Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Notes from Team 3 - Tuesday
It's late, and unlike last night, I'm beat, so this will be short (I hope). Start the timer, it's now 12:13 Central. I have a few comments and then there are a couple of stories others have added that are all in this dispatch.
We still need basics - food and water. We are nearly out here at the building this evening. Shipments inbound have slowed dramatically this week. The only thing that came in today were two 24' Penske's of miscelanious, but needed items from Christ the King Church here who had extra.
I took a truck to Folsom again today, but could only give them two pallets of food, three short pallets of 2ltr bottled water, and a pallet of baby packages built by a CofC in Nashville. They had 2 gallon jugs left when I got there and were down to the food I trucked up there yesterday with no new inbound trucks other than ours.
We are once again a very large contingent of the volunteers here, roughly half. A few from Kentucky left last night and a couple from Talahassee are leaving in the morning. We still can occupy more than twice the volunteers here with GitRDone jobs and only had enough in the warehouse today because we didn't get enough in to package and stock fully for tomorrow.
Everyone here keeps talking about hundreds, literally, of stories about God things (where there is no other reasonable explanation). Dozens happen in this effort every day. We have to help build support for this effort and get some more food, drinks, people, and other essentials down here.
This church is supporting their locale and other relief groups in this area, like the church in Folsom, the National Guard, and the Red Cross who is sending people to us to help. They have two of the three 24' Penske trucks packed and leaving for Lake Charles, LA at 4:00 in the morning as it has just been opened up to aid after Hurricane Rita. They have unbroken pallets of food, water, several of our chain saws, fuel, and a 100 gallon tank of diesel as they don't expect they can refuel till they return. We still can't always get diesel here though we did today.
Our medicos all left with Tracey (manages the logistics, like what's coming, what's going, what's being packed up) this morning to administer 100 donated tetanus shots to FEMA contractors that were working down here without them. Not ideal conditions, but effective. Tracey is REALLY amazing. I don't understand how she keeps going. She's the one filling the syringe in the purple shirt. She left tonight around 9:00 after finally eating for the day when the Lake Charles trucks were packed.
To me, God's message that this is our task could not be clearer now that I've experienced the need and the worry that we won't be able to meet it tomorrow without something, a lot of something coming in. We really have to mobilize the massive assets in our churches to make sure they don't run out. Many people here are still and will continue to depend on us to eat, and have clean water, listen to their stories, and pray with them.
Our gang kept very busy today. One crew had cleared three yards by lunch time. Two crews were out with trailers of water in some very hard hit areas. A trailer park other residents directed them to had them close to tears. The falling trees had caused so much damage and people were without jobs and finances. They gobbled up the water and most of a second run.
We had some good stories to tell tonight. I got a couple people to write theirs out, but won't get some till tomorrow.
From Alicia Shrewsbury – Norway Avenue Church of Christ
These past 2 days have been awesome! God is truly working here at Tammany Oaks Church of Christ. Today I worked around the warehouse doing various things. The Lord led me outside the church building loading boxes of water some time after 3pm. The hours at the church are 10-2pm for people to come and get things they need. A woman approached me from the parking lot and began asking me about the hours at the church and explaining things that she needed. Even though it was after hours, I invited her inside the building where others began ministering to her spiritual needs while I gathered baby supplies for her family. She truly needed to talk with others, share her story and know that there are people that care about her. Thousands of other things like this are going on here. Continue to pray about this week and what God may ask you to do to help.
Here's one of these God things...
From Tom McClanahan – Spring Road Church of Christ
When passing out water to some tree trimmers we found in one of the neighborhoods we ran across a group of tree trimmers clearing trees for the power company. We had happened to put a pallet of boots on the truck to deliver some place else the following day. We asked the men if they needed a pair of work boots and one worker said yes. We gave him his boots and went on our way. As we were turning the corner the group started yelling for us to come back. Robin went around the block and returned to the area and a new group of men on another truck called from a cell phone started to yell out there sizes and we handed them out one after another. The men were very appreciative and a lot of smiling faces (click picture to enlarge). God does work in mysterious ways. Who would have thought that we would take a load of work boots into a neighborhood while we were handing out food and water?
Kevin Dill - Westerville Nazarene added that they left cleaning supplies with a guy helping clean up at a relatives house. He was wearing a fire department search and rescue T-Shirt who's boots were coated inside and out with wet drywall dust. They'd been trashed working so he ended up with some upgrades too. He said a lot of guys at the department could use some as well so they bundled up a couple of pairs each of common sizes, a dozen or so in all for him to take.
Who'd have thought to send us boots and how in the world did they end up on the trailer with the water? 1 guess only!
I also made a delivery with pickup and trailer to a neighborhood two exits north/west. Tracey's friend Michelle sold her house yesterday after a pre-hurricane deal fell through. The new buyers, a couple caring for their 80ish old aunt while currently living in a tent have nothing left. They asked Michelle to leave anything she would throw out moving in case she could use it. We took a good load of supplies and houskeeping items and left them in Michelle's garage. When she moves out a crew will unpack all that stuff into the cabinets and drawers and closets of the house for them to discover when they move in. I'm telling you, the light of Christ people!
To end, if you've talked to anyone who's been here and read the blog, you've gotta wonder about these "love bugs". Well since nobody else did it, I've come all the way to Louisiana to study this not so elusive species. Here's what they are....and what they do. Out of all the unhappy endings on our vehicles, these two dodged a bullet and landed lightly on the side window of the Penske truck. Lets all wish them well.
There are three main messages in all of that. We are working hard, making some awsome relationships, and need more. The hurricane is nowhere near over here and nobody else is stepping up to take care of the problem. It's all ours. Lets roll!
John McGuire (1:22am... oh well)
We still need basics - food and water. We are nearly out here at the building this evening. Shipments inbound have slowed dramatically this week. The only thing that came in today were two 24' Penske's of miscelanious, but needed items from Christ the King Church here who had extra.
I took a truck to Folsom again today, but could only give them two pallets of food, three short pallets of 2ltr bottled water, and a pallet of baby packages built by a CofC in Nashville. They had 2 gallon jugs left when I got there and were down to the food I trucked up there yesterday with no new inbound trucks other than ours.We are once again a very large contingent of the volunteers here, roughly half. A few from Kentucky left last night and a couple from Talahassee are leaving in the morning. We still can occupy more than twice the volunteers here with GitRDone jobs and only had enough in the warehouse today because we didn't get enough in to package and stock fully for tomorrow.
Everyone here keeps talking about hundreds, literally, of stories about God things (where there is no other reasonable explanation). Dozens happen in this effort every day. We have to help build support for this effort and get some more food, drinks, people, and other essentials down here.
This church is supporting their locale and other relief groups in this area, like the church in Folsom, the National Guard, and the Red Cross who is sending people to us to help. They have two of the three 24' Penske trucks packed and leaving for Lake Charles, LA at 4:00 in the morning as it has just been opened up to aid after Hurricane Rita. They have unbroken pallets of food, water, several of our chain saws, fuel, and a 100 gallon tank of diesel as they don't expect they can refuel till they return. We still can't always get diesel here though we did today.
Our medicos all left with Tracey (manages the logistics, like what's coming, what's going, what's being packed up) this morning to administer 100 donated tetanus shots to FEMA contractors that were working down here without them. Not ideal conditions, but effective. Tracey is REALLY amazing. I don't understand how she keeps going. She's the one filling the syringe in the purple shirt. She left tonight around 9:00 after finally eating for the day when the Lake Charles trucks were packed.To me, God's message that this is our task could not be clearer now that I've experienced the need and the worry that we won't be able to meet it tomorrow without something, a lot of something coming in. We really have to mobilize the massive assets in our churches to make sure they don't run out. Many people here are still and will continue to depend on us to eat, and have clean water, listen to their stories, and pray with them.
Our gang kept very busy today. One crew had cleared three yards by lunch time. Two crews were out with trailers of water in some very hard hit areas. A trailer park other residents directed them to had them close to tears. The falling trees had caused so much damage and people were without jobs and finances. They gobbled up the water and most of a second run.
We had some good stories to tell tonight. I got a couple people to write theirs out, but won't get some till tomorrow.
From Alicia Shrewsbury – Norway Avenue Church of Christ
These past 2 days have been awesome! God is truly working here at Tammany Oaks Church of Christ. Today I worked around the warehouse doing various things. The Lord led me outside the church building loading boxes of water some time after 3pm. The hours at the church are 10-2pm for people to come and get things they need. A woman approached me from the parking lot and began asking me about the hours at the church and explaining things that she needed. Even though it was after hours, I invited her inside the building where others began ministering to her spiritual needs while I gathered baby supplies for her family. She truly needed to talk with others, share her story and know that there are people that care about her. Thousands of other things like this are going on here. Continue to pray about this week and what God may ask you to do to help.
Here's one of these God things...
From Tom McClanahan – Spring Road Church of Christ When passing out water to some tree trimmers we found in one of the neighborhoods we ran across a group of tree trimmers clearing trees for the power company. We had happened to put a pallet of boots on the truck to deliver some place else the following day. We asked the men if they needed a pair of work boots and one worker said yes. We gave him his boots and went on our way. As we were turning the corner the group started yelling for us to come back. Robin went around the block and returned to the area and a new group of men on another truck called from a cell phone started to yell out there sizes and we handed them out one after another. The men were very appreciative and a lot of smiling faces (click picture to enlarge). God does work in mysterious ways. Who would have thought that we would take a load of work boots into a neighborhood while we were handing out food and water?
Kevin Dill - Westerville Nazarene added that they left cleaning supplies with a guy helping clean up at a relatives house. He was wearing a fire department search and rescue T-Shirt who's boots were coated inside and out with wet drywall dust. They'd been trashed working so he ended up with some upgrades too. He said a lot of guys at the department could use some as well so they bundled up a couple of pairs each of common sizes, a dozen or so in all for him to take.
Who'd have thought to send us boots and how in the world did they end up on the trailer with the water? 1 guess only!
I also made a delivery with pickup and trailer to a neighborhood two exits north/west. Tracey's friend Michelle sold her house yesterday after a pre-hurricane deal fell through. The new buyers, a couple caring for their 80ish old aunt while currently living in a tent have nothing left. They asked Michelle to leave anything she would throw out moving in case she could use it. We took a good load of supplies and houskeeping items and left them in Michelle's garage. When she moves out a crew will unpack all that stuff into the cabinets and drawers and closets of the house for them to discover when they move in. I'm telling you, the light of Christ people!
To end, if you've talked to anyone who's been here and read the blog, you've gotta wonder about these "love bugs". Well since nobody else did it, I've come all the way to Louisiana to study this not so elusive species. Here's what they are....and what they do. Out of all the unhappy endings on our vehicles, these two dodged a bullet and landed lightly on the side window of the Penske truck. Lets all wish them well.There are three main messages in all of that. We are working hard, making some awsome relationships, and need more. The hurricane is nowhere near over here and nobody else is stepping up to take care of the problem. It's all ours. Lets roll!
John McGuire (1:22am... oh well)
# posted by John McGuire @ 1:12 AM 
