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CAP Hurricane Relief Update - February 2006
We'd like to thank the people who continue to read these updates and respond to our needs. LYRIC HOT DOGS AND GRILL presented us with $145.00 that they collected from a jar on their counter!!! Wow, we can really put that money to good use!! Thank You! If you have a place of business that could do the same, we would really appreciate it!
Two van loads of food came in from the Birmingham JUNIOR LEAGUE!! Thank you so much!
We've had a busy couple of weeks. Steve Stevenson and Anna Aldridge took 7 pallets of medical supplies including several hundred of our diabetic kits (thanks Bayer Co.) plus toiletry packs, diapers, formula, feminine products, first aid kits, and children's clothing to the Oceans Springs medical clinic. This clinic, which is supplying about 300 plus doctors, was overwhelmed with this generous donation from UAB and Bayer Co.. We had asked this clinic to give another clinic in Bay St. Louis some medicine, and Steve and Anna made the delivery!!
Ira Mitchell and I took a truck and trailer load down the following week. Here's what we did and saw:
Bayou La Batre, AL - We took diabetic testing supplies to a clinic. They were very nice and appreciative. Most of their supplies were destroyed when their clinic was burned down. Before it burned down, their clinic had taken in 7 feet of water from Katrina.
Ocean Springs - Found a new (for us) distribution center, and we left them some underwear, first aid kits, and feminine products. Our contact there said there were over 100 local people living in a tent city a few blocks away.
Biloxi - The only improvements we could see in East Biloxi from my last visit was that they had a lot more FEMA trailers. We left 6 bags of underwear, diapers, first aid kits, food boxes and formula at the Community Center. We learned today that the City has shut down the distribution center. Very few businesses are open on that end of Biloxi. We also delivered 6 bags of diabetic supplies and a box of first aid kits to a clinic in West Biloxi.
Long Beach - Left 6 bags of diabetic supplies and first aid kits at the Coast Episcopal Clinic. The distribution center there was totally out of some baby supplies. We were their heroes when we went back to the truck and brought in 2 big boxes of diaper wipes 6 baby kits, boxes of diapers and formula.
Pass Christian - We left a good deal of underwear (relatively speaking of course) at Clothe the People.
Bay St. Louis - We left bags of underwear, detergent, food boxes and some baby stuff. They were very grateful for the supplies and explained to us why the needs were still great and probably going to get worse again. 4 month's worth of mortgage payments are now due. Additionally, unemployment has run out as well as the health insurance that the casinos had continued for 3 months.
Our last stop was the free clinic at the Train Depot in Bay St. Louis. Only 2 bags of diabetic supplies and 1 box of first aid kits were left, but were gratefully received. We hung out around a camp fire with the volunteer docs and nurses and went to dinner at one of the few restaurants that were open.
All the clinics we visited see around 60- 100 patients in very crude settings. The main aliments are asthma and respiratory problems, diabetics, strange skin infections and cardiac patients. We are currently serving 5 free clinics and are slowly adding to that as we find more out there.
Please see our needs list for an update. We are no longer collecting any clothes (with the exception of underwear J). We’re trying to locate a wireless laptop for a volunteer that has moved to Waveland to help facilitate the coordination of the various groups of volunteers who are helping with rebuilding. While we were talking with this volunteer (Kathleen Johnson) an older woman came up and said she was told to ask Kathleen for help getting her electricity back on. (We take our electricity so much for granted) She also told us that she used to have a flower shop (that she started after she broke her neck so she wouldn't have to go on disability), but that the landlords of the building she had rented from weren't going to rebuild/repair and she didn't know what to do. Kathleen told her that if she could find a building, the team she was working with would come in and do the repairs so that a business could open up. Kathleen knows that getting people back in businesses is just as important as getting people back in their homes. Any help with the laptop computer would be greatly appreciated.
We got 700 tubes of anti-biotic ointment from International Aid and and made about 200 first aid kits. Now need more Band-Aids, Rolaids, chapstick, cold medicine our next 500 kits. We don't expect anybody to go out and buy 500 tubes of chapstick, but if you have any connections, please ask them.
Also, linens (Queen Size), towels, pots and pans, pillows and blankets are still needed. One distribution center in Bay St. Louis said they are "only authorized to give the people in trailers the FEMA kits with these items". There are lots of people not in a trailer. Kathleen reports 900 in that county still need trailers. Some are moving back into their homes and some still in tents.
VOLUNTEERS to help put kits together are needed at the warehouse and anyone who is making a trip down to the MS coast or New Orleans can load up from here!!!
If you get this notice twice, my apologies, you are probably in more than one of my separate lists. Let me know if this is a problem for you and we will try to rectify the situation.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Laura
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