Today's Update

Received an email from the Calcasieu area Habitat for Humanity, was told they'll let me know when their affiliate knows if they will be helping Rita victims in Cameron Parish.

Also received a peppy little recruiting email from my local Phoenix affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. The subject of the email was "Habitat for Humanity Valley of the Sun and Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts!" and the body went something like this...

Greetings,

Habitat for Humanity Valley of the Sun will be launching it’s “Home in a Box Project” as part of Operation Home Delivery to help those affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We estimate that 455,000 housing units in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama will need to be replaced or rebuilt. Nearly 156,000 of those housing units were home to families with a household income of less than $20,000.

We would love for you to help us “pre-build” the frames of multiple homes here at our local office in Phoenix. The homes will then be palletized and sent to the Gulf Coast and New Orleans area for assembly by Habitat affiliates and volunteers in the region.

An exact date for our kickoff, which will be filmed by Channel 12, has not yet been set, but you will be the first to know once that date is determined. Our project will then continue ndefinitely, as long as we have the funding and the labor to proceed.

Please stand by for further update…and THANK YOU in advance for your willingness to help out with Hurricane Katrina Relief efforts.

Kara Schlosser

Volunteer Services Coordinator

Habitat for Humanity, Valley of the Sun

(602) 268-9022

kschlosser@habitataz.org

www.habitataz.org

No generation lives for itself alone,but tomorrow rests upon the shoulders of today,as today rests upon the shoulders of yesterday.~Sharlot M. Hall, Arizona's First Historian

I emailed back Ms. Schlosser, and my tone was probably a bit unfriendly, when I told her

"that is from my point of view... in extremely poor taste to 1) my inital inquiry to your organization 2) Rita victims and everyone trying to help Rita victims".

I went on to say

"I understand you are probably a volunteer for a charitable organization and what you do is probably out of the goodness of your heart and without pay. In return I ask you consider that I am part of a huge family, most without homes right now due to Rita, some displaced from Katrina, almost all of which are without the facilities and time to try to find charitable groups that will help them. That job has been left to me. And I am finding it VERY difficult to understand WHY organizations are rolling out the carpet to help Katrina victims and excluding Rita victims. I am also angered when I see Rita victims sloppily included in promotion and fundraising efforts (I'm sorry, but I put HfH in that category). Especially when a heck of a lot of Rita victims were first responders to Katrina, cooked Katrina evacuees meals, opened their churches and communities to Katrina victims, helped Katrina victims evacuate, and then lost everything.... just as Katrina victims lost everything.... and when they ask for help they are told "nope, you aren't from Katrina".

I am sorry my message to you carries the tone of anger. I am sorry you are the one to receive this message... I truly believe you are trying to help people. But I would also like a little bit of respect for those people, my family, who have lost everything because of Rita. I would like a clear message to them, and the public, that they are deserving of "Katrina consideration". I would like press releases to be thorough, and not refer to them like afterthoughts. I would like to feel assured that my money and time will GO TO RITA victims.... and the impression I get from HfH's website and your email leaves me doubting HfH help will reach them.

Thank you for your time, and again, I'm sorry you're the one who has to hear this.... I hope you pass it along to those who can affect change."

I know, not my friendliest or most constructive moment, but I finally just blew. Since HfH is saying they'll help Rita victims, I urge anyone who needs a home and think they meet HfH requirements (available on their site) to apply. I will wait a bit longer to give them my money, though... I'm still not sure.

Read Tom Hoefer's Calcasieu OEP update on a message board and found a few things that might apply to Cameron Parish....

• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is asking residents in parishes where hurricane removal work is in progress, as assigned by FEMA and managed by the Corps of Engineers, to separate items to facilitate efficient removal. Debris should be placed curbside and separated into the following categories: 1. Metal 2. Vegetative (tree limbs, leaves, etc.) 3. Large appliances like refrigerators, stoves, air conditioners, etc.4. Construction and demolition debris (carpeting, roofing siding, etc.)
• The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has closed all waterways in Calcasieu and Cameron parishes to all vessel traffic other than approved commercial and emergency traffic.
• Salvation Army’s Canteen Locations today (10/6): Sulphur Kroger, Oakley Apts. On Hwy 90, Pin Oak Trailer Park. Iowa: Lawrence Toups Park. Singer: Singer Baptist Church. Starks: Starks Silver Dollar 109 River Rd. Vinton: Vinton Elementary Hackberry: Hackberry Community Center. Moss Bluff: Wal-Mart. Westlake: Community Center. Lake Charles: Family Dollar on 171, Martin Luther King Center, Wilshire Plaza on 5th Ave., LeBleu Chevron @ Hwy. 3059. Cameron Recreation Center. Johnson Bayou Roving, Holly Beach Roving. Welsh Southern BBQ.
• Residents will be given water, and ice. MREs are no longer available.
• Residents in need of food should seek Salvation Army and Red Cross locations.
• Residents with distressed vessels need to contact the Coast Guard before salvaging at 337-912-0074.