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Day 1: Processing in Baton Rouge

Day 2: Orientation to Mass Care, ERVs, The Kitchen, and New Orleans

Day 3: Our first real work day!

Day 4: A different view of things

Day 5: Helping "Newbies" get adjusted to the work

So who are these people from New Orleans?

Day 6: Returning Residents Faced with the Shock of the Aftermath

Day 7: Christmas season settling in New Orleans

Day 8: It's beginning to Feel a lot like Christmas in N'awlins

Day 9: Christmas cheer all the way around!

Day 10: Return Day-Day after Christmas

Day 11: Let the Sun Shine!

Day 12: A Breath of Rebirth

Day 13: Our last day of work on the ERVs

Day 14: The other face of Katrina

Day 1: Processing in Baton Rouge, LA  (Saturday, December 17, 2005)

After a mad scramble to pack and get all things in order (appointments cancelled, notification to friends and family of our disappearance, and getting Jim's final reports and grades posted for his graduate students, we got on our plane in Tampa at 6:00 am. On getting to New Orleans we were greeted with signs telling us of the time to get our shuttle to Baton Rouge which is the Louisiana Red Cross Disaster Headquarters for the Katrina-Rita disaster relief effort.

Day 2: Orientation to Mass Care, ERVs, The Kitchen, and New Orleans (Sunday, December 18, 2005)

We got up bright and early Sunday and got ourselves all scrubbed and dressed ready to get to work. Oops not so! Only 15 ERVs were being sent out today and Connie and Jim would instead be given an orientation to the Mass Care Feeding Program, the Kitchen, and then be given a tour of some of the places where the ERVs serve in New Orleans. We joined a group of volunteers for this orientation which included David from Oregon, Kerry from New York, Nancy from South Carolina and our buddy from day 1 Juli from North Carolina.

Orientation to the Kitchen

The food the ERVs in our group serve is prepared by the men of the Southern Baptist Conference from the state of Arkansas. Their staging area is located on the grounds of the first Baptist Church of Kenner. The ERVs come to the Kitchen each day and load up the food for the meals which these men have prepared. This monstrous task is duplicated at another "Kitchen" in Algiers. This massive organization is run on generators and housed in tents and truck trailers. The men who work in the kitchen live on the floor in the Baptist Church buildings.

Orientation to New Orleans

We  toured two different areas served by the ERVs from our Kitchen. We went to the upper and lower ninth ward which was most affected by the breech of the levee and flooded for 6 weeks or more. What we saw were neighborhoods which have been evacuated and still are empty except for a few hardy souls who have moved back with temporary trailers, or who return each day to their homes to clean up and salvage what little remains useable.

When we got back to our living quarters, we were emotionally drained. It was hard to believe the devastation we had witnessed today. We fully recognized that we just small a little portion of the overall impact of these two hurricanes and realized that we Americans have really been not fully informed how devastating this disaster actually is. Well no more orientation, tomorrow Connie and Jim get a chance to do the work for which they came. Also no more pictures since we volunteers do not take pictures from our work locations while on duty.

Day 3: Our first real work day! (Monday, December 19, 2005)

Today was our first full work day! Menu: Hot Red Beans and Ham (Traditional New Orleans meal-with lots of hot sauce), Bread, Oranges, Water, and Chewy Bars

Connie was on an ERV with John from Oregon and Carol from Alaska and their ERV went to the area around the Superdome and were flooding had occurred twice because they could see two water lines. Connie and her team were taken back by the level of destruction which they witnessed. The people they served were very friendly and thankful. Connie really liked the fact that the workers called her "Babe." She lost twenty years just working the window of the ERV. She had a woman hold her hand thanking the team for their being here for them. The day flew despite the intensity of the work. The team was amazingly efficient and extremely cooperative. They gave true meaning to the concept of "I've got your back!" The work atmosphere was truly caring. It was the epitome of the ideals of the American Red Cross.

Jim was on an ERV with Kerry from New York and Charlie also from New York but formerly from New Jersey. This was a fine tuned ERV team. Charlie has a reputation for having the most efficient of operations of all of the ERVs on the road here. The reason being that he makes a commitment to search out the streets for the people in need of relief and does a masterful job of locating them in a short span of time. Kerry worked the window and was a real go getter and got the snack and water bags ready with great efficiency. Charlie and Jim served the meals with a speed equal to Jim's "former life" as a restaurateur! But most importantly the beauty of the experience was that this ERV served the St. Bernard Street and Broad Street areas near the Fair Grounds and Hospitals which is seeing families returning to reclaim their homes. People were coming to the window saying they had just returned home and this was their first time back since Katrina. They could not believe that the Red Cross was still here for them. One man took a picture of the ERV crew so as to let people know that really the Red Cross was here! Another man gave the crew members three Mardi Gras beads of purple, green and yellow. (Ok, so I did not know what color they were, but Kerry did!). Most telling however were the stories, as we handed out food, of the elderly who have moved back into the neighborhood and whom neighbors were not watching out for them and getting meals for them. These elder residents wanted back into their old homes no matter what hardships they would have to endure. This was really a surprise and sad reality to hear about. They were most appreciative of the blankets and water which we handed out.

Overall this was a great day! Between the two of them the ERVs served close to 1000 meals! New Orleans knows that the Red Cross loves them and is here for the long run as they begin to bring their city back to life!

Night Time at our Housing on Day 3

The volunteers fill in the rest of their days with activities and "get togethers" to meet and greet one another and to share a common bond which comes from being deployed to settings like here in New Orleans.

Day 4: A Different View of Things (Tuesday, December 20, 2005)

Today we were given a different view of things based on the areas we served. Menu: Grilled Chicken, Mixed Vegetables, Bread and Apples, water and snacks of cookies, oatmeal bars, and Sunflower seeds.

Connie served in the Upper 9th ward were we took our orientation trip on Sunday. She worked with David from Oregon and Amy from Ohio. Her team only encountered a few residents who were trying to reclaim their homes. One man they met had just returned that day from Houston where he was evacuated and he said he came home to New Orleans for his Red Beans and Rice "which can only be made right in New Orleans." He said he was not sure his home could be saved but he was going to try. Most of the residents who came to get their meals would say that they were doing ok, because other had it worse than they did due to the storm. A funny thing happened on this ERV in that Connie "who dusts her kitchen stove" was the server and had not been given orientation to look at the lid labels to know what was in her cambros. Well she knew the meal was chicken and served all of the chicken and to her shock the last two cambros (heated food containers) left were filled with mixed vegetables. I could have warned them that my wife was not the food serving type. Well it turns out they started serving vegetarian meals which it appears would delight many of the construction and salvage workers who work in the city. We get request for vegetarian plates a lot from these workers.

Jim was on an ERV with Betsy from New York and Nancy from South Carolina. They went to the Little Flower area which is very much like the Upper 9th ward and then they went to Lakeview which is one of the highest socio-economic sections of the city and which was flooded for days due to a levee break. In the Little Flower area they met up with a family with little children who was trying to reclaim their home. They had a resilience which was amazing. There also was a man who has three teenagers, two of whom are returning to New Orleans to go to high school which is opening in January. He was very optimistic about the future for his family given that his children would be united again. He did not seem to worry about the future of his neighborhood. In this area the team gave out three boxes of blankets and it seemed that with the cold here and no sources of heat we could have done a better business of handing out blankets then just meals to these hearty residents. Jim's team's ERV then went on to Lakeview where they encountered many construction and salvage workers. They did however talk with a man who had come back to his home for his Christmas break to fix and clean it up. This was his birth home and he did not want to give it up. His work office was relocated to Philadelphia and he had no idea how long it would take to restore his home. He also said he believed Lakeview would be restored as a neighborhood because it was one of the most influential neighborhood in the city after the Garden and Uptown districts.

Today we were left with a feeling that yes there are strong willed survivors who want New Orleans to get back to what it once was. On the other hand we also saw incredible numbers of houses for sale or abandoned in each of our designated areas. It is hard to imagine the city ever really getting back to what it once was. Hopefully it will be stronger, healthier and more vibrant due to this test of its will.

Day 5: Helping "Newbies" get adjusted to the work (Wednesday: December 21, 2005)

Today Connie and Jim had opportunities to assist new people get oriented to our work here in New Orleans. Because this is our third day on ERVs we are now the veterans! Menu: Hamburger, bun, orange or banana and lots of snacks.

Connie was on an ERV with Bo from California and Jerry from Alabama. They worked the Fillmore area which was very populated with returned residents. Connie got a chance to talk with the residents, who mostly had electricity and running water and sewer. But their phones would not be turned on until March 2006. The mood of the residents was very upbeat and hopeful. They all seemed determined to rebuild their homes. In a longer conversation with one resident he said he was so grateful to the Red Cross that once he got settled in to his home he was going to volunteer to work with the Red Cross. On resident said that he was worried that many areas of New Orleans would not be rebuilt which was a sad and depressing thought for him. This was the first time that Connie had seen any children on her route. The children seemed very happy and at home. One boy up to the ERV and said: "This is the first free meal I have ever had."

On Jim's ERV was Jim Me, Michael, and Derek all of who were from California! The first funny thing to happen was that on the assignment board the name Jim Me was placed in an assignment as a driver of an ERV. Since Jim's name was not anywhere else on the assignment sheet it looked like he was the one assigned which alarmed him greatly since he has no clue how to even start a diesel engine! Well it turned out that the person making the assignments meant the Jim from California and our Jim really had not been assigned any ERV as an oversight. It was funny given that a third person Mike from California was assigned to be the driver. Well it all got straighten out and the other Jim drove. Now Derrick is a licensed clinical social worker from Social Worker who is deployed to New Orleans as a Mental Health Volunteer. He was asked to familiarize himself with ERV work by riding of all ERVs on Jim's ERV! What great fun this was! He is going to be leaving New Orleans just after Christmas and we gave him a "real live" experience of ERV work. We had him work the window of the ERV and he had a chance first hand to talk to the residents who lived in the section where we worked which seems to be part of the Upper 9th ward. We met lots of residents who were just returning this week due to Christmas and some were here just to salvage things, to try some cleaning up and then returning to the cities where they had been evacuated to. Others were already returned and living in their homes, in fact one man has been in his home for three months! We met a man who was distressed and Derrick had a chance to do some one on one with him and also we met a mother with a young preschooler and he had a chance to do some one on one with her. We were in an area with lots of rentals and this made for an interesting perspective. Most of the renters had not returned to New Orleans and it was unclear if any would return to these rentals. On the other hand the owners of the rentals were busy with cleaning and salvaging work. This section of the city really looked less likely to come back from the ravages of this disaster. It was amazing however to over and over again to meet residents who were very resilient and ready to conquer this trial. They reechoed a theme we have been hearing that "others have it much worse than we do."

Derek and I talked a great deal about hiss experience already with Mental Health Services in New Orleans and we discussed what I was learning about how our mental health volunteers would be oriented and trained to cope with a long lasting aftermath of a disaster like Katrina. It was fun having him along for this day and he got to see my ERV organizational OCD at it greatest! I think he wanted to do a one on one on me due my organizational compulsivity. He helped me to articulate my goals as to what I want my mental health volunteer workers to do in case of a disaster in the Tampa Bay Region. I intend to have my mental health workers dually trained so that they are on the front lines when they have breaks from their mental health duties or to do them along side and during those duties. I for one want to run a shelter-which is Connie's school- and at the same time coordinate the mental health volunteers and provide mental health support to the workers and clients in that shelter.  I also want my mental health volunteers to be more involved in daily debriefing of our volunteer workers to address the daily stressors of their exhaustive and tiring work. Just in case if you were wondering, do I have any regrets not being in the mental health services during my time here? The answer is a resounding NO! I love this work and the opportunity to be on the front lines facing an average of 500 residents and workers daily. Actually I love serving food. I feel like I am back at my family's restaurant!

So who are these people from New Orleans?

A side benefit of being deployed to New Orleans is that one of our good friends Avery Buras was born and raised in New Orleans and now lives in a Mandeville on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans. He told me of a wonderful letter which appeared in the Times-Picayune written by one of their columnists Chris Rose which really gives a great word picture of the people whom we have been meeting. You notice Connie and I have been mentioning their resilience, and love for all things New Orleans, and their discomfort of living in other sections of the country other than their beloved city, well have a look at this letter:

From columnist Chris Rose of The Times-Picayune http://www.nola.com/ 
 

Dear America,

I suppose we should introduce ourselves: We're South Louisiana.

We have arrived on your doorstep on short notice and we apologize for that, but we never were much for waiting around for invitations. We're not much on formalities like that.

And we might be staying around your town for a while, enrolling in your schools and looking for jobs, so we wanted to tell you a few things about us. We know you didn't ask for this and neither did we, so we're just going to have to make the best of it.

First of all, we thank you. For your money, your water, your food, your prayers, your boats and buses and the men and women of your National Guards, fire departments, hospitals and everyone else who has come to our rescue.

We're a fiercely proud and independent people, and we don't cotton much to outside interference, but we're not ashamed to accept help when we need it. And right now, we need it.

Just don't get carried away. For instance, once we get around to fishing again, don't try to tell us what kind of lures work best in your waters.

We're not going to listen. We're stubborn that way.

You probably already know that we talk funny and listen to strange music and eat things you'd probably hire an exterminator to get out of your yard.

We dance even if there's no radio. We drink at funerals. We talk too much and laugh too loud and live too large and, frankly, we're suspicious of others who don't.

But we'll try not to judge you while we're in your town.

Everybody loves their home, we know that. But we love South Louisiana with a ferocity that borders on the pathological. Sometimes we bury our dead in LSU sweatshirts.

Often we don't make sense. You may wonder why, for instance - if we could only carry one small bag of belongings with us on our journey to your state - why in God's name did we bring a pair of shrimp boots?

We can't really explain that. It is what it is.

You've probably heard that many of us stayed behind. As bad as it is, many of us cannot fathom a life outside of our border, out in that place we call Elsewhere.

The only way you could understand that is if you have been there, and so many of you have. So you realize that when you strip away all the craziness and bars and parades and music and architecture and all that hooey, really, the best thing about where we come from is us.

We are what made this place a national treasure. We're good people. And don't be afraid to ask us how to pronounce our names. It happens all the time.

When you meet us now and you look into our eyes, you will see the saddest story ever told. Our hearts are broken into a thousand pieces.

But don't pity us. We're gonna make it. We're resilient. After all, we've been rooting for the Saints for 35 years. That's got to count for something.

OK, maybe something else you should know is that we make jokes at inappropriate times.

But what the hell.

And one more thing: In our part of the country, we're used to having visitors. It's our way of life.

So when all this is over and we move back home, we will repay to you the hospitality and generosity of spirit you offer to us in this season of our despair.

That is our promise. That is our faith.

Finally to give us all a visual and musical flavor of the people of the ninth ward which was most devastated by Katrina and the resulting floods take a look at what the TV Channel 4 has posted on it website as a Holiday Card for the residents of New Orleans. http://www.wwltv.com/holidaygrunch2.htm It features Benny Grunch and the Bunch. On the holiday greeting link, the Band has a song called the 12 Yats of Christmas. A Yat is a person from New Orleans's Ninth ward and Chalmette area and the name is derived from the saying: "Where you at."  "Where'yat." Meaning; "how are you." Benny  Grunch's band members are all from the ninth ward. They play concerts all over the city, especially during the holiday season.

Day 6: Returning Residents Faced with the Shock of the Aftermath (Thursday:  December 22, 2005)

It is Thursday just three days before Christmas and more residents of New Orleans are returning to the city either for their first time since being evacuated or for an extended stay since it is a holiday time, or permanently moving back to the city. Most appear to be coming in to see what needs to be done before they return to the cities to which they were evacuated or to stay with relatives or to make some other arrangements. Menu: Chicken with gravy, bread, corn, oranges, and cookies and water.

Connie was on an ERV with Jesse from California and Rebecca from Oregon. They worked a route in the upper ninth ward which was located just above the area which was worked by Jim's ERV. Jesse plays music over the loud speaker as the ERV travels the community and one of the residents came up and said: "I thought it was a parade going on out here!" On this route there is a "shut in" whom Jesse has his ERV crew serve daily. The food each day is left by his door step. Well today when the ERV arrived there was coat hanger with this note on it: Thank you , Thank you, Thank you, very, very, much - Merry Christmas. This heartfelt gratitude for the work of this ERV was one of the more remarkable experiences of their tour today. Many of the residents who were served by this ERV had been working on their homes for a while hoping that not only would their residences be inhabitable but that their neighborhood would be as well.

Jim was on an ERV with Felice from Oregon and Ava from Indiana. Their route was in the upper ninth ward similar to the route Jim was on yesterday but higher on the map. First unusual event was that two young children drove their bikes up to the ERV to get food! These were the first children on bikes which any of us had seen since arriving to New Orleans. The most emotional portion of this teams work was giving food to new arrived residents who had just come in last night and was seeing not only their homes, but the city of New Orleans for the first time since being evacuated. One women broke down into tears in describing how this was her first time to her home and neighborhood since being evacuated to Houston. She expressed a desired to be able to move back into her own home, but she became too tearful to continue the conversation about the possibility of that dream ever being realized. Her grief at the moment was very palpable and it clearly was a scene which has been and will continue to be played out as the evacuees return to see their city and homes, so that they can make a determination if they will return or not. This theme of returning evacuees has been on the increase since our arrival to New Orleans. This is a turning point for the city given there is a hope that the evacuees will return to help New Orleans get to being N'awlins again. Speaking of getting back to be N'awlins, in my email I got this quote from Wynton Marsalis: "When you take New Orleans from America, our soul equation goes down." This statement seems to be the pervasive theme of the mood of the residents who come up to the ERVs. They will say things like: "Things are getting better day after day" or "As long as we have God on our side that's what counts" or "Our town is coming back!" This unbeatable spirit permeates the mood of the returning residents who intend to live in this city again. There were other evacuees who we spoke to who were still unclear where they would live and what the future held for them. The "rest of the story" is yet to come.
The area in Upper 9th Ward served by Jim's ERV had two very interesting centers of the Common Ground Collective which we have described below. This is an example of grassroots initiatives to try to help the residents get back on their feet and to give them support to achieve their goal of being N'awlins again.

The Common Ground Collective

Day 7: Christmas season settling in New Orleans (Friday December 23, 2005)

Today more than any other day here it felt like the Christmas was settling in for New Orleans. Menu: Barbeque Beef, cheetos, canned mixed fruit, cookies, and water. Special Treat for kids of all ages M and M's.

Connie was on an ERV today with Chuck from California and John from Oregon. They went to River Bend. They encountered a lot of original residents with lots of children. Close to 50 children were seen and all got their M and M's. There is a count being done so as to get small gifts out to kids on Christmas day. There were so many: "God Bless you," "We couldn't do it without the Red Cross," and "We are so grateful for all you do for us." One woman pointed out that a shut in she takes care of always looks forward to his daily food. The houses were beginning to resemble a state of "normalcy." All that was expressed was hope and the recurrent theme that "We don't have it as bad as everybody else." It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas in this neighborhood. The ERV was also taking a count for how many would be expecting food on Christmas Day. One lady said: "Where else could I be but at home eating my Red Cross food."

Jim was on ERV with Katie from Minnesota and Renee from Arkansas who is a volunteer at the Arkansas Southern Baptist Convention's Kitchen at the First Baptist Church of Kenner. This van went to mid-town and was loaded with 700 meals and eventually we took on 200 more meals. All of which were dispersed today, even if it was disbursed in bulk format. We served a community which is closer in to the Downtown area and crisscrosses Canal Street.  We saw the Trolley tracks today. This was a much more upbeat community since it was not hit as hard and many of the residents have been living her for awhile. One lady we spent some time with because she is the defacto "community center" for her neighbors for whom she cooks daily meals. She felt blessed with some bulk food stuff we gave her today. We were making up for her having to run after us. Like she said she was too old to run after the Red Cross Van. She was formerly from Puerto Rico but has been a resident for over 30 years. Her son was born and raised in New Orleans and now works for the Veterans Hospital in Washington DC. This lady was living in New Orleans prior to Katrina with her daughter and 14 year old grandson-the apple of her eye. Well the family was scattered after the storm. She went to DC to be with her son and his wife. The daughter and grandson went to Minnesota! She returned to New Orleans in October because she could not take DC. She said DC should be left to the President! She prefers her city.  Her son came in yesterday for the first time to be here for Christmas. He told us he was upset by what he saw. Well as this proud woman was speaking of her wonderful neighbors and family she choked up as she said her grandson would be arriving in 4 hours. This would be his first time and she was so worried because he might not want to go back to Minnesota where he needs to complete 8th grade since the school he went to was so ruined that it would not reopen in January. She started crying as she expressed this concern. She was so happy to have her grandson home who calls her "Ma Ma," but on the other hand she knows that New Orleans is not quite ready for him. When her son was asked how he felt about seeing his nephew he beamed with pride and excitement that their Chris would be coming home for Christmas! It was emotional all the way around by this point. We left that neighborhood impressed by the spirit. All of the neighbors came to say hello but most refused any of the snacks and foods, of course they are being fed by the Godmother of the Block! What a wonderful, kind, and incredibly lively woman she is. She is just one shining example of the spirit of the real New Orleans native!

As the day wore on we were worked at a fast pace, none faster than when we landed at a Bus Stop! This was the first time I saw a real bus in the city. The spot was jammed. The people were hesitant to take the food and snacks. Well Jim would not have that! He finally went person to person at the bus stop to talk to the folks and offer them bags of goodies. It was reverse Christmas Shopping and it was a wonderful time. I really felt like Santa at the Bus Stop. The smiles, laughter, and shock at this crazy volunteer who wanted to spread the gifts of the season was fun to participate in. Finally after an exhausting day of smiling, talking, handing out all this food we landed in what is the most extraordinary story I have hit in New Orleans to date. We closed our day with some surplus food and snacks and the ERV team would not have any of this left overs, we were going to give it all away to the most needy and here we did. This area is in a city park, in an area which was set aside for contractors working in the city to set up their mobile campsite. What is in this place is a "Tent City" of people who have come from out of state and out of the country to come to work in New Orleans. It was in this site where our ERV picked up an extra hundred meals from another ERV which had brought them out for another section of town where we first went to serve them. Once we realized that by 5:00 pm there was no one at home, we went back to Tent City and Jim who by now had gotten this Santa act down, went out in the tents and called for any of them who would like some surplus food, water and sacks. Well it took little time for the workers to get out of their tents where they were sheltering themselves from the cold air. By the way New Orleans is freezing for this Florida boy! As the families came out and realized what we were offering after they let go of their amazement they came out and accepted our gifts. They are the poorest of the poor. There could be no other rational to come to New Orleans with no job on the books, hoping to get work. Some of these folks now work at Common Ground or at least use Common Ground's services. Some must be doing relatively ok, since they had generators and were watching TV in their small pup tents. This was most unusual and for real this Santa was shaking in his mental boots trying to figure out what he had just witnessed and experienced. Hey it is Christmas, if this sound like fiction, give it a break, since it was real - cause you see there is still a Santa or Papa Noel in N'awlins.

Day 8: It's Beginning to Feel a lot like Christmas in N'awlins (Saturday: December 24, 2005)

It is really beginning to feel like Christmas here in N'awlins! Menu: Hotdog, Roll, chips, canned fruit, rice crispy snack and water.

Today was a first Connie and Jim were assigned to the same ERV with George from Illinois. Their assigned area was the University District near Xavier University. The area has a mix of very well to do homes and then very poor homes similar to the ninth ward type neighborhoods which Jim had been visiting. What was amazing was that the homes in the better off neighborhoods were elaborately decorated for Christmas. One in fact had inflatable objects all over its lawn and on its porch were two of those inflatable snow globes. It was definitely an over statement that N'awlins was on it way back and it was going to celebrate Christmas in style. In some of the more middle class streets the residents were venturing back and had visitors from around the country to either help them resettle, clean up or just come to visit the homestead to decide their next moves. Surprisingly these really nice homes had residents who needed the food, snacks and water we had to offer since things were really not back to full function. In fact all of the areas of commerce, shopping center, stores, grocery stores, fast food restaurants and bars were all closed in this neighborhood except for one! Yes Papa John's Pizza had just opened two days earlier and they were truly in business. Due to a storm alert our ERV had to get off the road for an hour and we parked in front of Papa Johns! The workers came out to get meals from us! Connie used their bathroom and came back in the rain saying it was heavenly. Well not one to pass up anything extraterrestrial Jim used the bathroom and then spoke with the workers. This shop had been completely destroyed by the flood. The store was completely gutted and built from the ground floor up. It was all new equipment, tiled floors and it even had drivers. Two way down from previous Katrina numbers. They were making their message known to New Orleans: Papa Johns is committed to the re-birth of New Orleans. I was so excited to see this change and yet realized that once the neighbors in this area got word of Papa John's opening, that there would be less a need for the Red Cross ERVs. Yea, New Orleans we love you but we sure want to see you come back to life. Well this wonderful example of free enterprise was truly a wonderful gift to the area for the holiday season! While in the shop I met a customer who was doing take out! His first take out since Katrina in his old neighborhood. Oh the small pleasures which mean so much to help one feel some normality in the sea of confusion swirling around him.

Connie and Jim encountered less workers today and more residents due to it being Christmas Eve. This was great because this past week many young families with their children had moved back and were attempting to get their neighborhood back. Unfortunately this wonderful pioneering spirit seemed to be tarnished by the number of homes on the streets still empty or abandoned. Most interestingly however there were no homes we saw which were for sale. 

Christmas Eve with Avery

Our friend Avery Buras, Ph.D. who is a licensed psychologist in a State Hospital in Mandeville, LA. We asked him to contribute his personal story of survival of the storm to this site. Be sure you have a look at what he has to say. We put the pictures for this section up tonight and they can be seen at Avery's Perspective on the next page of this site. We agreed that we did not want to eat, too much serving of food does that to you. Rather we wanted him to share with us his favorite sites in New Orleans which give him encouragement that his beloved city would be full and alive again. It was a good thing we did not count on the Cafe Du Monde Beignets since it was closed when we got down to the French Quarter which was not as alive as the TV announcements would have you think.  Christmas Eve the 2:00 am curfew was lifted. Well at 7:30 pm the streets were really empty and Bourbon Street was deserted. However we saw the Convention Center and the Casino which is opening soon. We saw two cruise ships in port which currently house first responders. We saw Charity Hospital which it appears will no longer exist as a charity hospital. We saw other major sites like St. Louis Cathedral,  Tulane University, and the shops and stores of the Quarter. Then we went on to Lakeview and saw the University of New Orleans, the marina, the destroyed lighthouse and the deserted homes and streets of this once vibrant neighborhood. Overall it was a sobering Christmas Eve. We returned to our residence and digested what we had witnessed and posted the pictures for Avery's section of our site. There is a picture on his site which was the most awe inspiring picture of the bunch. It was like the Christmas Miracle. When Avery returned to visit his family's homestead in Empire, LA which was where the eye of the hurricane hit, the only building in the town still standing was the church (his picture labeled Empire 15) and in front of the church he saw a live donkey (his picture labeled Empire 19) walking in the shadow of the church. Sure made us feel tonight like the Christmas story was alive and well in the midst of this horrendous disaster.  

Day 9: Christmas Cheer all the way around!  (Sunday December 25, 2005)

It is Christmas! It was Jim and Connie's chance to spread Christmas Cheer.  Menu: Chicken Cordon Blu, carrots, bread, Lemon Pie, water.

Jim and Connie were assigned to a chase van which followed an ERV assigned to a section of Kenner, LA which was flooded due to a levee break during the hurricane. Their task was to play Santa and hand out gift bags to the children in the families in this neighborhood.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this task was to watch the eyes of the young children light up when they looked in the bags to find not only snack but little toys and surprises which were appealing to their needs. The ERV we started to follow ran out of meals and then a second ERV arrived with Jesse and Mike from California and Alisha from Maine.  There had been 250 gift bags prepared for the 25 ERVs and this neighborhood was filled with kids that we made snack bags to supplement the bags of gifts. When we ran out of our first Van load of bags we returned to the staging site to get more snacks and to our surprise we found additional gift bags which ERV teams did not claim since they had so few children on their run. We were able to gather close to 70 more bags and snacks which we dispersed when the second ERV reached this neighborhood. There were no more spare snacks in the staging site since we gathered them all up and bagged them. Because of the press of people to get meals. This area's children probably had some sugar highs tonight thanks to our generous snack fillers. Connie jumped on the second ERV to help serve 150+ meals due to the crush of people to get meals. We really enjoyed this experience and were grateful to have a chance to unconditionally give gifts to kids and little ones who got these just for being who they were and not for what they did.

ERV and Kitchen Staff Christmas Party

Tonight the ERV crews and the Southern Baptist Kitchen crew had a joint Christmas Party at the First Baptist Church of Kenner. The logistics of the party was handled by six members of the church and the cooking was shared between these six members and the cooks in the Arkansas Southern Baptist Convention Kitchen. We got a chance to meet two of the kitchen volunteers Trip and Gerald both from Arkansas. We had a great time!

Today was a day to remember! It will be remembered due to the wonderful spirit of the families who had their children with them during this recovery time. This day will be remembered due to the wonderful spirit of giving which comes from the entire crew of volunteers from the Arkansas State Conference of Southern Baptists.  Lastly this day will be remembered due to the selfless giving of the Red Cross volunteers who chose to be here for this Blessed Holiday Season!

Day 10: Return Day - Day after Christmas (Monday December 26, 2005)

Today which is traditionally return day since it is the day after Christmas, well it was return day for Connie and Jim. Menu: Hamburger, Bun, Field Beans, Jell-O, Chips and Water.

Today Connie and Jim returned to routes they had been on Day 6 last week both of which are in the Upper Ninth Ward. Connie returned to the ERV with Jesse from California and Rebecca from Oregon. Jim was with Felice from Oregon but today who joined this ERV was Ann from Connecticut, who happens to be a psychologist who had chosen to work on the front lines rather than at some desk job.

On Connie's ERV they saw more residents than workers and many of the residents had returned over the holiday. They were still blessing and wishing the volunteers a Merry Christmas. The residents still were filled with hope and enthusiasm for their city and the rebirth of their neighborhoods. One lady when asked by Connie if she was fearful that once she got her house all back together that the city would condemn the neighborhood and then demolish the house. The resident said that she was not scared one bit about her neighborhood ever being condemned. She believed that the people would return to bring it back to life. It appears that she could be right in that many of the houses in the neighborhoods visited by this ERV were being fixed up or already lived in by the residents. On the other hand all over the Upper 9th Ward there are vast tracts of homes which appear abandoned, empty and no work done on them. It is not a universal return of residents to these neighborhoods and the positive and hopeful expressions of these residents hopefully will spill over to motivate those who are staying away to return and help rebuild their neighborhood and city.

On Jim's ERV things were somewhat different than the week before because they had fewer meals to serve today and the Common Ground had moved their distribution center from the one we visited last week and was now in the second site we visited last week. There were fewer contract workers today being a national holiday. What we did see today was a number of people who had come in for Christmas to visit relatives who have or had homes in this neighborhood and who were dealing with the shock and grief of seeing what the reality of this disaster was all about and how it has affected their relative's homes and neighborhood. There was a lot of "we will have a better holiday next year" being said by the residents as they would come up to our window. There was a sense that with the new year coming they were going to be in a better place than where they have been at. Many of the newly returned evacuees spoke of their relatives still in Baton Rouge, Houston, Dallas, and other sites around the country. The mood of the residents was still: "There is lots of work to do yet to get our houses in order and livable." There was a lot of belief expressed that they would succeed in surviving all of this mess. There was no one saying: "I want to return this gift of new life in New Orleans back for a different gift." The folks we saw were committed to the long haul of the rebirth of their sweet city. The work of the ERV had become less stressful this day because this was a return run, and because there were no surprises as to how to do things. We were a smooth oiled machine. I was getting punch happy at one point and coined a saying I will use a every time we stop the ERV to stay at a site for a few moments: "We stay! We Tray!" This means that as long as the ERV is not moving we will continuously fill the food trays or "Clam Shells." This enables us to get a jump start at our next ERV stop. It is funny how the small things give great joy when there is so much tragedy and pain all around you.

Volunteer Note:

The volunteers working on the ERVs came from all over the country like we said. Well one particular couple were Jenna from Pennsylvania and Varun from India were young college students from a small college in Indiana. They were leaving for home today and they made sure to get a picture with us. Jenna said was impressed by the way there was such a common mission among such a diverse group which such diverse ethnic, cultural, racial, religious, and lifestyles. This young couple were fun to greet each morning since they had youthful exuberance, enthusiasm, and willingness to pitch in and help. They were a great energy boost to get the blood flowing in the morning and their friendly faces will be missed. 

Day 11: Let the Sun Shine! (Tuesday December 27, 2005)

Today the sun did shine on New Orleans and the temperature reached a high of 75 degrees. Menu: Polish Sausage, roll, cold baked beans, graham crackers, cheese and crackers and water.

Connie was on an ERV with Chris from California and Stephen from Arkansas who is a volunteer at the Southern Baptist Kitchen. Their community was Spanish Fillmore where there was a great deal of not only flood damage but also terrific wind damage. In this community a lot of residents were present, cleaning up their houses after having returned for the holidays. They ran into several groups of volunteers from churches from other states who were there helping residents to clean and rebuild. The youthful volunteers exuded enthusiasm for their mission to help the residents get on their feet. Connie felt that this was one of the more positive neighborhoods she had served in since coming to New Orleans.

Jim was on an ERV with Jorge from New Mexico and Zach from Arkansas who is a volunteer of the Southern Baptist Kitchen. Their van went to serve the same section of Kenner where he and Connie had distributed children gift bags on Christmas. Their ERV only had 300 meals on it and ran out of meals in just 2 1/2 hours. They amazingly were only on one street in this neighborhood which has a FEMA trailer in every front lawn. The people were happy to see us and expressed their gratitude and appreciation for the effort made by the Red Cross to serve their needs. The interesting thing was that the contractors who have been employed to rebuild the interiors of these homes were amazed at our presence and took pictures of our van. This is a very different experience from what we have in the city of New Orleans itself. This neighborhood has 100% of the residents returned living in the trailers and working on rebuilding their homes which were completed destroyed inside. They needed to strip the interior down to the studs and start all over again. Some residents said that since their insurance had not paid them yet, they were doing their own work on their homes. Others more fortunate with insurance money had contractors doing the interior rebuilding work. The children in the neighborhood were out in force. They seemed subdued and not bubbling given that Christmas was just two days ago. They seemed flat, calm, and lacking in child-like exuberance. Clearly they have had a hard time adjusting to the shock of the hurricane, the month long evacuation, return to see their homes destroyed, and  the cramped quarters of the trailers. These kids were in school prior to the Christmas vacation and hopefully their schools were providing some post-disaster support services to them. Being in this neighborhood makes me feel as if we were in a Tampa neighborhood which had been hit by a disaster. I clearly am witnessing the need for ongoing post-disaster emotional support programming so as to help the children cope with this protracted nature of the recovery process.

This was a beautiful day in the New Orleans area and hopefully it buoyed the spirits of these wonderful people.

Volunteers

Today two wonderful Mental Health Volunteers from Long Island, Norman and Lenore headed home. They were great to talk with about how to organize mental health services so as to insure that the services was more visible and available to the residents during a disaster. Their experience here in New Orleans is a great help to me in planning how we will organize our efforts in the Tampa Bay area if a disaster should ever strike us.

Day 12: A Breath of Rebirth (Wednesday December 28, 2005)

Today we saw a breath of rebirth in the upper 9th ward. Menu: Grilled Chicken, Corn, bread, cheese and crackers, graham crackers and water. It was unseasonably warm today with a high of 76 degrees. It was a beautiful day which was such a contrast to the sights which both ERVs witnessed today.

Today Connie was on an ERV again with Jesse from California and they were joined by Michele from New York. They served the same district they have been in the last two times which is the bi-water district of the Upper 9th ward. They went to several city facilities to serve the workers. Jesse played New Orleans Jazz on the radio of the ERV and several of the residents danced to the music while waiting for their food. Many of the workers openly mentioned how great it was for the Red Cross to provide this service of free food for them given that there were no viable sources of fast food or any type of food for that matter in this community. The residents were equally appreciative and said how much they would miss the horn and music if the ERV no longer served their neighborhood.

Jim today was on an ERV again with Felice from Oregon. The served the same district they have been in the last two times which in also in the Bi-water district of the Upper 9th Ward. The unusual part of this day was that Jim and Felice handled this route with 500 meals on their own. Another interesting change for this ERV was that the Common Ground folks were given bulk prepared food by the Red Cross so we no longer had their volunteers coming up to the window. Given this challenge it was amazing that the ERV and crew returned to the ERV yard as only the third ERV so their stay was rapid fire serving of the residents. Felice drove and served out the food and Jim handled the window which includes preparing the snack bags of water, cutlery, and snacks. Today they met many people who had returned over this holiday season from their evacuation centers around the country in Dallas, Houston, Shreveport, and Baton Rouge. One woman in particular became overcome with emotion as she described what she found when she returned to her home yesterday. She first off said that she was shock by the level of destruction in the city and said that she did not feel that any news coverage could do justice to the amount and size of all that the destruction which occurred. She said her house had a red sign on it meaning that it would be one of the 5000 homes earmarked for demolition. She said she put a sign on the house asking them not to demolish the house until they could get a chance to salvage any of their belongings in the house. She said they have been living in Houston and would be returning there after the holidays and were hoping they could salvage all that they could while still in town. She said her home was destroyed and was just mounds of rubble. As the ERV moved through this neighborhood we came across a street which up to this date had shown no signs of life. Instead almost every house was being worked on, and rubble was being removed from the houses, or roofs were being put on, or dry wall workers were installing it. There was an energy on the street which Jim walked down looking for people who had missed their call of hot meals from the ERV. It was the end of the run and we only had 16 meals and by the just walking down the street we found more than 20+ people who would have liked to get meals. We unfortunately ran out. We were inundated from the first moment we parked today. We met a number of men who work for a company which installs the FEMA trailers and low and behold we saw more FEMA trailers in the front yards down in this neighborhood than we had seen in our last two visits. Things are really percolating down in this neighborhood, however it really is still only pockets of rebirth whereas the larger neighborhood still looks somewhat abandoned and lost. There is so much more that needs to be done to save this neighborhood and give it life again. It is amazing how small things can buoy one's spirit, but to see this new rebirthing going on was mood elevating and encouraging that the people were going to reclaim this city. However, on a more realistic note we met a number of workers who were former residents of the city now living in Houston or Dallas and who had come back to work to rebuild the city but with no intentions of every moving their families back. This is an interesting twist of life which seems to be a pervasive theme among the workers who work in salvage and clean up, towing abandoned cars, decontamination, and construction. An interesting note was at one home we were stopped at the resident pointed out the watermelon growing in the front of his house. He said that they had never grown watermelon before Katrina and that the floods had planted the seeds for these plants. This man seemed blessed by such fortune.

What else was happening in the news today?

Here is a case of "Only in Louisiana" according to our friend Avery:

Cajundome flushoff sends worries down drain 10:21 AM CST on Wednesday, December 28, 2005, Associated Press

LAFAYETTE -- Roughly 100 volunteers showed up at Lafayette's Cajundome last night to flush the arena's 200 toilets and urinals. The flushoff was an effort to test the limits of the plumbing system after the stress of housing thousands of hurricane evacuees this fall. To the Cajundome staff's relief, the massive flushing effort revealed no major problems. The flushoff was necessary because the Cajundome is preparing to host events for the public next week for the first time since it was home to up to 17-thousand evacuees following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Cajundome assistant director Pam DeVille says the temporary residents strained the plumbing system. DeVille said she never expected such interest in the flushoff.

Day 13: Our Last Work Day on the ERVs (Thursday December 29, 2005)

Today was our last day of work on the ERVs. Menu: Barbeque Beef, roll, chips, banana, cookies, and water.

Today Connie was on an ERV with Leslie from Indiana and Chrissy from California. They served the residents in the area of New Orleans near the Fairgrounds. They had 700 meals on their ERV. They made frequent stops serving mostly residents who have moved back into the neighborhood, with many homes decorated for Christmas. This little touch was very encouraging for this neighborhood because it appears they as a community are committed to its rebirth. The team also found the neighbors looking out for one another and expressing a real concern for the well-being of each other. The appreciation of the residents was great and even one said if he ever has money to donate he would donate it to the Red Cross. The ERV went by LSU and the security guards were all cheering for LSU in the Peach Bowl against Miami which is being played in the Atlanta Dome. At the Peach Bowl there will be floats from the New Orleans Mardi Gras and a special float depicting scenes from Katrina. There were a number of FEMA trailers being transported into the neighborhood today. It was encouraging to see that rebuilding is taking place in this neighborhood. The number of residents who have returned and the activity in the neighborhood witnessed give a glimmer of hope for rebirth of this community.

Today Jim was on an ERV with Mel from Michigan and Amanda from Arkansas. They served the residents of Spanish Fort. This area is north of the 9th Ward and there was a mixture of damage in the neighborhoods some were flooded and others suffered damages from the hurricane winds and rain. But what is clear, this is a neighborhood which could be very livable if the residents choose to return, salvage and rebuild. We met some residents who have been in this neighborhood for close to 60+ years and have no intention of ever moving from the area. This day went quickly because we were pushed with residents coming to our window. There were homes with a number of family members working together to clean and rebuild a home of a relative. The family feeling was very palpable in this community. There was a large rebuilding crew from the Catholic Diocese of New Orleans which was part of a larger program called Louisiana Mission of Hope. Over 600 students came from all over the country for this volunteer rebuilding project.  There also was in this neighborhood a large crew from an out of town Baptist Church. This was a very uplifting day to end my work experience here in New Orleans. The people of this neighborhood were very grateful for the Red Cross feeding program because the electricity and gas connections were spotty. There is water and sewage operating but drinking water was still in demand. There were FEMA trailers in the community but some residents were already living in their own homes. The homes were getting new roofs, walls and floors. The resilience and upbeat spirit in this community was buoying up our team on the ERV. We never had a break in service as we drove around this neighborhood and we were out of food in a short time. We were shocked how quickly our meals went out and were convinced that in future days this neighborhood was ripe for a larger population to be fed. The fact that we ran out of food and could not get any back up food was disappointing given this was my last day in the field. It is so wonderful to serve residents who are committed to rebuilding their homes, neighborhood, and their city.  Their enthusiasm, joy in survivorship, and praising God for His goodness was uplifting to our team. We felt blessed ourselves by this wonderful sunny day with people with such sunny dispositions and outlooks on their plight!

This was a mixed emotions day! On one hand our tired old bodies were screaming for rest and a break from the heavy physical labor workload we had been subjecting them to. On the other hand it meant that our work with the people of N'awlins had come to an end. Tomorrow is de-processing and a closure with the Red Cross office and on Saturday we fly home to Tampa. We have seen a lot and learned a great deal about responding to a community which has experienced a severe disaster. We feel that we are better prepared to return to our Tampa Bay Red Cross Chapter to help develop a plan for our mental health volunteers should such a disaster ever hit our area.

Mental Health Status of Residents of the Greater New Orleans Area

In the New York Times on December 27, 2005, there was a report entitled: Hurricane Takes a Further Toll: Suicides Up in New Orleans. In this article it stated that: "At least seven people have killed themselves in the four months since the storm, officials say, here in a city whose population is now no more than 75,000 to 100,000. That compares with a national rate of 11 suicides per 100,000 for all of 2002, and a rate in New Orleans of about nine per 100,000 for all of 2004. There is broad agreement that the problem is likely to get worse." Although we have witnessed a great deal of resilience from the residents who come to the windows of the ERVs we know that PTSD, Depression and Anxiety are rampant in the ranks of the residents. In he New York TImes' article it said: "The signs of despair are pervasive here: a woman, having returned to see her flooded-out house for the first time, runs screaming down Mirabeau Avenue in the Gentilly neighborhood, where the police find her babbling uncontrollably; in a Bourbon Street nightclub, a man draws a gun and shoots himself in the head, even as dancers sway to the music; from half-ruined houses, the police retrieve homeowners, weeping and distraught; psychiatrists report that previously stable patients are now preoccupied with death and suicide."  The residents of New Orleans can put on a good face for us Red Cross Volunteers but the professionals who work with mental health in this community see a different picture. In this same  article an administrator of the Police Department's Mobile Mental Health Squad reported that the members of this squad: "were being called in frequently when a homeowner, witnessing the extent of losses for the first time, broke down. "They're coming into town, and they get so depressed they can't handle it anymore...Most of the time they are crying. These are not the same people we dealt with before the storm ...They had no mental health history. We are seeing almost exclusively new patients." This article went on to say that: "Mental Health professionals confronting this tide of despondency view it as one more sign that New Orleans, with its miles of ruined neighborhoods, moribund downtown and enclaves of semi-normality, is far from recovered. Nobody here can escape the persistent evidence of the city's devastation. First exchanges are often about how much damage your house has suffered, or whether your house still exists" I saw this particular scenario played out yesterday in the Loyola neighborhood of Kenner. Two women met one another at the window of the ERV and began talking about friends they knew from their place of work and how they were all just coping with the aftermath of this disaster and both began to cry as they consoled one another in the gentlest of ways. These women have a natural support system in their neighborhood, and yet they need a way to guide such support so as to be more proactive and productive in the long run. Clearly there is a need for a community wide effort to provide mental health support services to the residents of this city to help them cope better with their emotional response to this vast devastation. I believe that if this were to occur in the Tampa Bay area I would make sure that our Red Cross Mental Health Volunteers as well as the mental health graduate training programs in the community would come together to provide free ongoing public support programming to help our residents to find new ways to give meaning to a reality which none of us could ever imagine would really happen, but rather would only happen in some science fiction novel or movie. We must get better mental health support programming here in New Orleans, but it will take a coordinated effort to make this happen and there is just so much work to just surviving that the current mental health professionals in this community are clearly overwhelmed to initiate and manage such a support system at this time.