by seven.

A special surprise was offered when we left from dinner and heard the pipes piping with Scotland the Brave. What a treat to hear this Brevard visitor!

Salem Katrina Team Report from Gautier November 13

2005-11-13T20:22:00.000-08:00

It got very warm again with the humidity just weighing us down. Water drips from vehicles, and we even use our wipers while driving. Services at Gautier were special as we joined with local members and listened to Chris' continuing series on thankfulness. He has a great talent with the kids, sitting cross-legged on the floor with them and they were perfectly engaged! Joan was invited to help with the music and Chris wrote her a nice note that it was appreciated.

Mary and I got breakfast out again. It was made much easier by the discovery of pre-formed biscuits at Wal-Mart. Samo-samo tomorrow, but nobody seems bored with the menu yet. This morning around 7AM I headed to get Karen at the airport but was worried when she wasn't on the 8:20 Continental. I waited around an hour after insuring the flights were on time, and was chagrined later to learn I should have been at the airport for Karen's 8:20 PM arrival! Anyway, she's "home" with us at last after her long, long journey, determined to rest and strike out tomorrow, fully charged and ready for hard work.

Several of our team joined other volunteers working a bit today after services.

What about Wayne Swanson? I haven't written much about him. He and Mary visited Georgia and then headed here to join us on the mission trip, and plan on taking another few months traveling before coming back to Salem. Wayne is another one of those guys who can do anything. Guys like me who seem to lack practical skills look at guys like him and marvel at his skills and energy. Mary said he'd be strong all week but be tired out by Sunday...didn't happen! Wayne is another energizer bunny, like David. Like Rick. Like Mary. Like Joan. Like "Silent" Ed. Wayne's full of ideas, gentle in his suggestions and guidance, and a natural leader. Don't know if he can cook because Mary comes to do the breakfasts every day, not Wayne.

I guess I'm the only Oregonian here who's in a 12volt frame with a 6volt battery.

If other teams are reading this blog, let's go over some news. First, don't bother bringing larger items like generators unless you've confirmed with Chris or Julie, the tent city mayor, that they're needed. We don't need bottled water, soap and the like. Teams should bring their individual work tools, especially for sheetrock work. Everybody needs wallboard, so if you are coming with a large vehicle or trailer you might bring some if you can fit it in. Folks from Tampa brought the church a new rider lawnmower. We could use a couple of those fancy multi-fold ladders. Chris has asked for a good, modern LCD projector. We have many local stores up and running, such as Sears, Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and the like. Electricity is no problem and we have lines out to the tent area for our volunteers and most homes we're working on have power and water restored. We have wireless Internet throughout the volunteer tent area. There are a couple RVs here on the church lawn but I can imagine they'd like to have their lawn back as soon as we can reposition. There is a discount charity store nearby for cheap clothes if your's are ruined working. The weather has been hot, got real cold and is now hot and muggy again. We've set up a tool crib to draw work tools and materials from. The PDA representative here, Julie, could use more money. No...I should say she NEEDS more money.

Good night, Oregon.

Salem Katrina Team Report for November 12

2005-11-12T15:10:00.000-08:00

We had a productive day, beginning with a most thoughtful devotional. Rick Pollan headed for the airport and his flight back to Portland...there goes one super-hard worker who knows how to fix anything. He even got the church's sign lighted up again, making it possible for folks on US90 to see this little place after dark. Did I say he was a hard worker and could fix anything?? Thanks so much, Rick, for your strong presence, happy countenance and the thoughtful blog articles.

Visited the Methodist camp up the road. Wow, those guys are organized! Dozens of air-conditioned tents tall enough to stand up straight inside, a huge assembly/chow hall tent, lots of support facilities and RV's all over the place. So many faiths, so much work to do.

This place is going to be a hot-spot for work if you happen to be in the commercial signs business. It reminds me of the TV game show, Wheel of Fortune. Give me a vowel, Vanna White!

We dispatched Morella's table saw and joiner today. Took a crew of four beefy guys to move things into the home of the recipient. Morella's late hubby would be very happy with his tools' new home. They'll make another man happy for years to come as he serves folks in this area with his skills...and his new equipment.

I've gotten into the habit of noticing whether drivers on the road are using seat belts. Rough average is less than 25% or so. As mentioned yesterday, drivers are also getting a tad bit aggressive, perhaps due to the accumulation of stressors especially lack of rest. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is going to be well-studied here for years to come.

To our wonderful church kids who are following the team, thanks again for thinking about us and praying for us each day, especially tomorrow at church. We have given away the last of the stuffed animals we brought, giving them to the local kids who are very nice to us. Tomorrow we give away the last of the beautiful quilts the folks in the Salem Quilt-a-Thon made for hurricane victims. Everyone we've handed a quilt to has been amazed that folks from Salem, from our beautiful Willamette valley, would do something so nice for them. We have quilts for babies, quilts for using on a chair or sofa, and quilts for regular beds. We especially enjoy giving the baby's quilts to their moms!

We live in McMinnville, and kids from Patton Middle School there emailed me that they'd played a game against their teachers to raise money. They were able to send kids in Louisiana $260 to help repair Katrina damage. Great kids at Patton!

We're out tonight for a fish dinner together, just our team. Wish Rick could have been with us. Wish the rest of the crew (meaning Karen) was here to go also, but we can do something special when she arrives tomorrow. We sure miss everyone at home. Lucky ol' Rick: he'll be at services tomorrow in our very own, warm, safe, clean church. Down here in Gautier, y'all, we're fixin' to look forward to Rev. Chris Bullock's services in this newly-reborn sanctuary, make so special with the labors of friends from all over the nation. And if there's any problem, well it don't make no never mind!

Tomorrow Mary and I will slap breakfast together again, but will add hot oatmeal, fried potatoes, biscuits and sausage patties to the plate for some variety. Somehow, I think we might be drifting closer and closer to cold cereals as we get closer to our return to Salem...0515 is a pretty early time to report for work to start the grits! To the right you'll see something we discovered that will go over great in Oregon. Can you read the label okay? Pickled pig lips...always sure to please!

Boy, its been cold. We were shivering yesterday afternoon and last night. Today was warmer but it is wonderful not to have that heat we faced earlier this week.

Everyone is healthy, everyone looks happy, and everyone certainly is working hard and effectively in helping Gautier rebuild. We all know that if Mount Hood were to blow or some other disaster hit the Northwest, these same suffering people would be at our doorstep, hammers in hand, ready to shoulder our burden with us. Thank God we are spared and can instead aid them.

Some things, like this sign above, we just don't understand yet. But we are working on it! At least Rick had a head start on the accent, being from Texas, but some of the others are starting to understand a few words here and there, if the locals speak slowly.

Good night, Oregon. Bless your heart!

Veterans Day Report from Gautier Mississippi

2005-11-11T16:10:00.000-08:00

Today is Veterans Day. I took most of the day off. As I walked to breakfast folks in our tent city were erecting a flag pole and we had our own kind of Iwo Jima flag raising.

The veterans I'm thinking about today. The homeless man, so terribly confused, that I called 911 on last night when Rick and I took him to Gulfport and the Red Cross couldn't shelter him. General Jimmy Doolittle. Major Jack Carne. Brigadier General Jimmy Stewart, Lieutenant Colonel Jessie Britt. Chief Warrant Officer 4 Henry Carter. Brigadier General John Carter, Sr. Master Sergeant Bob "Grandpa" Boyd, who died in his easy chair reading his Bible. Also, Captain Roy Gordon. Sergeant Paul Ford. Specialist 4 Warren Ford. Lieutenant Colonel Ed Kosakoski. All the guys I flew with. Those great guys I went to the Gulf with. God bless you all.

We got word from church that our budget is looking pretty good and we'll be able to help a bit more than we'd hoped. That's great news! Thanks, everybody back in Salem.

Mary did a super potato bake dinner. Easy on our budget and it went over great! Went to the FEMA information center and the guard just about jumped down my throat...he'd been told to prevent photographing. Gee...is the Constitution suspended in this part of Mississippi? While there we came up with a Medicare strategy to help a Navy widow get by as our volunteers worked on her house.

Salem Katrina Report from Gautier November 10

2005-11-10T21:24:00.000-08:00

It cooled a bit today and it feels just a bit more comfortable even with the humidity. We're doing about the same work as before but feeling some satisfaction as the jobs near some kind of completion. Dave again provided us great laughs when he asked the locals who'd called him "Bubba" if that was a good or a bad nickname, They reassured him...at least its better than "Pimento!" Say, didn't we see Dave (Bubba) and his two brothers on the Bob Newhart show a few years back? Dave was working with an Air Force vet who's Thai wife kept calling him "Bubba-san." Worth the trip just to hear that one! Somebody back at Salem First Pres needs to make a name tag for him reading "Bubba-san", okay?

Had strange thoughts today as we took a break and watched victims accepting the church's invitation to take from the food pantry. Bag after bag filling fairly new cars? Did they actually need the gift? Why were they taking so much? Why did they take church food but still have money for their cigarettes? This is wrong-thinking and who are we to judge? We cannot understand their needs...we haven't been through this as they have.

Observation: Too much aggression on the highway. Especially the contractors. Tons of vehicles whizzing past with the roofing, plumbing, landscaping and other signs on the doors. Just about nobody wearing seat belts. Kids not safely in car seats. Our camp's port-a-potties, so necessary but such a mundane item, cost PDA $8000 so far.

Over the past few days we'd delivered stuffed animals for kids at a local primary school. Today the school's principal came over to ask for another box of them, and we noticed her husband waiting for her in their truck. He's disabled with a bad back, plus he'd cut his hand so we took care of that minor injury. Then they happened to mention that this coming weekend they were hoping to start working on their house which had lost the first floor. Perfect timing...we marched them down to our eager volunteer estimating crew and now these nice folks are on our schedule to get their house fixed on Saturday....and this tired principal who cares for hundreds of storm-affected youngsters can give herself a day off for the first time in two months.

The day before yesterday we were thrilled to have the FEMA contractors pick up the tremendous pile of rubbish behind the church. However, we were less than thrilled yesterday to discover some contractor had illegally dumped another pile about a quarter the size of the first right by our motor homes. That mess has saved somebody a trip to the dump, I guess, but now the mold stink is back.

We helped other volunteers set up blogs today, so they too can have their friends and family read an Internet journal. One to visit is http://gautierpdacamp.blogspot.com/ At our evening devotion, nearly everyone raised their hand when asked if they intended to come back to help for Katrina in some way. This place is miserable and there is simly no other place else we'd rather be!

Dave and I helped our camp mayor work with a homeless couple but found ourselves outmatched by circumstances and their needs. This was a homeless street couple, rather than a Hurricane Katrina family, but they came to the church for help and we fed them. Couldn't understand the man who talked in such a confusing manner. We reached the only shelter in the area and then drove them there, only to have the Red Cross refuse them entry because they, too, couldn't deal with street people. These poor folks...we ended up calling 911 and put them in the EMT's care to see if they could be convinced to accept care in a local hospital. We wanted to get the old fellow some help with the VA but he refused.

Tomorrow is Veterans' Day. Remember the veterans in your life. Thank them, won't you? As the sign reads in front of the Johnson City Veterans Hospital, "All gave some. Some gave all!"

Here in Mississippi, nearby Vicksburg was the scene of horrible fighting during the Civil War. Later, Vicksburg's World War II soldiers returning home in 1945 placed a bronze tablet before their old town hall, famous in so many Civil War photos, which reads as follows:

We answered the call others wouldn't hear.
We went where others feared to go, and did what

others failed to do.
Our families wept while others slept.

We stood at the wall and kept you safe.
We were American Soldiers

We are all so very, very tired. Good night, Oregon.

Salem Katrina Team Report - Gautier, November 9

2005-11-09T18:19:00.000-08:00

The best laugh today was through David Dyer. He spoke with mock horror of the huge size of local "pimento" bugs. The locals, after laughing their heads off, mentioned the proper name is "palmetto" bug..the pimento is a red pepper! Anyway, Dave keeps us happy...he's "our other brother Darrel". For those readers "who just don't get it", remember the '90's Bob Newhart show?

Today also brought stories we're not proud of. Scam artists abound down here. Easy pickin's. We learned of migrant workers hired to work, paying their own living expenses and then the labor contractor abandons them on payday, skipping with their salaries in his pocket. Another situation where an elderly victim was again victimized by scammers charging her $9,000 to remove her soggy carpets...and then stealing her furniture as well when they left without even doing the work! Lots of fly-by-night crooks charging for labor up front and then disappearing when the homeowner's back is turned. For non-code work there is nothing about what standard of performance is required...truly buyer beware.

We sent off one of our fellows from another team to the hospital this afternoon. Didn't watch his fluid intake and he'd become dehydrated to the point he needed IVs. He's okay now and was a strong voice singing at services tonight.

Our team is already tired but happy as heck to be here. Wes and Mary continue to whip up breakfast and today even included hot homemade rolls! Write us, folks...tell us what's happening back home.

Today's pictures are again gifts from Rick who, along with Joan, Wayne, and David, are out doing such wonderful work for the Lord. We hope the Lord will watch the humidity a bit for these poor folks from Oregon who are used to much dryer (or should we say "Dyer?" weather!

Here's an article by Rick Pollan:

Tuesday Nov 7th;

Dave Dyer and I spent our second day working with the crew from Virginia. We went back to Patricia’s home to finish removing the drywall and tile floors from the remaining bedrooms. Patricia was the most gracious lady, insisting that she be allowed to buy something for us, do something for us. We ultimately agreed that some Gatorade would be great, she returned from the store with 2 8-packs for us. This from a lady who had lost nearly all and was living in a FEMA trailer on a fixed income while awaiting the final outcome of what would happen to her home.

She shared a story I’d like to share here with you readers, a story not of herself but of God's unlimited power over all things, even incredibly powerful storms. She told of how she and her husband stayed in their home during this storm, they had evacuated a couple of years ago for another hurricane and nothing became of it. She is in terrible pain when she walks, her ankles and knees and hips require medications and limited travel. The couple of days they spent in a hotel far inland during the last storm were so uncomfortable they decided to “tough this one out”.

Fortunately the water only rose to 3 feet in their home. It was scary, and tense, and there was a moment when they realized they should have left, but it was too late now. They would either survive or perish, they prayed and left it up to the Lord, accepting whatever fate he had in store for them that day. The water never rose more than the 3 feet in their home, and receded quickly. Patricia used that testimony as a backdrop for the REAL story she wanted to share with us;

In her same neighborhood, and closer to the water she has a dear and more elderly friend who is confined to a wheelchair. This friend also did not evacuate for various reasons of her own, but had asked for someone to come move her to higher ground, a safer place. No one came. As the storm moved in and the waters began to rise she was frantically calling her church and anyone she could get to answer. No one could come. The fire department would not try without a complete and proper address, they couldn’t risk their vehicles and equipment with the storm so rapidly approaching. With the water rising to the height of her bed Patricia’s friend resigned herself to her fate, and began to pray. She told the Lord she was ready, if it was His will then she was ready to go, and thanked Him for such a good life. Then she closed her eyes and waited, the rising waters covering her bed.

The fire department DID get out, making a last minute decision to attempt to locate the woman. The woman’s garage door had been left open, her car pulled inside. The fire department rescue team was pushing down the flooded street, wind screaming and shrieking, looking for a couple of loosely described landmarks they’d been given. What they saw they did not expect. The lady’s car in the garage was now covered with rising water. The battery had apparently shorted out, and with the rescue team desperately trying to find her before they had to give up and return without her… one of the team noticed an unusual thing. The lights on a submerged car in a garage were blinking. On… and off. And on… and off. They checked the hastily given description of the home they were looking for and decided this one looked close enough to attempt a rescue. It was the right house. She was there, still alive, nearly covered with the floodwaters. When they took her to the rescue vehicle someone noted the lights were no longer blinking in the garage. The waters rose another foot that night, the night that friend of Patricia literally gave her life to God’s hands.

I thank you dear God, for allowing me to be here. I thank you for allowing me to witness all of the miracles, big and small that I have seen. I thank you for allowing me to witness and to be witnessed TO. For allowing me to participate in what I KNOW is your work. I thank you for all of the other volunteers that have been allowed to pass into this holy ground before me, and for all of the countless number that will follow. May we accept your will for our lives, whatever that may be. In Christ Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Salem Katrina Team Report from Gautier for November 8

2005-11-08T19:33:00.000-08:00

Our friend and team member Rick writes today's first entry:

Arrival Sunday November 6th:

It was a beautiful sun drenched Sunday morning as my small jet made the hop from Houston's George Bush airport to the Biloxi/Gulfport airport. The first thing I noticed as the plane descended into the approach pattern was how every house and building and rooftop seemed to be using the same style blue shingles, or blue tile. I saw it on nearly every building as far as I could see. It made for a very impressive sight. The architectural zoning codes in Santa Fe, New Mexico and the rigid building codes in Austin, Texas came to mind as I pondered how the people of the gulf coast were liable to accept such rules. Then it dawned on me. It wasn't shingles I was seeing on every rooftop. It wasn't tile. It was blue tarp. Huge sections of it. Miles of it. Stretched on every roof in every direction you could see from the airplane. To cover the holes in the roof or the blown off shingles. Welcome to the gulf coast, post-Katrina.

I didn't have to go far to have my first up-close view of the damage. Several areas of the airport were closed or blocked off, the swollen and moldy wallboard still leaning against the trusses and frames, waiting for someone to remove them.

Wes was there in his RV to pick me up. hadn't been to the campsite yet, and he and I were just amazed at the amount of wreckage and litter lying by the side of the road. Twisted metal signs that normally announced a fast food joint or some other business either lay in heaps in parking lots or stood in the sky as a testament to the fury and power of what they had witnessed. Refrigerators and stoves and all manner of appliances lay in piles of trash and litter next to the road where they had been removed from homes and left awaiting pickup. The visible litter and amount of disarray increased the closer we came to the waterfront. First Presbyterian of Gautier is a full mile from the water, but the storm surge had sent 3 feet of water into the buildings, covered the highway the church sits on, and wrecked the drive-in motel across the highway.

We arrived just in time for services, with Joan having spotted the way for us. Wayne and Mary had spotted us in front of them and followed us in, so we all arrived at about the same time.

When the storm flooded the sanctuary the church had just replaced the pews and the carpet. Those things have since been replaced, and the sheetrock has been donated and replaced and painted. The sanctuary was overflowing with members and guests, with members refusing to be seated if a guest was standing (it was hard for this Texas boy to accept that a lady in the congregation INSISTED I have her seat, I politely refused more than once, she wouldn't have it, I acquiesced).

Must go now, more to follow.

Thanks, Rick! Very well written and a wonderful testimony. Back here at our base camp, we watched the FEMA contractor remove (finally) our mountain of trash behind the church. Rugs, televisions, organs, refrigerators, toys, pews and every kind of litter imaginable was bulldozed into a 60' by 20' by 5' high pile, then loaded into trucks for hauling off. It took four semi trailer loads today and they still haven't finished. The mold stinks even more now that its been moved about. Tomorrow should finish the job. And this is one single building among thousands which are being gutted.

Salem Katrina Team Report November 7

2005-11-07T16:23:00.000-08:00

Today we truly had Oregon "boots on the ground" with our team working in several areas. Joan, Wayne, Rick and David worked in homes, mostly doing wallboard. Wes and Mary prepared a hot breakfast (more on that "disaster" below) and delivered gifts to the local police department and elementary schools. Morella continued her super coordinating job as assistant city manager of our PDA tent city. We're looking forward to Ed's arrival tomorrow afternoon and Karen's next week.

Another Katrina impression: We have developed an expectation of leaving this place. We can look forward to returning to our green valley and safe homes. People of Gautier, and everywhere along the Gulf Coast, can only look forward to years of rebuilding, of hoping their strength holds out. That people won't forget them.

Now, about breakfast. Naturally, being in the South, we wanted to offer hot grits with our scrambled eggs when we started cooking at 5:30 AM. Reading the directions on the bag carefully, Wes (we name the cook here to spare the others any blame) added "salt" as directed and then cooked the whole bag. First mistake! Turns out that a bag makes more grits than the pot can hold! So, we quickly scooped out what was going to explode anyway. Finally, at 7AM we served our hungry crowd of teams from all over the country. Slowly, somehow, it came to be known that Wes had mistaken the container of "salt" for sugar. And thus was born the world's first, only and last awful pot of "SWEET CHEESE GRITS!???" Tomorrow, a couple ladies from Baltimore will rescue our crew from such cruelty and they've volunteered to prepare grits the way they should be done.

After lunch today we delivered stuffed animals from McMinnville's Willamette Valley Medical Center to the Gautier Police Department, and then many, many more boxes (three van loads) of the bears to the Gautier Elementary School. That school is now actually two schools, having taken into their building the entire student body and staff from another of Gautier's three elementary schools. Every teacher and staff member of both schools has lost their home, and all 67 of them are living in FEMA trailers now. The principal is a wonderful lady who happens to be expecting her first child, so she really appreciated the beautiful infant quilt made by our Salem Quilt-a-Thon folks. Tomorrow we deliver more bears to that school and to one of the town's medical centers.

First Pres Salem Katrina Team Report from Gautier November 6

2005-11-06T19:19:00.000-08:00

We arrived today to complete devastation. "Send help" is the only message we can relay to friends at home. The damage is awesome. Two months after the event, two months after thousands of people starting recovery work, it looks like it happened yesterday.

This writer has seen fires, floods, earthquakes, chemical explosions and wars, but just ten minutes of seeing what Katrina has done to Gautier tops all that. Thank God the loss of life was somehow "only" what it was.

Most of our team arrived today, joining Morella who'd been working here already. In fact, we were driving in and saw Mary and Wayne in their RV right behind us as we pulled into the church. We were in time to attend worship services with Pastor Chris Bullock giving a strong message of hope and confidence. Communion was served using their new service, as the old was destroyed in the storm. Then we immediately set to work unloading our gear and the gifts we brought with us for Gautier. Mary and Wes did dinner for the camp, serving about 25 hungry souls who'd been working following services this morning.

Tomorrow, Mary and Wes will subject the campground to our cooking again, offering a hot breakfast for their first time in weeks. On the menu...scrambled eggs, ham steaks, coffee and grits! Then our team joins the other volunteers, mostly from Pennsylvania and Maryland, in working on local homes.

A lesson learned tonight. As our teams empty what is obviously rubbish from ruined homes, we need to remember that these things are storm victims' precious posessions. Throwing away damaged photographs, grandma's bureau, dad's old uniform, these things hurt. They're trying to let go and its hard. We heard one team describe helping a homeowner cut several downed pines away from his roof. That man's father planted those pines the day he got back from World War II. It hurt.

Keep us in your prayers. Please send money to help these folks.

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

2005-11-05T19:17:00.000-08:00

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!

Salem Katrina Team - Road Trip Report - November 1

2005-11-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

More miles today, driving south and east as we head to Mississippi. Fuel prices are high but better than a couple weeks ago. We had a beautiful sunrise driving through Utah this morning and enjoyed the mountains after the plains of Idaho yesterday. Tonight we should make Boulder, Colorado.

If any of the kids who attended first and second services this last Sunday are reading this and keeping us in your daily prayers, thank you so much. Your prayers protect us, keep us warm and keep us so very happy. Please keep reading our blog and we'll find pictures and stories about the kids in Gautier to share with you in the days to come.

Team arrangements: We expect the host church to pick up Morella on the 4th, and she's to figure out how to get Ed at the airport on the 5th. We'll be there with the motor home and the Dodge van by the morning of the 6th...maybe earlier...to get Rick and David. Hello Swansons, wherever you are: Please let us know your approximate arrival date and time. Good hunting and drive safe!

The Gautier Presbyterian Church had a paint party this weekend and Pastor Chris Bullock reports they did the entire church, with special thanks to some great volunteers from Alabama who just kept on painting!

Salem Katrina Team Update October 31

2005-10-31T14:28:00.000-08:00

What a blessing yesterday. It was exciting to be commissioned as representatives of our church in service to Mississippi. For some, its our first mission and we know it won't be the last. There was lots of good news as well, beginning with even more funds provided to support the mission. We have our minimum needs met and now the funds simply mean more help directly to the Gautier Presbytierian.

Rob's sermon was perfect and a well-timed reminder to not let any praise or thanks for work on this trip fall on our own shoulders, but on the Lord's. Karen's children's sermon was absolutely beautiful and know we know that daily we've got little angels praying for us as well. Karen's extra efforts doing the name tags we appreciated.

We now all have our I LOVE GAUTIER stickers and wore them during the commissioning. Checking with the folks down there, today was a "paint party" and somehow, with the help of volunteers from everywhere, they painted the entire church!

As for loading up the very last items for the trip, that was a challenge. We stuffed the UHaul, we stuffed the Dodge van and we certainly stuffed the motor home...here's the shower, jammed full of bears, first aid gear, propane stoves, blankets, cooking items and more.

And finally, pumpkins and ghosts tied to the bumper, we're off on our 2600 mile journey. To all our church family and dear friends from other churches, our thanks for your generosity and support in this effort.

Salem Katrina Response Team October 29 Update

2005-10-29T22:58:00.000-07:00

We had so many brave folks out to load in the rain today! The crew gathered at church to attempt to load all the trip materials. A daunting task and we were certain it just couldn't be done.

But with Karen there to insist that everything would actually fit, we did manage to get teddy

bears, barrels, propane, table saws, beautiful quilts. Wow, Sandy [red hat]...they are really beautiful! Also water jugs, ladders, duffle bags, generator...the list goes on, and it actually all got into the trailer. And into the motor home. And into the Dodge van! Somehow, we're finished loading at last. We even packed bags and boxes into the motor home's shower! The largest single item was Karen's set of four 50 LB chili cans (okay...maybe only 5 LB each but they're still monsters!)

Budget: Karen reported another $800 received from a particularly sweet contributor, with $300 of that towards a team member's flight and the rest for expenses. Thus, we have our minimum budget met. Any additional funds means simply more that we can do, and more financial support that we can give the PDA and the Gautier church for their community's rebirth.

Tomorrow is the team's commissioning and then the road crew pulls out. The route takes them through Salt Lake City, Grand Junction Colorado, through Denver and then to Topeka where they turn south, then into Gulfport. There, they go east again into Gautier and we can finally get to work. Enough of this planning! Enough of this fund raising! Let's get down there to start helping folks in Gautier! Let's hope the Swanson's have a freezer full of venison for our stew pot.

We're looking forward to our commissioning tomorrow during the second service, and the start of a long, long road trip. Thankfully it will be one hour shorter on the clock, due to Daylight Savings Time. Most of all we're looking forward to meeting wonderful people in Mississippi who inspire us with their strength and resolve as they recover from Katrina.

Salem Katrina Team Update October 28

2005-10-28T21:32:00.000-07:00

Just about ready! Tomorrow we finish loading the U-Haul and Dodge van, but I expect we'll have a pretty full load. We've got so much stuff, if we have trouble driving to Mississippi maybe we'll just pull over and set up our own Home Depot or something!

Here are the things we're bringing to Gautier:
1. Work tools and personal items for crew of 9
2. Folding ladder, 2 joiners (one on floor stand), 1 table saw on floor stand, to be donated
3. 30 gal trash barrel on wheels, to be donated
4. 150 to 250 beautiful handmade quilts to be donated and these will be appreciated!
5. 150 cleaning buckets, 20 loaded with supplies to use or donate
6. First aid station with manual wheelchair, all to be donated when we leave
7. 1500w gas generator, to use and donate when we leave
8. Food preparation equipment including stoves, coolers, pots & pans, serving materials dry paper goods, food for crew, field oven, 2 propane bottles, 1 propane lamp, 1 battery lamp. All to be left for other teams
9. Boxes - thousands of stuffed animals for town police, schools, fire department, area Salvation Army
10. Cash ($500 so far) already mailed to Gautier Presbyterian towards camp expenses
11. Dual burner propane stove, small propane area heater. 30-amp power cords, drills, circular saws, chain saw, 3 5-gal fuel containers, 1 1-gal fuel container, 5 5-gal water containers
12. 25" color TV and 13" TV/VCR combo to use for tent city and donate
13. VCR, digital phones, answering machine, HP multifunction printer w/spare ink, Polaroid photo printers, office supplies to donate for business or home office use
14. Battery-powered floor vacuum and several tarps to donate
15. Microwave/convection oven to donate
16. 2 electric heaters, 1 to donate
17. 1 wet-dry vacuum
18. folding campfire pit for camp use
19. electric scooter for team use at camp
20. 3 twin-size inflatable mattresses, 2 pillows to use and then donate
21. '94 Dodge Caravan, extended bed; lots of miles and runs fine, for team use and then to donate
22. 1750 psi electric high pressure washer to use and then donate

Virginia phoned today. Some additional funds have arrived for which we give thanks. She also wanted to suggest that we send all financial donors a general accounting of how the funds for our team get spent. That's ideal! We can do it by mail with a thank-you note when the trip is over, and we can also publish a summary here on the blog.

Came across a Presbyterian team going to Mississippi from Lake Oswego. They will be working over Thanksgiving so we made arrangements to loan our Dodge van for their use if it would be helpful.

Its getting late. This has been one super-busy day with more shopping, some van repairs and a whole lot of loading. See you tomorrow at 10:00! Karen, you better have that trailer key!!!!

Salem Katrina Team Update October 27

2005-10-27T17:34:00.000-07:00

They're working like demons (can we say that?) in Gautier, getting more done now that the weather has remained dry for awhile and the temperatures are so much more comfortable. Today was slightly overcast and the evenings are getting plain cold!

Shown on the left is the "average" business sign typical for Gautier these days, post-Katrina. But those golden arches and other signs of normal business life are certain to return.

I raised the thought of donating some of our budget for the earthquake victims in Pakistan, and thank goodness for good advice from Morella and others who pointed out that we're morally bound to use donations we solicit only for the purposes for which the donor made the gift. Thank you, thank you and many more thank you's for keeping our ethics on the straight and narrow with your sound advice.

Tonight we continued to load the U-Haul with tools and donations, including a TV set, stereo, empty tool chest, manual wheelchair and other items. We had fun loading the stuffed animals donated by staff and patients of Willamette Medical Center. A very happy Paula and Ruth Anne, plus two very, very tired husbands after unloading their truck of toys. Did I mention...they also donated $100 towards our team's expenses. Thanks guys!!

As to the budget, both Karen and Rick mentioned that they've heard about some more gifts, over $500 additional. That's great as we will probably need a couple ladders, garden carts and other items once we're down there, plus the tent city "mayor" Matt Shepherd has requested money or gift cards for Lowe's and Wal-Mart for purchase of building materials.

Evergreen Presbyterian Church in Pensacola, Florida has been a model of Katrina relief. In addition to profoundly useful items such as 700 gallons of diesel fuel, they've donated over $14,000 in cash. Here's their link which you'll find great reading: http://www.evergreenpres.net/Katrina%20Relief.htm

Salem Katrina Team Update October 26

2005-10-26T17:23:00.000-07:00

Today we got the motor home back from service (thanks, Valley RV) and rented the U-Haul trailer. We got the largest one they have, but it does seem a bit small. Saturday, when we load, I hope everything will fit.

The staff from Willamette Medical Center has collected thousands (yup, that's a number with three zeros after it) of new stuffed animals to brighten the eyes of any Gulf Coast kid. Tomorrow night they load their collection into the trailer and Dodge van, but I'm afraid we might not have room for all. Our mission...to meet the Salvation Army in Mississippi who'll distribute them, plus we will give a bunch to Gautier Presbyterian as well as the town's school, fire and police departments for their local kids. We're also taking about 250 handmade quilts.

And the quilts are beautiful. Plus, the wonderful ladies who made them have invited each team member to select a quilt to keep you comfortable in your tent!

This morning we also loaded the woodworking equipment donated by Ed Reiks of First Pres Newberg, which gets distributed along with Morella's table saw and joiner.

Congratulations to all: We finally have everybody's flight schedules and it looks like either I pick up folks at Gulfport or the host church picks up Morella and then she picks up Ed the next day, then I'll get the remaining team as they arrive.

We've had so many questions where we're headed from our friends and supporters. Here's a map. We will be at Gautier, Mississippi, which is about 37 miles east of Gulfport, about 5 miles east of Biloxi, right on State Highway 90. It is right on the Gulf, a few minutes walk from the water.

Tomorrow we continue loading cooking gear, computer donations, bedding and other stuff into the trailer, then meet with the Willamette folks to get their teddy bears. Saturday we'll be at the church by 10:00, hoping a couple team members show up to help load the individual equipment and team gear into the U-Haul. Then we get a good night's sleep before church, our team's commissioning and the start of a very, very long drive!

Salem Katrina Team Update, Evening, October 25

2005-10-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

Remember to raise funds for our team and for the expenses of the church in Gautier. They recommend sending gift cards from Lowe's or Wal-Mart.

The Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has posted fine video clips at their web site, some showing volunteers' daily chores, camp life, damaged homes and the like. View the videos by going to their site http://www.pcusa.org/katrina/reflections/video.htm

Gautier Presbyterian's pastor, Chris Bullock, printed out a membership directory of his church and noted by each member the impact of Katrina. As you look this list over, you'll notice that nearly everyone had devastating damage, a situation which staggers even the one or two folks who somehow escaped severe loss. Here is the list of our friends we have yet to met next month, first showing the impact of the storm and then their names:

Church Directory

Gautier Presbyterian Church

Family lost a great deal of business due to the storm and suffered water damage.
ADAMS, William, Elizabeth

Are simply exhausted from trying to clean up around their house.
AIRHART, Jim , Sue

Navy family that will have to relocate because the homeport which was already slated to close sustained too much damage
ALTIZER, Michael, Casondra, Brielle

Had tremendous flood damage.
BERNSTEIN, Patricia (Pat), Richard (Dick)

Stayed during the storm. The three children stayed as well and remained traumatized.
BEVERAGE, Leon, Calvin Brown, Shone, Hanna

She is our oldest member and is coping well.
Had water damage to their second floor and a gaping hole in their roof.
CLEMENTS, Aubin

CHIVERS, Joyce

Are doing well but have many friends/family in the Houston/Galveston area.
DRAKE, Ralph, Dotty

Are doing well but have many friends in Texas.
Eichmans, Frank, Judy

Lost their home and all their possessions in the storm.
DITTMAN, George, Mary

Having great difficulty with the magnitude of the damage in our area.
KERR, Debra

Struggling, as a young family, to help others out in the church.
LARSEN, Waldemar, Robin, Amy Jo, Billy

Pam was supposed to have surgery in New Orleans the day before the hurricane but it was canceled.
MARTIN, Wayne, Pam, Courtney

Were new to the area and stayed during the storm and are having a hard time coping afterwards
FISHINGER, Bill, Jan

Were also new to the area and stayed during the storm and are having trouble coping.
GILLEN, Dan , Blanche

Tremendous damage to both of their work sites. Sylvia’s restaurant went under water.
HAINES, George, Sylvia

Health problems in the midst of all of this and both had to go back to work quickly after the storm which is both a blessing and difficulty with all that needs done.
MATTISON, James (Jack), Donna

Had significant water damage to her house.
HENNE, Daphne

Had to swim out of her house as the water went over her roof. She is nearly 80.
HOUSEHOLDER, Marge

Tree damage.
HUNT, Fred

Roof damage and yard damage. She has taken in a friend of her late husband’s who lost his house.
KOGER, Dorothy

Flood damage
LAGANGA, Keith, Heidi, Samantha, Tony

New to the community and trying to cope with the damage. House faired well
McDOWELL, Dixon, Linda

30 trees down on their lot. Some still hang precariously over the house.
MEENINK, Dick, Brandy

Several holes in their roof.
MIGNAULT, Richard, June

Stayed during the storm because he has cancer and they couldn’t move.
POOLE, Dick, Barbara

Lost most of her downstairs to the storm. All her precious music/piano/organ was downstairs.
RICHARDSON, Martha

Lost her house and all her many belongings in the storm.
ROBERSON, Gerry

Roof damage. She is caring for her daughter and son in law who lost everything in their beautficul water front home.
SHARPE, Judy

Had sludge throughout their home and are having to gut it all.
TALBOT, Jim , Jo, Dan

Lost the downstairs to flood.
TORGERSON, Rick, Donnis

Lots of tree damage.
WISE, Jerry, Mary

Some water in the house.
WOLFE, Jesse, Cookie

Some roof damage. They are caring for her mother, who lost everything
WOODWARD, Dan, Gerry Anne, Amanda Partridge

Pray for us.

-----------------------------------------------

On today's team business:

I got turned down for the blood drive at church because the Red Cross no longer accepts donations from Persian Gulf vets. That's something I'm going to check...is there some bug I don't know I got exposed to?? Congratulations to the team members I saw there, and especially to Rick Pollan's daughter on her first time donating! Anyway, I enjoyed the cookies!

We went over to Home Depot and many thanks to their management for offering a 10% discount on our purchases. We stocked up on lights, locks, folding ladders, respirators, tape, spare filters, and more. Pretty much locked up our budget but got items we need. The manager at Home Depot reminded me that her store and Lowe's both invite folks to take their classes for free.

Virginia forwarded our second $250 check to Gautier Presbyterian, and gave me the petty cash checks. The $650 donation from First Pres Newberg hasn't come in yet so that's money for the future, plus there was a donation in the collection plate on Sunday for $100 and the $750 in checks given to the information table. Therefore, we have remaining about $1650 left in the bank with Virginia, having spent most of the money on fuel cards and petty cash checks, as we'd planned. Thanks, Virginia, for such kindness getting the checks done, the cards figured out, the paperwork organized for us.

Rick Pollan: I need your flight info, please. Don't want you standing too long at baggage claims! (got it Wednesday morning, thanks...enjoy your "red eye" flight to Houston!)

Tomorrow we pick up the U-Haul and get the electrical connections figured out to the motor home, and then load up the materials from McMinnville. We'll bring the trailer to the church on Thursday, and then load from our church trailer and the upstairs storage room at 10:00 on Saturday. Anybody free that morning, please show up and lend a hand.

Still looking for a couple folding ladders and wheelbarrows or garden carts. Please be sure you have your individual equipment. I heard on the news that flu shots are now available in the Salem area...get yours now, folks.

Salem Katrina Team Update October 25

2005-10-25T09:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got word that respirators are difficult to find (and expensive) in the South, so we made the decision to buy them up here. We got two at Lowe's and we'll get four more at Home Depot in Salem, and give them to any team member who hasn't yet purchased one. I can't find replacement filters but will keep looking online.

We were asked to set up a blog for Gautier Presbyterian which we did, and you can see it at www.gautierpresby.blogspot.com . We'll keep posting news there until they get it running themselves.

In Gautier, the tent city has a "mayor" named Mark Shepherd. Mark was asked yesterday for his Number One priority for donations at Gautier Presbyterian and in fact, for the entire area they're helping. Easy answer. Mark needs gift cards from Wal-Mart and Lowe's.

These stores are nearby and have pretty much everything needed to do the work. The nearby Lowe's SuperCenter meets nearly every requirement and their folks have been good to their Mississippi neighbors. We learned that Lowe's recently donated over $6,000,000 for Katrina! Mark says, "We are always restocking our tool shed inventory and as we progress towards the rebuilding stage other tools will become necessary. We will also need large amounts of sheet rock/insulation, electrical and plumbing fixtures, carpeting etc. Each day down here brings a new set of challenges and a gift card provides the flexibility required in a disaster response."

Mark has already had a response to his appeal. The Disaster Volunteer Team from First Presbyterian Church of Salem is sending a $250 Lowe's gift card, on top of the $500 already given for the operation of the tent city. Now, Mark needs thousands and thousands more. Send your checks or gift cards using this address:

Mark Shepherd c/o Gautier Presbyterian Church
100 Hwy 90
Gautier, MS 39553

If you want to get a gift card right away for Mark and the Gautier team, here's the link to the Lowe's gift card site so you can order online with a credit card: http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productAccess&referurl=giftCard%26view%3Dhome&lpage=none

Here's the link for Wal-Mart's gift card: http://www.walmart.com/giftcards?adid=1500000000000002547100&dest=110783

Today we're going through the Mexico mission equipment to see what can be of use in Mississippi. And I think our greedy eyes are making Jarrod Judge just a little nervous! Don't worry, Jerrad...we won't take everything. Yesterday we got the medical supplies from Willamette Valley Medical Center for our first aid station.

Salem Katrina Team Update October 24

2005-10-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

Good morning, team. Shown on the left is the nearby city of Waveland's City Hall. What's left of it, as you can see, are the steps leading up to...nothing.

The impact of it all is staggering. Imagine Salem losing 1700 homes (the number lost in Gautier) with perhaps 3400 workers and their families in them. 3400 workers who were the doctors, salesmen, gas station attendants, barbers, students, bus drivers, auto mechanics, nurses, grocery store clerks, bankers, teachers, writers, gardeners, postal clerks, home makers, insurance adjusters, and so on. The impact, even on our much larger town, would be crushing. We won't understand this, even after we come back.

What's happening this moment in Gautier? Rev. Chris Bollock of Gautier Presbyterian posted a great collection of photos taken just this last week by a visiting team from Alabama. Here is the link to them so you can download and watch another team doing what we're about to do. Good for them! Click here to download that 2.5 meg movie file.
http://www.ctcsouth.com/http://www.ctcsouth.com/zionsville10-22_0003.wmv

Downloadable Files: Here are a couple files you might need to download now and then. I keep the PowerPoint file about our Katrina project fairly current, especially regarding funds, etc.
http://www.ctcsouth.com/katrina.ppt PowerPoint show on our team's effort
http://www.ctcsouth.com/presbyterian Tif list from PDA of team and individual supply items

Needed gear: We're still scouting for folding ladders, especially the fancy, mult-fold high-tech ones which are so versatile. We also need a big garden cart. We now have three dual burner propane stoves and the Swanson's are bringing their field oven, so our "chuck wagon" function appears to be fully equipped, especially with the big coolers we found yesterday from the Mexico mission. I am reassured by the nearby Lowe's SuperCenter because if we need something we can buy it. Yesterday we were donated a 1500w gas generator to use and leave in Gautier. If you know where I get get some of our needed gear at a good discount, please let me know, or we can discuss your buying it and we'll cover the expense later.

Personal items: I was sent a message yesterday by a volunteer working in the next town over from Gautier. He insists that we bring quality respirators, not the simple paper dusk masks. If you can, visit Lowe's or Home Depot and tell a clerk what you need to protect us from the mold spores...and smells. The proper respirators are hard to find in the local area.

Team Skills: I grow more confident! Not about me, but about each of you! Listening to the folks yesterday was great. When I spoke with Morella on the phone she described the work she's doing in Palm Springs...a real home improvement wonder! And I've seen Joan "work trail" for the Bureau of Land Management...a little thing like a semi-destroyed town should be within the team's grasp!

This blog: Your blog!! Leave some comments, won't you, please? Also, I emailed everyone the signon name and password so you can enter your own postings, so please feel free to do so. Thoughts, worries, suggestions, photos, gripes, whatever are welcome. It is our team's bulletin board to the world!

Looking at the news, I'm thankful that Wilma's impact on Florida was nowhere near the terror which struck the Gulf Coast, but its clear that Mexico and their resorts were badly hit.

I have been "beating the bushes" without shame for support for our Katrina team, but please keep mentioning to friends and loved ones the needs of the people suffering from the earthquakes in the Far East. A death toll over 79,000! So many lives could be spared and further suffering relieved by fast gifts of money, food, water and shelter. I was impressed that Turkey, certainly not a rich nation, is the largest donor of relief funds. MercyCorps in Portland has been doing a great job, but the USA needs to do more.

Salem Katrina Team Update October 23

2005-10-23T15:39:00.000-07:00

Our first picture, here on the left, is of the church hall which is finally getting its wallboard installed after four weeks of drying and mold removal.

What a nice service today, and the meeting of the team was great. Thanks, everyone, for staying so we could talk things out. Here's the news, but first the best news. Karen Pollan talked me into leaving my General Patton uniform home and just coming in my civilian clothes..."Relax and go with the flow", I think she said.

Budget: At least $1100 more was contributed so we are now just over $7000, leaving $1500 to go. We're certainly going to get much closer by next weekend and we will continue accepting donations while we're off working...the more money, the more work we can do.

Team Members: We have Ed, Morella, Rick, Wes and Joan, theSwansons, Karen, David and Diane. Ten of us leaves room for more, certainly, but we have a team!! Diane, we need to hear from you.

Supplies: Stored upstairs at the end of the hall on the right side. We found some items for the Mexico mission trip we can have, especially water jugs and small propane bottles. I went over the materials sent by Christ Church...superbly packed and labeled. Thanks, folks! Wonderful job getting those items together and having them here for us. We're also picking up some useful first aid items. Tomorrow Willamette Valley Medical Center delivers more medical items for our first aid station and we learn how they're going to deliver the stuffed toys we're hauling for them. Karen mentioned we have "hundreds" of quilts that we're taking also.

Team Equipment: Please have your gear bags here not later than Saturday morning. We agreed to have a few fellows meet at the church at 10:00 to load the UHaul. That's got to be done Saturday, not Sunday. We were offered a 1500w generator to take, use and then donate! I couldn't find the two propane stoves we were promised...anybody know where they are?

Commissioning: Karen has the commissioning set for the second service on the 30th. I am looking forward to hitting the road!

I got a nice email from a gentleman working one town over from Gautier, and he stresses that we need quality respirators because they're hard to find locally. He emphasized strong work boots, sturdy gloves and the like. He mentions bringing air mattresses so that answers a question I had...guess the tents don't have cots. I have two air mattresses and will buy a couple more and have them there for anyone who needs them. We also have a battery-powered inflator.

We spoke with the Swansons before church began. They're going through Omaha at the moment and offered to bring a camp stove to Gautier so we can cook even turkeys. I accepted, of course! We will loan it to others over Thanksgiving when we're all back in Oregon, but we will have it for use to support the George Fox University and Newberg High School teams for their Christmas dinner. Good news from the Swansons included the fact that gas is getting cheaper the further West they traveled.

Please get your medical forms completed somehow. You can fax them to me at 503 961-9920, leave at the church office in an envelope with your name and mine, or give them to me next Saturday or Sunday. But...we really should have them before we start working. Karen mentioned that in Mexico everyone had a medical/ID tag on an elastic string. I'll see what we can do along those lines.
do!

Thank you, everyone, for your committment, your faith, your hard work. See you Saturday and Sunday.

Wes

Gap Coupons

Salem Katrina Team Update October 22

2005-10-22T06:57:00.000-07:00

This photo is so sad. Some folks still living live like this, under a blue tarp, trying to put their lives back together. Wow!

But, as for me, I'm grateful for nice feelings all day long. First, Jim Doran, our local Dodge dealer went over the minivan we're taking, for free. He found the alignment off and suggested we call our local tire dealer, who tomorrow will be doing that service...also for free! By the way, my cell phone is 971 241-9322. Let's try to all swap phone numbers during the organizational meeting this Sunday at church.

Hey, I finally got my tetanus shot! On the way out of the hospital last night, I saw a huge box of stuffed animals and a sign reading "for Katrina Kids". I asked around, and now it looks like we're going to haul a few hundred teddy bears with us for kids in Gulfport and Gautier. On Monday, the same hospital will be delivering the rest of the medical gear for our first aid station.

Remembering that we live in our lovely sales tax-free state, we've been buying dry goods and some food for the trip, plus more food service gear like coffee pots, etc. Did pretty good at the Dollar Tree last night and and Goodwill also. This week I will ask Don or Karen to prepare something like letters of authorization for the team so just in case, we can make it clear who we're representing. Speaking of Karen, she has set up her flight into Gulfport for arrival on the 18th and departure (at 0630...is she serious??) on the 19th. Joan Carter will take the same flight so she can get a ride home with Karen because I'm staying a few more days. I fly back to Oregon on the 22nd, then turn around and go back to Gulfport on December 8th to work through the end of February unless I burn out beforehand. Or get tired of cheese grits. Or get homesick!

The Swanson's wrote from Wyoming as they were driving east. Just saw a herd of antelope before they wrote...what a beautiful sight! They offered wise caution regarding towing the trailer to Mississippi...like them, I've had the occasional problem in the past and we'll be sure to be careful. They are going hunting in Georgia, and then will drive to Gautier to join our team. (Wayne and Mary, check your email...my messages to you come back marked "mailbox full".)

Heard from the host Gautier pastor, Chris Bullock who's about as busy as you can image. Seems like a good, strong man to have there at such a time. He's already got a candidate to receive the donation of our Dodge van. We have also found a TV, multi-function printer/copier and other gear for him.

Here's an idea for our music committee: can we manage to raise some funds to help the organist at Gautier Presbyterian? Her home had terrible damage. Joan and Christine, can you consider that...perhaps put the word out to our areas' organists.

If I haven't mentioned before, our team is bringing some "creature comforts" to Gautier. For your computing pleasure, we'll have at least two laptops, CD burner, digital cameras, digital video recorder, one flatbed copier, one fax machine, two Mac or PC printers, one photo printer, one label printer and an LCD video projector with 6' screen. We can even have movies in the evening if you'd like. There isn't much room, but each of the motor homes (Carters' and Swansons') has a small refrigerator, and ours has a small safe if you need to lock up something. The motor homes also have "basement" areas if you want to put something a bit larger into a locked space rather than leave it in your tent. The RVs also have satellite television...I'd hate missing The West Wing.

Local transportation: Pastor Bullock says the roads are too difficult to drive the motor homes around, but we'll have the 7 passenger Dodge minivan plus the Swanson's CRV which will seat four. We're covered, plus we can easily handle anybody's airport runs or whatever you need. I'll have a few spare keys for the Dodge van for whoever needs to use it. I think I'll also have a bike and a small electric scooter.

Team Members: Here's who I understand is going. The Swansons, Morella, Karen, Wes and Joan, David, Rick, and Diane. That's nine of us (Ed signed up the next day), certainly a good crew but remember that we have room for more! I have flight arrangements from Karen and Morella only. The Carters and Swansons are driving, so that leaves me worried about Rick, David and Diane. Soothe my worried brow, dear friends, and tell me what flights you're on or whether you're riding with the road crew on the 30th. FYI, Morella's flight gets her into Gulfport quite early, on the 4th, so she'll be our advance scout for a couple days and make sure we get the best tent sites, far from the port-a-potties.

Salem Katrina Team Update for October 21

2005-10-21T07:12:00.000-07:00

Good morning. Looking forward to our meeting Sunday at 12:15 in the Pioneer Room. Today I read through a web site maintained by an old friend from a history class at Montreat College, Dr. Ed Brenegar. Ed reports the organization at Gautier Presbyterian is running just fine, with 45 to 60 volunteers working there today and great spirit shown by everyone. But the town is simply devastated.

Ed's site, and you'll want to spend some time looking through everything, is:
http://edbrenegar.typepad.com/thepresbyterianpolis/

We were given a mailing and shipping address to share in case you want mail or packages sent to you while working in Gautier which I've put below. Also, we sent the work site $250 towards necessary expenses and we'll probably need to send more. Yesterday they were doing some dry wall work in the church itself, some areas having been cleaned and "de-molded" enough to allow walls to be replaced. They do have showers, as mentioned in an earlier posting to our blog, and they are on a trailer and the port-a-potties are quite sanitary. The weather is a bit nicer and less humid, helping the workers stay comfortable.

Local Mailing and Shipping Address:
Your Name c/o Rev. Chris Bullock
Gautier Presbyterian Church
1009 highway 90
P.O. Box 340
Gautier, MS 39553

Budget: no special news but we did get a nice offer from Kinkos in Salem, where their manager Linda approved doing our printing and signs for half off. Very much appreciated! The budget is about $3200 short but improving. Virginia reports we now have a total of $5258 raised towards the trip and I think that doesn't include the offer from First Pres Newberg.

If possible, consider bringing whatever you need put into the trailer on Sunday so we can get an idea of the bulk and weight involved. Karen Pollan has set aside a room upstairs for storage, and we'll load the trailer on October 29. Loading Sunday when the road crew is to begin driving would just be too busy! Stuff we need...same as before!

Salem Katrina Team Update October 20

2005-10-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

Checking Gautier's various web sites it is encouraging that there are now several restaurants open and other services as well. Today's temperature is in the mid-70's, quite comfortable for working. The folks there still say mold is the big problem and good respirators are important for all volunteers.

The tent city "mayor" reported that local travel is still very difficult, especially for larger vehicles trying to navigate around trash and downed trees, and also for visitors because almost all the city's street signs are missing!

Yesterday, our team got a nice gift from Jim Doran Dodge in McMinnville, as they offered to go over the Dodge minivan we're taking to make sure we have a trouble-free trip to the Gulf. Thanks, folks!

Team Meeting - First Pres Katrina Relief

2005-10-19T21:05:00.000-07:00

Karen Pollan has set the team's meeting for Sunday at 12:15 in the Pioneer Room, following the late service. She suggests lunch for everyone who's interested, so we can either do our meeting and then eat or have a working lunch...your choice! Budget...about $3000 short and improving!

Note please that Karen has set up a room upstairs in the church to drop off team and individual supplies for eventual loading into the trailer. She also mentioned she'll be at the Gautier site with us between the 14th and the 18th.

Items we're still looking for as of October 18:
A. Trailer, dual axle, covered which can be left in Mississippi for their use
B. High pressure gas-powered washer
C. Large lawn/garden cart for moving trash from construction site
D. Igloo water jugs (like you see on utility trucks...about 5 gal)
E. Diesel and gas 5 gallon fuel containers. Must seal perfectly!!!
F. Hard hats...work site helmets for our crew
G. Hand & Power tools which we can use, then donate to local residents
H. Gas or diesel generator with instructions no longer needed
I. Money...it sure does the job!
J. Dual burner propane camp stove (got a promise of one on Oct 14!)
K. Propane camp lanterns with spare mantels, propane (small green bottles)
L. Wheelbarrows
M. Folding ladders
N. Dry wall installation gear - stilts, tape, paste, saw, etc.
O. Washer/Dryer stacked unit to leave at Gautier Presbyterian
P. Gift cards for Home Depot, Lowe's...use for our materials
Q. Respirators & spare filters; knee pads; safety glasses
R. Sick room equipment such as wheelchairs, commodes

First Pres Katrina Relief

2005-10-19T10:54:00.000-07:00

Good morning, team. Only eleven days until we push off for the Gulf Coast and we're just about ready. We're scheduling our organizational meeting for Sunday, October 23 somewhere in the morning...Karen Pollan will select the best time and I'll let the team know. We are also continuing our information table between services and the fundraising efforts.

Some Internet sites of interest:
www.salemfirstpres.org
http://salemkatrina.blogspot.com/ (our own Katrina blog site)
www.pcusa.org

Willamette Valley Medical Center has generously offered us some first aid items for our work in Gautier as we set up a first aid station. Our thanks to their CEO (my fellow hospital administrator and our sweet neighbor) Rosemary Davis and her staff. We have also purchased a large first responder kit and a smaller one for use at various work sites.

Having heard that Gautier has generators including two yet to be used, I've declined the kind offer of a loan from Leon Bolen. We still need one more dual burner propane stove, 5 gallon fuel containers, folding ladders, respirators, hard hats, knee pads, dry wall items such as stilts and saws, work crew water jugs, high pressure gas-powered washer, wheel barrows, lawn carts and more. Many, many folks from many churches are out scouting equipment for us. Our heartfelt thanks to all!

Who's on board? Thus far, we have Karen Pollan, Ed Stahl, David Dyer, Wes and Joan Carter, Diane Tibbatts, Morella Larson, Rick Pollan, and Wayne and Mary Swanson. Room for more and your help, regardless of skill level, will be well-received!

What can you be doing between now and our trip South? Get your shots, please. This is vital for your own health and safety. Get your medical information together for me (a list of your medications, medical condition, insurance program with their telephone number and your membership number, and a signed statement saying "I hereby authorize any member of the Salem First Presbyterian Church disaster team, or any attending physician, to approve any medical care indicated in the event of my inability to provide that approval." Put this into an envelope, seal it with your name on the outside and give to Wes Carter to store in the motor home's safe...just in case.

You might also use your contacts to solicit support towards our budget goal of $8500 as we are only just past half way there. One team member has his employer sponsoring his trip, another member contacted nearby churches for their support, and Karen has put the word out throughout the Presbertery.

Please make sure you've gone over the individual team member checklist of stuff to bring. I don't think they mentioned hard hats but that would be a good idea, as would sturdy boots, rain gear, lots of clothes including some you don't mind discarding after they're ruined, and the rest of the list. I invite everyone to please, please pack your gear into some sort of duffel or laundry bag, label it with your name and the contents, and give it to us by October 29 so we can haul it to Gautier for you with the road crew (as opposed to the "plane" crew).

I still beg for everyone's travel information. Unless we hear otherwise we should assume that everyone is traveling by air and that we are to pick you up the evening of November 6 and return to the Gulfport airport the morning (around 10 or so) of November 21. Any volunteers to provide shuttle service from Salem to Portland International and back to avoid taking (and parking at $8/day) everyone's own cars?

First Presbyterian Church of Salem - Katrina Relief

2005-10-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

The First Presbyterian Church of Salem Oregon is fielding a team of ten volunteers to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to assist in Hurricane Katrina Relief. Departing October 30, the team will report to Gautier, Mississippi to clear debris, do minor repairs and operate a first aid station. Gautier was badly hit by Katrina, losing 1700 homes and having many more damaged and in need of extensive rehabilitation.

Essential to the effort is raising the necessary budget of $8500 to cover fuel, work materials, food and transportation. The church's own Missions Committee has provided $2000, plus support has been received from nearby First Presbyterian Church of Newberg and First Presbyterian Church of McMinnville. Team members have pledged the remainder, but church officials want very much to limit the gift of the volunteers to their time, not their money, and hope to collect the necessary funds elsewhere.

The Presbyterian Disaster Assistance organization forms volunteer teams from all across the country and assigns them to disaster areas as needed. In Gautier, on the church lawn, tents have been set up for the volunteers who work seven to fourteen days in the area. Showers have recently been added and plans exist to improve electrical power and Internet access. Food is prepared by the volunteers themselves.

Salem's team is dispatching two large motor homes and two smaller vehicles, but most members are flying into the nearby regional airport in Gulfport, only 37 miles away.

This blog is dedicated to the wonderful people I've met as we formed our group of volunteers and to their supporters and families. While in Gautier or wherever else we might be posted in the area, we'll be sending news about our daily experiences for all to read, along with photos as we have the chance to prepare them.

What can you do for us? Well, we need help on our budget or we'll have to pay it all ourselves because, no matter what, we're heading to Gautier. As for materials, we can use several wheelbarrows, a large garden cart, a high pressure gas powered washer, generators, gas and diesel fuel cans, sick room equipment, medical supplies, respirators, propane camp lanterns, dry wall items such as stilts, tape, paste and the like. If you have such items available, contact team leader Wes Carter at rustysilverwings@aol.com or call him at (503) 435-2947, or call the church.

First Presbyterian Church

770 Chemeketa St. NE

Salem, OR 97301-3894
(503) 363-9234