Thought this account from a friend down south might be of interest. The address he provided for donations should get the money most directly to where it's needed... JeffO *** I'm from Northern Louisiana, where we are now having our own emergency: 1.1 million displaced residents of New Orleans now residing north of Baton Rouge with little or no hope of returning home. This nightmare scenario is worse than the 'worst case scenario' we previously pictured for the Big Easy on so many levels. Right now, I'll try to give you a rundown of what is happening here. Our school systems have prepared for over five thousand new students in this town of 100,000. Every apartment, every mobile home park, every hotel, every rent house is now occupied. FEMA is promising to purchase/pay off flooded and destroyed houses at up to 70% of market value, meaning the people will have the resources necessary to purchase new homes. All of the private schools have opened their doors to students from private schools in the New Orleans Metro area. Large donors have stepped forward at each of them and said, annonymously, "enroll the students. We'll cover the tab." The American Red Cross has set up a base of operations at the two civic centers in our twin cities. At one, they had almost two thousand and were operating 'at capacity', yet they are expecting to receive another two thousand tonight. At the other camp, 900 people are living in a facility meant to entertain guests for only short periods of time--five or six hours--with only 18 toilets, no showers, and a catering kitchen (thankfully). All of the area churches are opening shelters and food pantries, as are several civic organizations and businesses. That's the good news. Here's the bad: The official word out of Baton Rouge (state capitol) is that we're working towards restoration and recovery to start virtually immediately. However, the unofficial word is that we can expect 1.1 million people out of work and displaced for four to six months. That's not a typo. But that's not the worst of it. Slidell, Mandeville, Burouis, Venice, most of Grand Isle, Lower Plaquamines Parishes, and about a dozen other Louisiana towns and cities simply do not exist anymore. For New Orleans, it goes from bad to worse, as those buildings that we see standing were built on marshes that, for the foundations to remain, well, foundations, the marshes have to be drained. Ray Nagin keeps talking about 8-12 weeks recovery for just getting the water out. Those buildings have less than a week of structural integrity before the ground beneath them becomes so saturated that they simply topple over. I spent four hours today at the refugee camp in our civic center in Monroe, just talking to people. I met one family of thirty who made it out together in one of the last caravans to get north. When I asked, "So where are you from?" The woman, remarkably, laughed and smiled and said "We used to be from Slidell. Now we're from the Monroe Civic Center." If you're wondering what you can do, send money. The people all have blankets and food and cots and running water. The Red Cross now has to feed them long-term. One Red Cross coordinator said in passing today that "9-11 was the dry run for this." If you can afford to spare anything at all, make a donation to the American Red Cross...or even better, directly to the Red Cross organizations in the areas affected. You can send checks to: The Northeast Louisiana Red Cross 414 Breard Street Monroe, LA 71201 Even ten dollars feeds twenty people for a day. And yes, I know I sound like Sally Struthers, but you didn't see what I saw today. It is, quite simply put, unfathomable. Thanks for being concerned. Michael DeVault _______________________________________________ caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC