My sister, brother-in-law, niece, are all displaced, but thank God they are alive.
My nephew is missing we don't know if he is dead or alive. We hope and pray that maybe he is in texas alive, however we have not heard anything from him at this point.
My sister is a senior citizen and don't know when she will get her check from the bank. they need food, clothing , water and gas, and is presently living at our aunt house. I don't have anything to send her, because i am unemployed at the time. I just don't know what to do to help them, so say a special prayer for my family, that they can get food, gas, electric back on.
thank you
Louvonzelle -- Sun 9/4/2005 5:17 PM
Thank God for all the survivors of Katrina. I live in Michigan City, IN.. I have a son 'James Madkins' and cousins in Gretna. I know how most of the families feel when their loved one get his hand on a working phone and calls to say "mom I am ok." When I heard that there was a hurricane headed for Louisiana, I begin to pray. When I got ahold of my cousin 'Steve Jethro' who live in Gretna, and ask if he has heard from James?, he said he was ok; still I hadn't heard from James himself. Several hours later the phone rang; it was my son. He said mom and dad I am ok. I thanked God again and told my son I loved him.
He said he had roof and water damage to his apartment and furniture, and had no power, but otherwise he was ok. I thank 'Mr. Page', a friend of James who is letting him use his phone to call us. God bless him and all the volunteers.
Sincerely; Leon/Louvonzelle Madkins
Michele F -- Sun 9/4/2005 12:46 AM
My name is Michele F. I live in St.Amant, Louisiana. I knew as Katrina approached our shore that this time we would not get as lucky as before. It was unlike anything I have been through before. A large tree fell onto my father-in-laws house along with his RV and his shop. We were without electricity until this thurs. at 7:00pm. thurs. I had no knowledge of anything going on anywhere else, but the damage done to our parish and surrounding parishes is breath taking.
All I could and still am doing is thanking God. But when I turned on my T.V. when our electricity came back on, I could do nothing but well up in tears. Yes the plant my husband works at is gone, and we will have to rough it for a while, but these poor people.
They were left there to die. Just a few hours ago I still hear of people knocking through the attics of their homes for help. Where was our plan?
Why didn't they consider all of the less fortunate, they well knew that they were there. I am so angry and I don't know who to be angry with. I am watching alot of these evacuees come to my town and our schools. The look in their eyes tears my heart out. Please pray for them. Please pray for all of us. Just please pray!
sharon carr [poohpooh67@comcast.net] -- Sat 9/3/2005 8:19 AM
Please help. I am dis-placed from New Orleans. I want to find my friend Joni Pinkney. Also known as Joni Angel Pinkney. She was in New Orleans the day before the hurricane, and I left the day before that. Please, if you know her whereabouts or any way that I can get in touch with her, please e-mail me.
Tracy Federici, temorarily in Los Angeles.
Carrie D -- Thu 9/1/2005 4:44 AM
I have lived in New Orleans all of my life....even through Betsy and it just seems so very unreal that this has happened. My family is one of the lucky ones that got out early and we are all safe......but spread out from Northern Alabama to Texas. For now this is the (my husband and I) hardest to deal with....NOT having them close by to help out or just hug.
We all have lost our homes, jobs and almost our minds....BUT....I know the Jesus Christ has a beautiful plan for my entire community and for the State of Mississippi and Alabama....and all we need try and exercise is patience. I am still in denial when I wake up....that there is NOTHING for any of us to go home to and that we are starting over from scratch...BUT...much support is on the way and I know that I must remain strong inspirit and prayers and we will come up from this.
Words of encouragement for any of you feeling like giving up or quiting...DON'T...wait upon the Lord and He will direct your way. We the parish of Orleans, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Plaquemines and all effected will stick together and build a more beautiful South East Louisiana. We have lots of Pride in Louisiana and we can turn it around and make our communities better than ever....BUT we gotta hang tough.
I am praying daily for Gods strength and His understanding BUT am ready to get on with our lives...one brick at a time....So if.when you want to grab your hammer or nails we are here with you and ready to get started.
THE DEVIL CAN NOT KEEP US DOWN.....IF WE CHOOSE GOD AND HIS DIRECTION TO GREATNESS! We love each and everyone hurt by this awful disaster...but are also ready to pass on a hug and words of encouragment and hammer a few nails to get us going again. You can respond to Titl7@aol.com.
SO..............Keep the Faith and SPREAD THE LOVE.......
Carpentars friend whose ready to help, Carrie D
Cindy -- Wed 8/31/2005 6:58 PM
I lived through Hurricane Ivan and Dennis. I lost my home. As of this date, I am still homeless. I know the feelings of despair. I have no pictures to show you, but only in my mind they stay. I want to help with this disaster (Katrina), but I can't. I want to open my doors, but I can't. I want to lend money, but I can't.I want to help feed those people, but I can't. All I can do is pray. I can do this. And if I can do this with all that I have been through and still going through, than there has to be light at the end of the tunnel. Every one pray.
On Tuesday our church session voted to take up a collection at our Wednesday church activities to make a donation to the Red Cross. By Wednesday evening, we took the collection, but decided not to give it to the Red Cross and instead keep it for local disaster relief.
I live in Fort Worth, Texas, 550 miles from New Orleans, but there are about 2500 refugees/evacuees here and the city has committed to taking in up to 25,000. Government money, and even the Red Cross, is not really effective as of yet; it is plainly needed more urgently in other places. As a result, much of the materiel and manpower for this relief effort is coming from the local faith community. It is already becoming difficult to determine what the most urgent needs are: money- no, not money, men's clothes- no, not clothes, bedding- no, not bedding, towels. These requests are changing on an hourly basis.
It is also becoming apparent that many of the people who have found themselves in this area as a result of the hurricane intend on staying here, so now we need to help them find jobs, permanent housing, etc. I think Fort Worth is in as good a shape as any community to receive an influx of new residents, but the challenges are still daunting.
I think we need to pray for all the cities in the southeast to find a way to open their communities to the victims of Katrina, to help them re-establish their lives, etc. The government will do what it can, but we, all of us, have to do our part.
The War in Iraq required very little mobilization on the home front; Katrina will require a much larger personal involvement from a whole region of the country, and a financial commitment from the rest. I hope we are up to the task.
After I write this note, I'm going up to the attic to gather some of my old clothes to take to the victims. In my case, much of them are in brand new shape, since I lost a bunch of weight this year and undergrew them. I'm not sure why I never got around to getting rid of them before now, but I hope they'll be put to good use.
God bless all who are helping those who have been displaced by Katrina.
Paul H.
sole_sojourner -- 9/4/2005 8:50 PM
Everyone, I just got an email from the VP of National HQ of Red Cross. He wants us to be prepared to take in 500 families and possibly open a shelter in our area to receive them. Our chapter is in Pennsylvania!
We will not be calling it an evacuation or relocation. It is a Welcoming Effort.
If you hear of any such thing in your own towns or near you, PLEASE organize a local effort to support this in your area! Line the roadways as their buses roll through and wave to them! Cheer them on as they are arriving to safety! Wave flags! Put up Red Ribbons all over the place so they know you have them in your hearts!
Love to you all,
Patti
Eden100 -- 8/31/2005 11:45 PM
I currently reside in northern Louisiana and as many may know hurricane Katrina hit the southern part of this state very hard. Many from that area have migrated to this area for safety and shelter.
I work in the TV business and my boss decided that we should do a donation drive for three days to collect much needed items(food, water, clothing, etc) for the victims. We called a transportation company who gladly donated an eighteen wheeler for collections, the chosen location donated their parking lot and we worked with the Salvation Army and Red Cross for help with volunteers, etc. We advertised that we would collect donation from 4pm to 7pm Tues. through Thursday. Tuesday was slow, but we had media coverage on site and by the end of the Tuesday 1/4 of the truck was full.
Well, today, the person heading this drive had to go early because we were bombard with phones calls from those who wanted to donate early. When I arrived today at 4 to help, the truck was full. My colleague was frantically on the phone trying to get another truck as the parking lot was filling up with tons of stuff. The second truck arrived and by 6 it became evident that we would need a third. I'm talking eighteen wheelers.
People are awesome, they were pulling up with truck and car loads full to the rim with donations, it became a bit overwhelming for us volunteers at many points during the evening, but we continued with the goal. People are truly good and giving. I can tell some people went shopping as if they were shopping to supply the needs of 3 to 4 households. I was amazed.
By the end of the night (ended at 10 versus 7) the second trailer is 90% full and we began working on the third and our original goal was just to fill one. We plan to start early tomorrow and who knows, we may need a fourth and all for a good cause because many families lost everything including love ones.
People are good and this was a blessing experience!!!
Moksha8088 -- 9/4/2005 6:46 PM
The LDS Church made sure its local Bishop's Storehouse was full when Katrina was still a tropical depression. It began loading trucks with emergency supplies from Salt Lake even before Hurricane Katrina hit land. All LDS folks were evacuated ahead of time. The LDS Church will continue to supply disaster relief. Today was our Fast Sunday in which we all contributed extra for the disaster relief efforts. The young Deacons came around to all of our houses to pick up our donation envelopes.
memiller -- 9/4/2005 1:30 PM
I heard this morning in church that Trinity, Baton Rouge is hosting 60+ children and staff of the New Orleans Bethlehem Lutheran Children's Home. Pastor Scott Schmieding writes that the LCMS Southern District headquarters is destroyed, and the temporary headquarters is also at Trinity.
Here in Michigan, Fort Custer National Guard Training Center will be housing 500 refugees. A drop in the bucket, but the same thing is going on all across the country.
Sherylyn -- 9/4/2005 3:28 PM
Here in Baton Rouge, things are tense. We just don't have room to hold anyone else, and we are catching flack for it. You may have heard reports that a bus full of refugees was turned away from a shelter here. That shelter was already 1000 over capacity.
Some media outlets may be reporting that that bus was turned away because the people of Baton Rouge were afraid that we would be facing a situation similar to what was going on in New Orleans. Not true. Though frankly, public safety has to be a factor in making a decision like that. Our police and public safety forces and resources, which were already somewhat inadequate, was designed to accommodate half as many people as there currently are in the city. Traffic everywhere is a nightmare, there is virtually no gasoline to be had, and basic groceries are running out incredibly quickly.
We really are doing everything we can to help. People have opened up their homes, sometimes to complete strangers. The people of the city are doing their best, and as a community, we feel guilty that we can't do more.
This morning we had a number of folks from evacuated areas worshipping with us. Our pastor offered whatever resources we have to them. We are a small congregation, but we'll do our best.
Tonight, the two ELCA congregations in Baton Rouge, St. Paul and Our Savior are having a combined service. Afterward, we are meeting to pool our resources to do what we can.
What is most needed in this area right now is, frankly, money. Regardless of what relief organization you choose to support, or how much you can give, please consider contributing.
The only other thing we really could use down here are volunteers with a medical background. Right now, most of the physicians and nurses who are volunteering at the medical shelter at LSU are physicians and nurses who work in Baton Rouge and need to go back to work this week.
So that's the news from down here. Please keep praying for the area, for those who have suffered and those who are trying to help.
Sherry1972 -- 9/3/2005 12:06 PM
The kids at our local high school are suppose to have a homecoming in two weeks and they usually build floats for the parade instead they are giving the money to Hurricane disaster relief and starting a drive for money until homecoming and they are helping a local church in our area to get supplies, toiletries, food and water to the people in Louisiana to send as soon as possible.
majik1 -- 8/31/2005 11:50 AM
We were blessed in that one of our Chabad families made it here to G'ville to be with our group, his father, head of Chabad in Louisiana, and family are safe in Texas, and the third Chabad Rabbi is still in the 3rd floor of his house waiting to be rescued & evacuated. The NO students are also here and are staying with students here, keeping in contact with their families.
The rain has been heavy here in northern Fl, coming down intermittent times. I have family in La, but fortunately, none in the NO area, and are all safe, B"H. Nelda
majik1 -- 9/1/2005 11:41 AM
Update... R'Rivkin and his wife, 4 children arrived in G'ville on Monday. A trip that takes me 8-10 hrs took them 20 to arrive here. Thinking that they would only be here for a couple of days, that's the amount of clothing that they brought. Yesterday was a shopping day at WalMart to buy some of necessary clothing for a long stay.
R'Yossi Nemes and the 13 other evacuees were rescued from the roof of his home after flood waters entered the 2nd floor and attic of is home. He, B'H was on his was to the Memphis Chabad House.
Chabad in NO assisted 120 Jews and many college student to leave the city. The Rabbanim have been in contact with families to give word that their children were safe and on the way home.
Florida Colleges and Universities will be accepting students from the Hurricane areas at greatly reduced OFS fees in order that they may have their studies interrupted as little as possible.
Having lived in NO at one time, and Louisiana is my home state where I resided for some 25 years, I'm sure all of you can understand the feelings of shock and sorrow that I'm feeling when I see the news casts. fortunately my relatives are some 120 miles NW of NO.
Nelda
