Help if you want to...

[MLCKAA 570]

Not too long ago I talked here about my intention to volunteer on the Gulf Coast with a charity helping people who are still recovering from Katrina and Rita. A lot of you gave me flack about it, but some of you were supportive.

 

Here's a letter we sent to friends and family, with some minor changes to make it FFT appropriate. If any of you want to help with this effort, just e-mail me through FFT. There are LOTS of things on the Needs List that could be mailed to me inexpensively.

 

******************************************************************************

 

Dear Friends, family & colleagues,

 

All of us are aware that in the Fall of 2005 the Gulf Coast of America suffered great destruction from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Immediately following those disasters, help and sympathy poured in for the residents and businesses of the hardest hit areas. Since that time, life as usual has resumed for the rest of us and for some folks in the Gulf Coast, too.

 

What came as a surprise to Mrs. MLCKAA and me recently was learning that some of the worst off areas still look very much the same as they did immediately after the hurricanes made landfall. In Plaquemines Parish, the physical environment is devastated-- fields of oil, collapsed and crumbling houses, debris everywhere, wrecked and abandoned vehicles in ditches and yards, stray cats and dogs running in packs, major problems with mosquito and cockroach control.

 

For the people who have returned, day-to-day life is a struggle. Homeowners there are vulnerable. The residents there are dealing with protracted insurance claims, a shortage of honest contractors, price gouging and a lack of basic services. Where grocery stores are needed, liquor stores are opened instead. Local schools are being run out of trailers and there is almost no opportunity for extracurricular programs for the kids. Some children are being bused 50 miles roundtrip to school each day.

 

Try to imagine anything happening where you live that, nearly two years later, would still have people lining up for meals at a free kitchen or doing their laundry in a free laundromat at an abandoned parking lot. It is difficult to envision anything leaving our own communities in such disarray for such a long time.

 

The week of June 4th, Mrs. MLCKAA and I are responding to the call in our hearts to provide some help. We'll be going to the lower 9th Ward in New Orleans and volunteering with an organization called Emergency Communities (www.emergencycommunities.org). What we'll be doing from day to day could vary from rehabbing damaged houses to working in children's programs to cooking and serving food at the kitchen.

 

We wanted to extend the chance to help to all of you as well. If you go to the Emergency Communities website you'll find a link to their Needs List in the last paragraph of the home page. The list is current and includes many inexpensive and small items that we could carry down there with us since we are driving.

 

Please keep us in your thoughts the week of June 4th as we are sure to need all the strength we can muster.

 

With love,

 

MLCKAA & Mrs. MLCKAA

 

Proverbs 14:31

"When you are kind to the poor, you honor God."

[DuckStupid 40]

Not too long ago I talked here about my intention to volunteer on the Gulf Coast with a charity helping people who are still recovering from Katrina and Rita. A lot of you gave me flack about it, but some of you were supportive.

 

Here's a letter we sent to friends and family, with some minor changes to make it FFT appropriate. If any of you want to help with this effort, just e-mail me through FFT. There are LOTS of things on the Needs List that could be mailed to me inexpensively.

 

******************************************************************************

 

Dear Friends, family & colleagues,

 

All of us are aware that in the Fall of 2005 the Gulf Coast of America suffered great destruction from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Immediately following those disasters, help and sympathy poured in for the residents and businesses of the hardest hit areas. Since that time, life as usual has resumed for the rest of us and for some folks in the Gulf Coast, too.

 

What came as a surprise to Mrs. MLCKAA and me recently was learning that some of the worst off areas still look very much the same as they did immediately after the hurricanes made landfall. In Plaquemines Parish, the physical environment is devastated-- fields of oil, collapsed and crumbling houses, debris everywhere, wrecked and abandoned vehicles in ditches and yards, stray cats and dogs running in packs, major problems with mosquito and cockroach control.

 

For the people who have returned, day-to-day life is a struggle. Homeowners there are vulnerable. The residents there are dealing with protracted insurance claims, a shortage of honest contractors, price gouging and a lack of basic services. Where grocery stores are needed, liquor stores are opened instead. Local schools are being run out of trailers and there is almost no opportunity for extracurricular programs for the kids. Some children are being bused 50 miles roundtrip to school each day.

 

Try to imagine anything happening where you live that, nearly two years later, would still have people lining up for meals at a free kitchen or doing their laundry in a free laundromat at an abandoned parking lot. It is difficult to envision anything leaving our own communities in such disarray for such a long time.

 

The week of June 4th, Mrs. MLCKAA and I are responding to the call in our hearts to provide some help. We'll be going to the lower 9th Ward in New Orleans and volunteering with an organization called Emergency Communities (www.emergencycommunities.org). What we'll be doing from day to day could vary from rehabbing damaged houses to working in children's programs to cooking and serving food at the kitchen.

 

We wanted to extend the chance to help to all of you as well. If you go to the Emergency Communities website you'll find a link to their Needs List in the last paragraph of the home page. The list is current and includes many inexpensive and small items that we could carry down there with us since we are driving.

 

Please keep us in your thoughts the week of June 4th as we are sure to need all the strength we can muster.

 

With love,

 

MLCKAA & Mrs. MLCKAA

 

Proverbs 14:31

"When you are kind to the poor, you honor God."

 

I applaud your effort and will keep you in my thoughts although I won't be contributing anything more than I already have.

[Cdub100 3,900]

It's hard for me to want to help people that don't help themselves. I hope it's as rewarding for you and that you're not taken advantage of

[MLCKAA 570]

It's hard for me to want to help people that don't help themselves. I hope it's as rewarding for you and that you're not taken advantage of

 

Do you assume that because there are still problems that people aren't helping themselves? Its hard to rebuild a flattened house when your insurance company won't pay and most employers haven't returned to the area and the street where your house once existed still doesn't have electricity or water service and no one is willing to do work at a reasonable price.

[MLCKAA 570]

gratuitous self-serving bump

[Sergeant Bri 0]

I'm still waiting for some help to recover from the Blizzard of '78.

 

Also just kidding. best of luck MLCKAA.

[kutulu 1,676]

Would an unassembled trampoline be of any help?

[edjr 6,580]

is Q.Lazz collecting the money?