Chicago chick convoy to Katrina ...

[john hd]

summer,

having worked as a power company lineman through disasters i know this.

you will not be allowed into active recovery areas. it is very dangerous, well wishers and gawkers just get into the way and hamper restoration efforts.

however, that does not mean you can't help out. during our last tornado in stoughton wi a couple of high school girls had driven a carload of pizzas and sodas out for the sheriffs deputies and our power crews.

it wasn't much, but a quick snack and a 10 min. break allowed us to stay out working longer. the folks affected got the lights on quicker because we did not have to break down the crew to go eat.

believe me such a act of kindness, although not directly helping those involved in the disaster does help in the long run!

john

[summerkid]

I understand everybody's points of caution but I really don't care. You think I'm wanting to be a hero, swim around New Orleans dropping off Q-Tips? Absolutely not. I swam the width of the Kankakee River yesterday & that was soupy enough. I don't want to be anywhere NEAR New Orleans right now. Again, my plan is to head south, get close enough to a stretch of coastline to find someone who can use a little help & continue on my way. What John HD mentioned is exactly what I have in mind. I've also been talking with a couple of people who are already in that NOLA pipeline so I'm not exactly striking out like Hansel & Gretel.

Elena has a more elaborate plan in place because she & her fellow vet tech actually are equipped to care for creatures; she'll be down there for 9 days & they'll be bringing back foster pets.

And please not to worry. I've hitchhiked across this country & traveled alone in Central America & traversed a war zone in Croatia. I think I can make my way through Louisiana en route to the Ft. de Soto rally without doing something stupendously stupid, such as assuming I'll see a lot of "vacancy" signs hanging out next to the stations with the cheap gas.

But if I'm wrong on all fronts & it turns out that, even 100 miles from the coast, nobody is feeling overwhelmed & I get in the way & a rescue crew yells at me & I have to simply turn for home with my truckload of basics & then I run out of gas & have to sleep on an anthill by the side of the road, why, I'll report back & then next time I'll feel really good about sitting home watching **** happen on CNN.

[Davydd]

Here is a relevant article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune...

"Like many Americans, Gayle Wood sat paralyzed in front of her TV as the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina unfolded.
On Aug. 31, two days after the storm crushed the Gulf Coast, the 44-year-old stay-at-home mom, who spent her high school and college years in New Orleans, decided she would have to leave Edina if she was going to do something.
After finding some local relief efforts too slow, she decided to organize one herself to provide immediate help. She would rally neighbors, businesses and churches to fill a convoy of U-Haul trucks with supplies..."

http://www.startribune.com/stories/125/5608916.html

[summerkid]

Thanks! And may I take this opportunity remind everyone to give blood? Especially those of us O+ & O-neg types?
Not to mention those of you who can tolerate the plasma procedure. But anybody who goes through that business is such a saint that he or she probably never needs to be reminded.

[maxandgeorgia]

Summer, I believe we are surrounded by saints-recognized not by their starry crowns but by the good they do. God bless you on your trip and all the people touched by you. ~G