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UUs in Melbourne and Rockledge, Fla., join forces to help victims of Katrina
From Cathy Stanton, Social Concerns Chair, Friendship Fellowship at Pineda

A large amount of clothing, baby items, food, and toiletries were collected by the congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brevard (Melbourne) and Friendship Fellowship at Pineda (UUs, Rockledge) for this important mission.

Ann Fuller (shown below, right) of UUCB initiated the drive to help a church in Galveston, Tex., where she has a contact. Food items will be sent to a collection agency in Florida that is helping hurricane victims. Everything else, including a large amount of baby items donated by a local hospital, was shipped on Tuesday, Sept. 6.

Letter from Ann Fuller (West Melbourne, Fla.) to congregants

This afternoon members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brevard (and Kelly!) sorted and boxed the donations. They are stacked in the social hall and into the sanctuary….At this point, I am sorry, but no more donations can be accepted. I was hoping for 4-5 boxes and ended up with well over 50....

Speedy Pak is arranging for pallet shipping to Texas. On Tuesday afternoon during LIFE class, I would welcome volunteers with vans to drive the boxes down to their facility on Malabar Rd. in Palm Bay while other moms watch the children. (We also welcome any spare change to contribute to the cost of shipping. Although it will be pallet shipping, it’s still going to run into some money.)

Jamie is going to try to round up a couple of men at his work who have pickup trucks, but he doesn’t yet know if they are in town or on the road on business trips. Strong, able bodies are appreciated as well. Mine is deteriorating rapidly.

Now this all depends upon getting a delivery address in Texas. The one I had was for a handful of boxes. My contact is not prepared to accept a shipment of this size, but she is getting me a central distribution address. By LIFE class, I should know where this shipment is headed.

Remember that there are two eternal truths about disaster relief:
1. Instructions and intentions will change every 60 minutes, sometimes every six minutes. Be prepared to shift gears at any second.
2. When faced with an insurmountable problem, don’t try to solve it. The answer will come to you.

Thus far, this has held true with us as well. But the important part to remember is that these goods are going directly to hurricane victims in shelters. I am receiving heartwarming stories from Julie at least twice a day. I will be sure to let you know what she says when this is delivered...unless plans change and it goes to benefit hurricane evacuees in other areas. Regardless, it will help someone displaced by hurricane Katrina, and when all is said and done I will provide an accounting of what went where.

Thank you all for your compassion and generosity. I am so blessed to be surrounded by such a giving and caring community.

Love,
Ann (Ann Fuller)

Where are the UUs?
From Frank Vaughan, Dallas, Tex.

I am a member of Horizon Church in a suburb of Dallas, Texas. I am amazed at the local response to this tragedy. But, I am very disappointed at the local UU response. To my knowledge, no UU churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have opened their doors to the evacuees.

Our church talked about it, and we donated a fair amount of money, ($7,000); we volunteered at a local food bank; but no one wanted to take in any families in our church. In stark contrast, many other churches in the area have opened their sanctuaries to these people for long-term shelter. Why not the UUs? I fear we like to talk about helping, but that is about all we do. Lots of talk, little real action.

Is it racism or fear of a large contingent of low-income people? I don’t know, but it is very disheartening.

I am volunteering at a local Church of Christ, with the same size congregation as Horizon, and they took in 200+ evacuees, with the whole congregation helping out. I have heard amazing stories from these people, and I am very angry at our government’s negligence in their plight. Many families are separated and they are desperate to find their children.

In retrospect, our UU response looks just like the federal FEMA response: very little real help but a lot of talk. What can we do to change this?

Desperation, death on road to safety
By Keith Spera, staff writer, Times-Picayune

At 91 years old, Booker Harris ended his days propped on a lawn chair, covered by a yellow quilt and abandoned, dead, in front of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Mr. Harris died in the back of a Ryder panel truck Wednesday afternoon, as he and his 93-year-old wife, Allie, were evacuated from eastern New Orleans. The truck’s driver deposited Allie and her husband’s body on the Convention Center Boulevard neutral ground. And there it remained.

With 3,000 or more evacuees stranded at the convention center -- and with no apparent contingency plan or authority to deal with them -- collecting a body was no one’s priority. It was just another casualty in Hurricane Katrina’s wake.

A steady stream of often angry or despondent people, many from flooded Central City, trickled first toward Lee Circle and then to the convention center, hoping to be saved from increasingly desperate straits. Food, water and options had dwindled across Uptown and Central City, where looters seemed to rage almost at will, clearing out boutique clothing shops and drug stores alike. Hospitals would no longer accept emergencies, as staffers prepared to evacuate with patients.

“If you get shot,” said a security guard at Touro Infirmary, “you’ve got to go somewhere else.”

As a blazing sun and stifling humidity took their toll, 65-year-old Faye Taplin rested alone on the steps of the Christ Cathedral in the 2900 block of St. Charles Avenue. Rising water had finally chased her from her Central City home. She clutched two plastic bags containing bedding, a little food and water and insulin to treat her diabetes. She needed help but was unsure where to find it. She wanted to walk more than 15 blocks to a rumored evacuation pickup point beneath the Pontchartrain Expressway, but she doubted that was possible.

“I’m tired,” she said. “My feet have swollen up on me. I can’t walk that far.”

The church custodian, Ken Elder, hoped to free his car from the parking lot behind the church as soon as the water went down. He rode out Katrina on the Episcopal church’s altar steps and was well stocked with food. But he feared the marauding looters that roamed St. Charles Avenue after dark.

“I lived in Los Angeles during the Rodney King riots,” Elder said. “That was a piece of cake compared to this.”

Clara Wallace pushed her brother in a wheelchair down St. Charles from Fourth Street to the Pontchartrain Expressway. Suffering from diabetes and the after-effects of a stroke, he wore only a hospital robe and endured part of the journey through standing water.

“Nobody has a bathroom he can use,” Wallace, 59, said of her brother. “Nobody would even stop to tell us if we were at the right place. What are we supposed to do?”

A man in a passing pickup truck from the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries finally directed Wallace and the 50 other evacuees under the overpass to the convention center. But they would find little relief there.

New evacuees were being dropped off after being pulled from inundated eastern New Orleans and Carrollton, pooling with those who arrived on foot. Some had been at the convention center since Tuesday morning but had received no food, water or instructions. They waited both inside and outside the cavernous building.

The influx overwhelmed the few staffers and Louisiana National Guardsmen on hand. With so much need and so few resources, the weakest and frailest were bound to suffer the most. Seated next to her husband’s body on the neutral ground beneath the St. Joseph Street sign, Allie Harris munched on crackers, seemingly unaware of all the tragedy unfolding around her. Eventually, guardsmen loaded her into a truck and hauled her off with other elderly evacuees. Mr. Harris’ body was left behind. Such a breakdown did not bode well for other evacuees. As the afternoon wore on, hope faded, replaced by anger.

“This is 2005,” John Murray shouted, standing in the street near Mr. Harris’ body. “It should not be like this for no catastrophe. This is pathetic.”

Submitted by Jack Waite; sent to him by his daughter, Karen L. Waite

Grassroots mobilization
From Carrie L. Stewart, M.C.I.S., One World Consulting, Austin, Texas

Austin is absolutely electrified in response to the hurricane catastrophe. As you can imagine, we have many connections with our neighbor, Louisiana. At Live Oak UU church, both our co-minister, Kathleen Ellis, and our DRE, Nathan Ryan, are from NO, and have not heard from all of their family. There is an effort by the Southwest UU Conference to help Lacombe church, as First Church is feared lost.

We have converted the Convention Center and two event centers owned by the Austin Independent School District into shelters, as folks from new Orleans have been evacuated this far west. TV and radio stations, churches, grocery stores, and food banks have all organized ways for people to donate and help. Donation Centers are actually overcrowded.

Texas, I must say I’m proud to report, has responded in full. We’ve sent National Guard, emergency personnel, doctors, and nurses to the border and are taking care of thousands. Shelters in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio are reportedly full.

My son befriended a new student in his class, one of at least three families now staying in our neighborhood with relatives indefinitely. My other son’s class organized food donations that the local grocery store will be trucking into NO tonight. Another family organized a bake sale after school to raise funds for the Red Cross and a clothing donation to be taken to the Round Rock Independent School District for the influx of school students.

One member of my congregation, Connie Gray, an RN, has contacted the Red Cross in Houston and is headed for training to respond to folks at the Astrodome. She’ll be accompanied by another member, Jeff Van Meter, to transport donations of food, clothes, toiletries, and other items. We’re gathering at Live Oak UU tomorrow morning to pack and load the truck and van, organized by member Jennifer Swan.

At noon, there was a rally at the capitol, and there are demonstrations at 5 p.m. on bridges hanging banners, with another rally at 6 p.m. raising voices to call for national help for the stranded and starving.

Grassroots support grows
From Elisabeth Hoffman, UU Fellowship of Boca Raton

I am so heartened by grassroots support -- my neighbor, a paramedic, is loaded to roll on call; friends in the local nursing community are sending medical supplies and themselves; my friend Steve has signed on for a 21-day stint with the Red Cross; our workplace will send direct aid -- a truckload of urgently needed supplies to be disseminated by one of our workers there who lost his own home and knows best how to reach neighbors and what items they need.

I am driving to Lake Worth Friends Meeting this morning with my little hybrid loaded to the gills with camping gear, clothes, food, and jugs of water I had gotten for myself when Katrina sideswiped us.

Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice, United for Peace and Justice, and others are setting up an extended-duration camp for evacuees in Suwannee, and my young activist friend Cody will drive a truck from Lake Worth up there.

I have also contacted John Mott in Mid-South District UUA re: offering housing here in Boca Raton to displaced UUs.

Stepping up to the plate
From Rosalie Douglass, Carrollton, Tex.

Well, here it goes.

I was unemployed for 10 months. Then on Wednesday, I woke up, read the Dallas Morning News, and noticed an ad from the Small Business Administration that they were hiring 300 people in this city to gear up for the folks in Louisiana. I e-mailed my resume in at 7 a.m., got a call at 11 a.m., and was hired by 5 p.m. to become a loan officer for the SBA. I’m thrilled. I was finally wanted! Yes, I agreed to do 6-7 days a week for the temporary 90-day period, and from 12-14 hours a day. I start on 9/6.

Meanwhile, I watch what is happening in nearby Dallas (I live in a northern suburb called Carrollton). Tonight on the news, people were happy to receive so many Louisiana folks into Dallas, were volunteering outside Reunion Arena, and hoping "to make a difference." My church, Horizon UU Church, in Carrollton, has at least 10 families so far offering to take refugees from Katrina into their homes. One is our minister, Dennis Hamilton, who, with his wife, Mary Kay, have two bedrooms they’re willing to donate for the cause. Today, my husband and I dropped off canned goods and other food items at the Christian Community Action store. His employer, Citicorp, offered to match any contribution its employees made up to $1 million. We donated what we thought we could afford, and know that twice that is getting to American Red Cross. All in all, it has been an incredible three days for us.

My heart goes out to everyone I see on TV in New Orleans who is starving, burning in the sun on the tarmac, questioning why the government hasn’t reached them yet, wearing the same clothes they’ve had on since the storm hit, and carrying little babies who need formula and attention. I’m happy to hear some of them on the news tonight praising the Texans for making them feel so welcome and working so hard to make it a good environment for them. What is so amazing still is the news on NPR and in the paper that other countries are actually sending relief money and goods to the United States of America. I am in awe that this is happening. A commentator quoted a German who is actually expressing appreciation for what the U.S. has done for Germany over the years. France, also, is stepping up to the plate. The world is watching what we will do with the situation.

I've spent a good many of my years dealing with flood insurance and disasters. I heard the news that the levees in New Orleans could have been more completely reinforced had all the budgeted funds been allocated to them rather than to the war in Iraq. It reminds me that the city of Los Angeles, just a few years ago, shored up their levee walls along the Los Angeles River in order to prevent a disaster. Oh, had we taken that prudent measure in the Crescent City, where the jazz music makes you happy, where you don’t drink coffee without hearing music in the streets, where walking through the French Quarter any time of the year is a joy unlike any other. Now, we pay for our lack of foresight. Let’s hope this beautiful, southern city by the Gulf, along with all of its sister cities who have been struck, can make it back to a higher plain someday. Can we raise the “bowl” above sea level? I sure hope so.

"My sister-in-law in New Orleans is a hero!"
From Jennifer Highland, Unitarian Universalist Church of Sarasota, Fla.

My sister-in-law, Charlene Mahoney, is one of New Orleans’s heroes amidst this horrible, unfathomable natural disaster. She has been on hurricane duty at Charity Hospital in downtown New Orleans since Sunday. Early yesterday morning, after days of unimaginable conditions within the hospital and paltry attempts at evacuations, she hailed a passing boat with a cameraman and reporter from CBS Evening News. Charlene asked them why the desperate situation at Charity Hospital had not been in the news and why so few attempts had been made to do anything. The cameraman told her they had been ordered NOT to film the hospital or anyone from it. She pleaded for help and began telling the cameraman what was happening inside -- and he lifted his videocam and began filming her, summoned the reporter to her side, all while a Charity Hospital official glared at her from the sidewalk. Charlene helped bring the story about Charity Hospital conditions to the forefront, and it’s been on the news, all channels, ever since.

For whatever reason, we’ve been able to call her every day. I can’t wait to hug her! Yesterday, for the first time we finally heard from my brother and their daughter, who are safe in Mandeville. I have two other cousins with homes in the city proper; both had evacuated safely. Probably none of my relatives there will have jobs for a long time, and possibly won’t have homes either.

Charlene's story was broadcast on the CBS Evening News last night. On air, she says, "This is the first time anyone has come to help us." It’s a short clip of her, but I know she talked a lot longer to the reporter about conditions there.

Relieved (but still worried!),
Jennifer Highland

Reflections
From Alan Edwin Malone, North Shore Unitarian Universalist Society, Lacombe, La.

My wife, Marilyn, and I were in Chicago on business/pleasure when the Big One hit. We remained there for about a week, then flew in our Cessna airplane down to Lake Charles, La., where we are planning to live for a few months, at least, with a friend.

Throughout the whole deal, we did not miss one night of sleep in air-conditioned comfort, did not miss one hot meal, or anything we wanted to drink. To restore our sense of perspective, we made several visits to the museums in Chicago, and ate out at several excellent restaurants. Aside from the anxiety about our stuff (financial records, some family heirlooms, and one car), we suffered no significant damage.

We have been talking about moving away from New Orleans, although I have lived there since 1956 and Marilyn was born and raised there. It is truly our home, and we hate to give it up, but change is the essence of life. When we think back 10 years how different our lives were then, it’s just a matter of suddenness that makes these changes so shocking and makes us feel so emotional. We’ll get by just fine.

Watching the plight of many of our fellow New Orleanians makes us think about an uneventful, boring day. There’s something to be said for uneventful, boring days.

Watching the reactions of some of our fellow citizens, it looks to me as if there is a lot of anger and resentment which has been forced below some kind of surface in our society. The removal of law enforcement gave many people freedom to express their hostility through use of guns and other weapons, as especially seen in the Superdome.

I think about an entire class of people who have been denied opportunities in our society, and who are instead taken care of by various social organizations. I can well see how these people lead very insecure lives, and how they may be distressed to the point of panic when those services become unavailable. I think of people with minimal jobs, for example, who have been removed from their normal surroundings, who are without skills, jobs, and homes -- many of whom are responsible for young kids. It’s enough to make you want to take a pot shot at a helicopter!

Maybe we can take this model of social unrest as a wakeup call and try to do something about reforming our society so that more people are eligible for quality education, jobs, and the American dream.