The latest Plenty volunteers have been working primarily in the Bayou communities southwest of New Orleans, home of the indigenous Houma people and related tribes. Medical volunteers, Dr. Robin Rose, Judy Joffee, RN, CNM and Bob Hughes, RN have been treating patients and giving vaccinations against tetanus, influenza and hepatitis to folks in the isolated and flooded towns of this low-lying region. At the same time, roofing and construction volunteers, Brandon Lerda, Charles Fitch, Joel and Roberta Kachinsky of Plenty working with Bob Gordon, formerly of Habitat for Humanity, have been repairing houses, especially roofs, and cleaning the ubiquitous mud out of homes that were flooded. They have also been delivering food and cleaning supplies. Bob Hughes reports, "Saturday morning Judy and I load up a cooler and carrier bin with vaccination equipment and first aid medical supplies and head out to Bayou-Terrebonne (30 minutes SW) with Dr. Mike Robichaux in his pick-up truck.... - where we are staying is higher ground - as we get further down...we start to really see the devastation...torn roofs, some structural damage; along the streets piles and piles and more piles of the destroyed belongings and appliances of families and businesses - stacked outside their dwellings (waiting for insurance claim adjusters to evaluate the loss), but also necessary to address the inside damage that the flooding had incurred and to prepare for cleanup... for cleanup of a silt-wet-sludge residual that oozes off of a shovel and is very difficult to manage... the cleanup by those families that are able and by the crews that participate for families that consists of push broom sweeping out, mopping, cleaning walls and sometimes into the walls,,,then bleaching...a process endearingly referred to as "mucking"......this cleanup is going on at homes throughout the region." Plenty's Katrina (and now Rita) hurricane relief work in Mississippi and Louisiana is moving into phase two which we are designing to help people in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans, and in the Bayou communities southwest of the city inhabited by Houma Indians and other tribes, to repair damaged roofs and homes and, in some cases, raise the houses on piers. In the process of doing this work we will train local men and women in the building trades who will then be able to get jobs for the upcoming massive house repair and reconstruction that will be taking place in the next few years. Plenty's Hurricane Relief Director, Ralph McAtee is headed back to the Gulf with volunteer David Ellington to begin organizing the phase two work. Elaine Langely, RN is also headed back down to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to continue doing medical work in Biloxi and Gulf Port and other Mississippi coastal towns. Destroyed home in Biloxi, MS. Elaine Langley, RN, with family in front of home in Biloxi. Peter Schweitzer To donate to Plenty's hurricane relief efforts, please visit our donation page or click button: You may also send a check to Plenty, Box 394, Summertown, TN 38483