My week with the Plenty crew dealing with the aftermath of hurricane Katrina by Jeffrey Keating After watching program after program on TV about the devastation wrecked by hurricane Katrina on the gulf coast and the slow response by FEMA, I to go and see where I could help. I stuffed my extended Aerostar with supplies that were gathered by local high school students and the Florida Greens and headed for the gulf coast. Sept. 14. A friend connected me up with some folks in rural southern Mississippi still struggling without clean water and electricity. I arranged to meet the Plenty bus with a full load of water, can goods, diapers, and other relief items at the Magnolia Volunteer Fire Department, which is in Stone County Mississippi, 35 miles north of Gulfport. The bus carried several volunteers which made quick work of unload it. The bus was being followed by Michael Moore’s film crew in a van which was also stuffed with supplies. As we were working we talked with some of the members of the volunteer fire dept. about the problems they were having coordinating relief efforts in their part of rural Mississippi. The next evening they were calling a meeting inviting the community to meet with local officials to learn of the progress being made toward restoring electricity, testing the local water supply, clearing the roads, and other issues. Then we all headed for Covington, Louisianna where the Veterans for Peace had set up a camp for relief volunteers, Camp Covington, also referred to as Camp Casey 3 (these vets had help set up Camp Casey one and two). Cindy Sheehan had visited the camp a couple of days before. It was being supported in large part by donations to the VFP web site and Michael Moore’s web site. Sept. 15. The next morning we help move supplies from a storage facility near the camp and ended up with a full load of supplies on our bus. The bus crew had visited some of the coastal communities in southern Mississippi the day before and had made some connections, so we headed for a community center in Long Beach, MS. They were very happy to see us. Even though they were still without electricity, they were busy setting up tables and organizing their supplies. When folks in the neighborhood saw our bus, they started coming by to see what we had brought. Mostly toilet paper, paper towels, diapers and some toys. With the bus now empty except for several large cans of chili and some paper towels, we headed for a local church which had set up a huge distribution center in another part of Long Beach. For people who had a means to get there, they could pick up canned goods, baby supplies, water, and some other items. They were very generous and let us fill the bus with bottled water. We then headed back to Magnolia to drop off this load. We had just finished unloading the bus when the community meeting started. Some local FEMA officials had been to the fire station earlier that day and said they would attend the meeting. Many people were quite frustrated with FEMA, having been told to stay home after the storm where they waited for days for FEMA to show up. After the hurricane, FEMA announced that people should now come to their office to apply for assistance and go to the state park to pick up ice and water, but without electricity for their TV and radios, the phone lines down, and their cars and roads entangled in trees, they did not hear the announcement or have a means of getting there if they did. So they waited in their damaged homes in 90 degree weather with no air conditioning and what little supplies they had until they realized no one, except maybe their neighbors, were coming. The FEMA representatives did not show up for the meeting. At 5 PM they received a call from their FEMA higher ups and were told, with out explanation, that in now way were they to attend that meeting. Sept. 16. The next day we went scouting to find other sources of supplies to distribute to the people that weren’t being covered. We first went to the Red Cross in Covington because we had heard that they had warehouses of supplies that needed to be distributed. The Covington office did not know anything about this so we headed out to find FEMA. On the way to a FEMA distribution point we came across a huge Babtist church with a massive amount of food and water. They gave us several pallets of water. We then went to the FEMA distribution point (a drive through where you could pick up ice, water, and MREs – meals ready to eat). I asked the Lieutenant where I could find a FEMA representative. He said that in the two weeks his unit had been there he had seen a FEMA guy only once. We asked if we could have a load of MREs and they hoisted up three pallets so we could easily stuff the bus full of them. Now having a full load we decided to head back to the coast. We had heard of a larger distribution point being run by civilian volunteers. And that there was a great need in Wave Land, MS. The Rainbow Family had set up a free feeding kitchen there. FEMA had wanted to run them out but after realizing that they were serving thousands of meals each day, decided to make them and official "pod" of FEMA. We had a good time exploring the huge parking lot full of stuff and meeting the people there. We asked around to see if there were any areas we should go to to find people in need. We were told that you were not allowed go near the beach. That most of the roads were impassible, and that on those roads which were clear, the military was driving up and down them throwing MREs into people’s yards off the back of their tucks. It was getting late so we decided to head back to camp and, having a fully loaded bus, be able to make an early run in the morning. Sept. 17. The next morning we decided to pay a visit to New Orleans. Monica, from Michael Moore’s crew and helps run the camp, had been contacted by an elderly disabled lady who was on oxygen. She was praying that someone would come and fix her roof. The shingles had blown off of her house during the hurricane. It had rained a little the night before and the rain came into her home. She had stayed through the hurricane but was now worried that her furniture, much of which was passed on from her mother, was going to be ruined. We headed down to check her out and ended up, lead by Neal who had arrived a camp the night before and runs a construction crew back in Tennessee, covering her roof with sheets of plastic. Monica, who had come along with us, mentioned that she had also been contacted by Brenda Dardar Robichaux, Principle Chief of the United Houma Nation, a Native American tribe made up of small communities throughout the bayous south of New Orleans. The roof of the tribal center (located in Golden Meadow) was leaking badly since the hurricane They were worried that their tribal records would be ruined with the next good downpour, not even imagining hurricane Rita was about to pay them a visit. We headed down Highway 90, 35 miles south of New Orleans, to their make shift distribution center. They were very happy to see us arrive with a full load of supplies. The Tribal Center turned out to be an hour further south into the bayou so we didn’t get a chance to inspect it that day but Neat talked it over with them and came up with a list of tools and materials he would need to complete the job. We told them we would be back to finish the job and would take a look at other damaged homes in the area to see how we could help. We headed back to camp taking our chance that we would be allowed to cross the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway after curfew (we did). Sept. 18. The next day we loaded the bus with much needed supplies to bring to the Houma distribution center and moved our crew and a few extra volunteers to Brenda’s residence near Raceland. We set up camp in her huge front yard and got some rest so we could hit the roofing project early the next day. Sept. 19. I was able to shoot a few pictures in the morning but my volunteer time was about up, so I started on my journey home. While driving across Mississippi on my way home (Fort Lauderdale), I was able to pass through a check point and into the restricted areas near the beach. The devastation along the coast had been so severe that armed national guard kept people from entering the area. Once again I found myself on Scenic Hwy 90 which runs along side the beach in the town of Pass Christian, but it was not passable - being covered in sand. Most all of the buildings downtown were gone. It was as if a bomb had gone off on the beach, blowing everything a few blocks inland. There you find a dense pile of rubble made up of trees and foliage mixed with the remains of the homes which had been swept from their foundations, broken apart and stirred in with the debris. Beyond that for many miles from the beach the trees and power lines were down and the homes badly damaged. This impressed upon me the severity of the situation. Here was an area that stretched the whole coast line of Louisiana and Mississippi that looked like Homestead Florida after hurricane Andrew which was somewhat being over looked given the attention being given to the flooding in New Orleans. The devastation here is so shocking it is hard to imagine how even to help the people who once called this home. There, standing on a once crowed beach with no one else around for miles, I pondered what a long and emense effort it will be to repair what Katrina destroyed in only a couple of hours. Thank you Plenty, and all of you who support Plenty, for giving me an opportunity to contribute my small part. Read my personal thoughts about race and relief. P.S. As I write the, 10/4/05, I am reminded by our friends on the ground down there that there are still many, many people in crisis. They are in need of basic things like dry shelter, food and cleaning supplies, help shoveling the mud out of what is left of their homes. You can go there and help or send us resources and we will do all that we can. Thanks.