One more full day

His last full day of helping is today.

I bet some of you are wondering what happened to all the money people gave him. Well, he's told me over & over again about what a fantastic job this church/shelter is doing to help people down there. Offering meals to anyone who needs them, collecting and sending out volunteers for work projects to help the community (such as our hero) and providing a place to stay for anyone who needs it. So, he's likely going to write them a check before he leaves. Getting help directly into the hands of the people who need it most.

Last night, his topic of conversation was the people. Every person down there who is suffering, missing their former lives and trying to put the pieces back together. Every person who came there to help and is making what difference they can. Some are handling the stress differently than others. But they are all doing their best.

Tomorrow night he comes home.

Depart:
3:20 p.m. Saturday
Gulfport/Biloxi, MS (GPT)

Arrive:
4:46 p.m.
Houston, TX (IAH - Intercontinental)

Depart:
6:15 p.m.
Houston, TX (IAH - Intercontinental)

Arrive:
10:43 p.m.
New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty)

no g-news is good g-news with Gary

Gnu.

I don't have much to report on today, which I think is a good thing.

Somewhere in Mississippi is a man with a flat tire. Yep, as you can see from his comments below, he got a flat somewhere between the shelter and the Wal-mart. He doesn't really need his car while he's there - but does anyone know the proper procedure for "what to do if you get a flat in your rental car and didn't get the insurance?" Anyone? Bueler? Please comment below with your opinion. Yep - it's my first poll. Wow.

For now, I think he's going to either get it fixed by someone at the shelter or at the next-door Goodyear place, which is open. He's also going to have to report it to the car-rental place, even if he patched the tire instead of driving back with a doughnut.

Okay, I guess I do have other things to talk about. Up until yesterday, he was sharing his converted-schoolroom with one other volunteer. But then sometime yesterday (while he was out working on another house-demolition) they added a ton of cots and moved in a bunch of red-cross volunteers. Now he's got lots of roommates.

Lucky him, tho, he got to keep his corner spot. It's nice to have the back at your wall sometimes. :)

That's all for today,

Liena

Please read the comments

Hi everyone! Please read the comments, and feel free to post your own comments below! All of the comments recently have been made by our hero in the gulf.

Liena

more of the same

Hi everyone,

The latest news from the Gulfport front is that he's still on the work crew today. They finished cleaning out that woman's house, and he'll likely do more physical work at another site today.

He told me that the most amazing thing was the good spirits of the person who's house was destroyed. He was very impressed by her equanimity - her ability to shovel up her life's "things" and toss them on the curb. She's ready to start again.

I hope more people down there are like her - ready to restart their lives.

Liena

Biloxi blues

As you know, he's staying at church/shelter in a town called Ocean Springs, MS. It's very close to Biloxi, MS which has just as much, if not more, storm damage.

Each day people contact the shelter and ask for help. Wire told me last night that after the inital contact, a person is sent from the shelter to the location to assess the situation. That way, they know if they can help, how many people to send in the work crew, what tools they'll need, etc.

He told me a story last night about a guy who went to do that initial assessment in Biloxi, and came back with two flat tires. Not from vandalism, but from the stuff that's strewn all over the roads. They just haven't been able to clean it up yet.

This person got one flat on the way down, got it fixed, did his work, and drove back. While sitting in the shelter at dinner, someone came in and said, "Hey, is that your truck out there? It's got a flat tire.". He must have had a slow leak on the way back to the shelter.

But the next thing that happened was even more amazing. Some people coming by stopped and patched his flat for him! People are just helping each other left and right down there.

Speaking of help, the shelter where he's staying offers free meals to everyone in the community who needs them. It's just incredible. Whole families come in every day to eat, or just to pick up food to bring back to what's left of their homes.

Today he's scheduled to re-join the work crew and continue cleaning out that woman's house, shoveling drywall and soaked CDs. He said he'd leave it till morning to decide if he'll rejoin the work crew or work in the office. Either way he'll be a great help.

He hasn't yet had much of an opportunity to help out $-wise, but I'm sure that will change. Alot of the stores (walmart, etc.) are open, so he can buy stuff for people that need it.

He's being well taken care of there - he's got a cot to sleep on in an old schoolroom of the church. He's got fresh hot meals three times a day. He can get medical help if he needs it. And he's helping out in any way he can.


End of line.

working hard on his first full day

Hi All,

As of my last post, I mentioned that he was going to be doing some manual labor today. Well, I just heard from him; and he's working really hard trying to clean out a house. He's tearing down drywall that's ruined, pulling out wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of ruined household stuff (like books and things).

He sounds tired but still excited. He said that there's alot of work to do, alot alot of work.

He's eating MREs and sleeping in a spare room in the church (they have a cot for him). He's working with a nice group of folks from Baltimore who also came down to help out.

More to come,

Liena

Our hero

If you go to the post below and click "read comments" you will see that our hero is alive and well. They found out he knew computers and put him to work in the office as soon as he arrived.

Today, he's joining a work crew to go out and be physical. He said that, after today, he'll decide if he wants to stay in the office all week or stay on the work crew. Basically he'll stay wherever he can give the most help.

He's an hour off from me, so we missed each other last night. Just traded voicemails. But we've got a better plan for tonight so I hope to get more details to share with you.

Plus I have to tell him what my Tamagotchi turned into!

Liena

The Eagle Has Landed

Or the cake has been surfed. Or whatever your favorite phrase is - he's arrived in Gulfport. He described the flight as "completely uneventful". Which I take to mean that the food wasn't bad. :)

I expect to speak to him later this evening and I'll post his comments tomorrow while I'm at work.

As for me - I spent the day shopping! I got some recylced paper for the printer, and some storage containers for the kitchen (bulk food storage - yum.) Plus I saw a band playing on the street in Morristown, and bought flowers at the WholeFoods in Montclair.

See you tomorrow,

Liena

His flight left at 9:29am

And he's on his way to Gulfport, Mississippi! He's supposed to try to call me when he arrives, around 4pm our time, so once I know something I'll post it here immediately.

I plan to play alot of Katamari Damacy while he's gone. Maybe I'll even beat his high scores.

Liena

all things are still flowing...

At this time Continental has NOT cancelled his flight - so as far as we know he's still leaving for Gulfport at 9:20am tomorrow. However, thing seem to be changing minute by minute so we'll let you know as we go.

In other news - we just picked up a copy of a new Playstation II game, Katamari Damacy II (We love Katamari!). It's just as good as the original - and just as addictive. Hopefully we'll be able to tear ourselves away from the system long enough today to enjoy the nice weather we're having in NJ.

Liena

new plans

Okay, his flight has been rescheduled for leaving Sunday morning, at the same time. Same flight number.

He's still coming back on October 1. No changes there.

that's the update!

Liena

update

His flight tomorrow was cancelled, obviously due to Rita. He's trying to reroute now. I will keep you posted.

Rita

Some recent news:

First of all - we've collected a whopping $550 in donation pledges! Yay! I know it will make a big difference in what he'll be able to do. Thank you.

Secondly - we are aware of Hurricane Rita and are monitoring the situation. His flight has not been cancelled or delayed (as of right now) but I'll post updates as we learn of them.

Here's the flight info:

Continental
Fri 9/23 #1011 9:20a then #1710 1:25p
Sat 10/01 #3084 3:20p then #310 615p

That's all the news that's fit to blog. Oh - I guess I should tell those people who were wondering that I passed my test (YaY!) and I'm officially an RPA (Retirement Plans Associate). Only four more tests till CEBS! www.ifebp.org

Liena

lots-a thank you's

Thanks - everyone! I've recieved many emails in the past few days expressing many feelings about what a mitzvah my dh is doing. Your support means alot to him - and I've told him about every thought that's been sent.

His plane leaves at 9am or so on Friday - so I'll be updating as of then.

Some of you have expressed concern about "Rita" interfering with his plans - and all I can say is that we have our fingers crossed. And toes. Definitely toes.

More to come...

Liena

his little trip

My dh has decided to help out the relief effort by flying down to Mississippi and lifting boxes, or whatever they need done. In his words:

"This Friday I'm going down to Mississippi to help with the relief
effort for a handful of days. In addition to physical labor, I plan on finding out
what people need and buying it while I'm down there (cleaning supplies, new
underwear & socks, whatever)."

I'm hoping that he has a safe trip - and that he's able to be of some help. And that he comes home when he's done.

I'll be posting here as regularly as I can about his exploits. The phone service there is supposed to be kind of spotty - but he intends to call me once a day so we'll see.

Wish him luck - please!

Liena

he made dinner last night. unprovoked.

My dh made the most delicious dinner last night. Simple, quick, vegan, yum!

It was a vegetable stir fry with tofu over rice. A perfect meal from my perfect sweetie.

That is all.

What do I eat, anyway?

This morning I had my new favorite cereal, Kashi's version of Honey Nut Cheerios. It's just enough like my old favorite to be the new favorite in my house.

Topped with frozen rasberries (a little squished from the freezer) and two Tbs. of flaxseed.

Topped with my homemade soymilk.

Okay, yeah, breakfast was good. probably about 6 points worth of food.

For lunch, my dh and I went to Moe's. I had my CloseTalker+Veggies - which is basically a salad on a tortilla.