The band Nine Inch Nails sent a semi load of food and supplies over the weekend, which our crew helped unload at the Veterans For Peace warehouse. Food and supplies continue to arrive in Covington, much of it going to the VFP shelter/warehouse. We really appreciate having this partnership with the Veterans For Peace, a dedicated and compassionate group who also just happen to be hot wired to the world thanks to their high profile work on behalf of world peace and an end to the war on Iraq. Let's hope and pray one lesson we all can take away from this hurricane is that the world has enough disasters to deal with just in the natural course of events without us creating the man-made kind. As a species, we simply can no longer afford war. On Sunday the Plenty bus went back to the Algiers community of New Orleans, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city and brought more food and supplies. The local folks of Algiers have managed to set up their own clinic. The bus and crew went to other parts of the city to see how people were doing who had stayed and gave out food where needed. We learned that there are still 18 decomposing bodies on the streets of Algiers - two weeks after the hurricane. Algiers community leaders say they have made repeated calls to the authorities to have them removed and can't get anyone to come. One of the things apparent in the aftermath of this disaster is that if the authorities don't take responsibility, authority is just a word. Everyone tells them removing bodies is someone else's department. Today, Monday, the bus has been moving around delivering food and supplies to shelters and neighborhoods inside and outside New Orleans. For some time now we've been hearing how southern Mississippi needs a lot of help. We have been talking with a registered nurse in Wiggins, a town one-hour north of Gulfport. She says aid has been very sporadic. There were two men from FEMA who come around about ten days ago who said FEMA was coming. Finally some tarps just arrived. One per household. Lots of people lost their roofs, many elderly or disabled. She said they need chainsaws and people who know how to use them to clear away downed trees. The water is contaminated. They need food - canned goods and Gatorade and water. People are living 15 to 20 in a house. People are camped out with no sanitary facilities. People are trying to get into the hospitals so they have a decent clean bed and room to stay in and food to eat. She thinks Hepatitis A will start showing up in the next month or so. She praised the way the people of Wiggins have handled the tragedy but she said they're all so exhausted they need people who are organized who can come and do the thinking for them for a while. They're just too tired to think. They got boxes of clothes from one of the big agencies, but they were left over from hurricane Andrew and when they opened the boxes, the clothes reeked. She said they get aid workers but it takes them some time to get over the culture shock, adjust to the flies and mosquitoes and smell and the heat, and get integrated to where they're starting to be some help, and they leave because they got reassigned. What do they need? Carpenters, electricians, people with chainsaws, able bodied volunteers who can check in on the elderly and help them clean up their yards, people who can help sort the food and supplies that do come.  And what everyone we talk to needs: canned food, baby food, pet food, cleaning supplies like bleach and rubber gloves, anti-bacterial soap, toiletries, tarps and toys for the children. This is just a quick snapshot of one town in southern Mississippi. There are hundreds more just like Wiggins with the same needs throughout southern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Everybody wants to start saying, "Oh things are getting better. It's not so bad." But what we're seeing and hearing is a disaster that is compounding because the help that is coming is still not close to meeting the need. People are crowded up together or exposed to the elements. The water is contaminated. There's no money. No jobs. The mosquitoes are about to hatch. Many doctors and medical people whose homes were destroyed have left. FEMA promised $2,000 for every survivor just long enough for people to start counting on it, and now that promise has been cancelled. This is too big for the Feds, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and every disaster relief agency in the country. The citizen response of ordinary Americans and local fire departments and volunteer medical personnel and small agencies like Plenty and the Veterans For Peace and Food Not Bombs and the legions of Red Cross volunteers, church groups and students - this outpouring of help has been awe inspiring, but it's not yet time to relax the effort (although if you've been working hard, be sure to remember to rest because this kind of work can be hugely draining and you don't want to get sick if you're going to have to go out there again) so we need a rotation of replacements for the exhausted front line. It's also the kind of work that renews the spirit and heals the soul and brings us all closer together where we remember who we are. As I write this, Plenty Board members in Austin, TX and Ft. Lauderdale, FL are loading up vans, which they will drive to Wiggins and Covington with more food and supplies. They will join our crew in Covington. We're hearing from people all over this country and the world who are trying to figure out how to help, or they are already on their way, or they are sending the funds to keep Plenty and other groups and individuals engaged and supplied. This one needs us all. Thank you for everything you're doing. Peter Schweitzer Executive Director Plenty International